is 'Phantom.." a true story?

Wish u a merry CHRISTMAS.!!!!!!!!!!!

I watched the movie 'The Phantom of the Opera' directed by Andrew Lloyd Weber and it has Emily Rosum acting as Christine. I watched this on the Christams Eve. This movie is the most beautifull english musical I have ever seen in my life and after watching it , I started crying and crying because I felt sorry for the Phantom because he couldn't marry Christine.
I just wished Christine could have married the Phantom, because the phantom loved her more than anything in this world.
I HAVE AN IMPORTANT QUESTION- "Is this story a true story or is it just made up????????"

I hope any one of you can give me a reply to this question.

If it is a true story , I should say that being an Indian I believe in Karma (the rebirth of the soul after death), I just pray for the phantom that in his next karma(rebirth) he will meet Christine in her next karma and marry her.

once again "Is this story a true story or is it just made up????????"

Adieu!
from,
Preethi

Just read your question about if it is a true story. Like you I watched it christmas eve but at the theatre stage in London and I thought that the film was good until I saw the stage one. You must go and see it.

Yes phantom of the opera is based on a true story. The phantom's name was Eric and he lived in the 1800s but not sure when exactly. His face was so distorted that his mother could not look at it and so she made him wear a mask on his head. Although there was no pictures of him people think that his head was like the Elephant man. He lived in a small village in France, however when he was about 6 he ran away with a traveling circus and made friends with the travellers.
When he became an adult he travelled all over the world and helped to design and build palaces for different kings. Twice he was nearly killed. He ended up living in France and helped to design the opera house, hence why all the caverns that are there and that is also why he demanded rent out of the managers each month.
Christine and all the other characters were real also, however christine had a slightly different surname. [not sure what though]. the love story is also true however from what I can make of things there are two different endings that I have found out about one is that the count and his brother found out where Eric lived in the caverns and killed him the other is that his brother died and that Eric let Christine go and that he eventually died of a broken heart.
If you search long and hard on the internet you will find all of the above information but it took me a good hour of typing in various things to try to find the information.
hope this answers your question and hope it is not too long winded!

from floss

to KTS yes the story of the phantom of the opera is based on a true story

My understanding is that although Leroux based the setting on the real Opera house at the time, the story is not true. If it is based on fact, it is not documentable fact, just rumor.

I agree with BleuUnicorn.... Phantom IS based on a real opera house - l'opera Garnier (I was there!) - but the story iteslef is just nineteenth century masterful writing by Gaston Lereux. The only factual part of the story is that the opera house was rumoured to be haunted, but that is it.

For the record, Weber did not direct the film - Shumaker did.

hey floss, sorry to let you know but wherever you found your information was misleading you. Leroux made up the story and based the opera house in the story on the paris opera house. in fact, the numberous passages beneath the opera house gave him the inspiration to write 'the phantom.' but beyond that, 'the phantom of the opera' is a completely fictional work.

The Phantom of the Opera: is it really a true story? According to Monsieur Leroux, (Gaston Leroux, the author of the book), it is. Mr. Leroux is very convinced that the Phantom of the Opera really did exist. If you purchase or borrow the book from a library or a friend, the very first "chapter", or as it's called, a Foreward, is entitled: "In Which the Author of This Singular Work Tells the Reader How He Was Led to Become Certain that the Opera Ghost Really Existed". Quite a mouthful. During his research, he met many people, found loads of evidence to support his theory, and wrote his story. One could question if he [the phantom] truly did exist, or if perhaps Mr. Leroux, in an attempt to write a book, found a story and expanded on it. So, watch the movie, see the Broadway, read the book. Does the Phantom really exist?

That's up to you.

Like Night Tigress said, Leroux messes with the reader's mind by stating that the story is true in the beginning of his book. Leroux was a newspaper reporter who decided to try his hand at creative writing after he toured the Paris Opera House (Opera Garnier). During a tour to the cellars he came across a lake (yes, it's actually down there) that was created during construction of the opera house. I have yet to come across any actual information (like a diary or a newspaper article) that points to a true story.

After reading the replies to this question, i could not help but add myself as a memeber to this forum. In order to conduct the writing of this book, Gston Lereuox did historical research. He conducted interviews with people of the time, and he also read several manuscripts, which are available to public reading. If anyone else out there is a historian, they will be quick to notice that Lereoux's work is not one of fantasy, (well perhaps the love story between the phantom and christine, the count, etc. ) but of fact. The nmanuscripts are written by poeple who worked in the opera house during the time of the Paris Commune, when the tunnels below the opera were ocnstructed. The tunnels are 17 stories below the floor elvel, and there is a lake at the bottom. The people living in the opera house did believe in the occurence of a ghost, or "phantom" in french. In fact, they planted a horseshoe above the entrance to the right stage wing for good luck, to protect all the actors from the ghost's mishaps. Guided tours are available to teh public, and if one is daring enough, you can visit the underground tunnels.

All I know is that the chandileir (Im a bad speller) really fell and killed an opera hose parton and Erik did live under the opera on the lake and I also can confirm floss's answer!

personnally, I am not sure but the author, Gaston Leroux says so in the beginning of his book and explains his reasons. he says that he has talked to witness etc.

http://www.phantomoftheopera.com/mod...id=131&forum=2
You can go here for more information. It's a very interesting debate.
The person Christine Daae is based off of is Christine Nellison.
I don't have anything else to say besides the girl who played Christine is Emmy Rossum, not Emily. Sorry, like my screenname says, I'm a phanatic.
Couldn't help it.
:D

i've done some exstensive research on this. Erik the Phantom WAS real. did all of the silliness happen the way it did in Gaston Leroux's novel and the film? of COURSE not. There was a Chorus singer that caused a scandal by disappearing with the younger brother of a count after the count was killed in a duel by an unspecified person. (they later turned up in denmark) Charles Garnier's opera house WAS plagued by multiple setbacks during both design and construction and a man that helped with the designs disappeared after several disputes and there was a mysterious fire around the time the disputes began. Theatre people are notoriously supersticious (being 1 myself i speak from experience :) ! ) so they decided the ghost of the designer had come to haunt the theatre. llike so many writers do Leroux wove the elements of the 2 scandals together for best results

wait, i'm confused. it was fiction, but inspired by an opera house, right? did something happen at the opera house or something?
pardon my bad grammar in that last sentence.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by paledancer

personnally, I am not sure but the author, Gaston Leroux says so in the beginning of his book and explains his reasons. he says that he has talked to witness etc.

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Just because an author says it's fact- that doesn't make it so. If, in a ghost story, someone says that it happened up the lane from you and 5 kids were found dangling by their intestines- are you inclined to assume it's truth or do you just enjoy the fact but after it's morning and everything's all calm you know it was just a story?
Now, you could argue that this is different- but it's not. There's a quote along the lines of "Don't trust writing, a person who would lie to you in person would lie to you by paper". So, yeah, textbooks and journalism you can generally trust- but Leroux you have no idea.
Same with most references that you'll find to say one way or another. It's the internet- I could write up a ten page essay on the use of male nipples and post it; then someone might use it as help on the Biology term paper. Doesn't mean I'd be right- I could've made the whole thing up rather convincingly.