Prologue

[AUCTIONEER:] (Spoken) Sold. Your number, sir? Thank you (Spoken) Lot 663, then, ladies and gentlemen A poster for this house's production of "Hannibal" by Chalumeau [PORTER:] (Spoken) Showing here [AUCTIONEER:] (Spoken) Do I have ten francs? Five then. Five I am bid Six, seven. Against you, sir, seven. Eight Eight once. Selling twice. Sold, to Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny (Spoken) Lot 664: a wooden pistol and three human skulls From the 1831 production of "Robert le Diable" by Meyerbeer Ten francs for this. Ten, thank you Ten francs still. Fifteen, thank you, sir Fifteen I am bid Going at fifteen. Your number, sir? (Spoken) 665, ladies and gentlemen: a papier-mache musical box In the shape of a barrel-organ Attached, the figure of a monkey in Persian robes playing the cymbals This item, discovered in the vaults of the theatre, still in working order [PORTER:] (Holding it up) (Spoken) Showing here. (He sets it in motion) [AUCTIONEER:] (Spoken) May I start at twenty francs? Fifteen, then? Fifteen I am bid (The bidding continues. RAOUL. eventually buys the box for thirty francs) (Spoken) Sold, for thirty francs to the Vicomte de Chagny. Thank you, sir (The box is handed across to RAOUL He studies it, as attention focuses on him for a moment) [RAOUL:] (quietly, half to himself, half to the box) A collector's piece indeed Every detail exactly as she said She often spoke of you, my friend Your velvet lining, and your figurine of lead Will you still play, when all the rest of us are dead? (Attention returns to the AUCTIONEER, as he resumes) [AUCTIONEER:] (spoken) Lot 666, then: a chandelier in pieces Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera A mystery never fully explained We are told ladies and gentlemen That this is the very chandelier which figures in the famous disaster Our workshops have restored it And fitted up parts of it with wiring for the new electric light So that we may get a hint of what it may look like when re- assembled Perhaps we may frighten away the ghost of So many years ago with a little illumination, gentlemen? (The AUCTIONEER switches on the chandelier There is an enormous flash, and the OVERTURE begins During the overture the opera house is restored to its earlier grandeur The chandelier immense and glittering, rises magically fromthe stage Finally hovering high above the stalls)