THE HISTORY OF THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Le Fantome de ‘Opera (The Phantom of the Opera) by Gaston Leroux was published.  Leroux claimed to have been inspired to write the story after visiting the Paris Opera house.  While roaming its lower depths he found a mysterious subterranean lake which was visible through iron grilles in the floor.  Leroux also remembered an unfortunate accident in 1896 when one of the chandelier’s counterweights had fallen on the audience.

‘Uncle’ Carl Laemmle, President of Universal Pictures met Leroux while on vacation in France.  Laemmle confessed how enraptured he’d been with the opera house from the Place be le’Opéra, and sensing his interest Leroux gave Laemmle a copy of his book for his bedtime reading. Laemmle stayed awake the whole night to finish the book and by the morning was determined to turn it into a film.

The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney – the ‘man of a thousand faces’, begins filming at Universal Studio in Hollywood.  A replica of the Paris Opera House was built on Stage 28, and so sound was its construction that for the most part it still stands there to this day.

Universal’s silent film The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney premiered in San Francisco.

Dialogue sequences are recorded for the 1925 The Phantom of the Opera film and music and sound effects were added for the first time.

The Phantom of the Opera was rewritten and remade with Claude Rains as a Technicolor film. It was somewhat successful.

Andrew Lloyd Webber reads a review about a stage adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera produced by The Theatre Royal in Stratford, and calls Cameron Mackintosh about the idea of turning it into a new musical.

Andrew Lloyd Webber comes across a faded copy of the original Leroux novel in a second hand bookshop in New York, and buys it for a dollar.  The book inspired him to create a romantic musical score for his new wife Sarah Brightman.

The first act of The Phantom of the Opera was presented to an invited audience in its early draft form at his at the Sydmonton Festival at Andrew Lloyd Webber's Hampshire country home.

Designer Maria Björnson visits the Paris Opera House to gain inspiration for her set design for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.

Andrew Lloyd Webber tests the water with a record which encapsulated the story of The Phantom of the Opera as he then saw it. ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ was arranged as a rock number and the single reached number 7 in the charts.

Open Auditions for The Phantom of the Opera begin.

First day of rehearsals for The Phantom of the Opera in London.

After a few weeks of previews The Phantom of the Opera opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London starring Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford.

The Times review of The Phantom of the Opera comes out with the headline “God’s Gift to Musical Theatre”.

The Phantom of the Opera wins 3 Lawrence Olivier Awards including Best New Musical.

The Original London Cast Album is released in CD format in 1987, it becomes the first album in British musical history to enter the UK albums chart at #1.

Princess Diana attends The Phantom of the Opera with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The Phantom of the Opera opens on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre on West 44th Street  to a then record advance of $18million at the box office.  Warner Brothers is interested in making it into a film. Crawford, Brightman and Barton reprised their respective roles from the London production.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Joel Schumacher first meet and discuss the possibility of making The Phantom of the Opera into a film.  As to not jepordise the success of the stage version, they both agreed to put their ideas on hold.

The Phantom of the Opera wins 7 Tony Awards in New York including Best Musical.

The third production in the world of The Phantom of the Opera – opens in Tokyo, Japan.  It is the first production in Asia, and is a Japanese local language production overseen by the original creative team.

After a few weeks of previews The Phantom of the Opera the first production in Australia opens in Melbourne and Andrew Lloyd Webber attends. The production played for 2 ½ years at The Princess Theatre to just over 1.5 million people.

Andrew Lloyd Webber first thinks of making a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, and talks with Designer Maria Björnson about it being set in New York.  He later talks with Freddy Forsyth about creating a book. Some years later Forsyth writes a novel called The Phantom of Manhattan.

After a few weeks of previews, the first production in South America of The Phantom of the Opera opens in Mexico City, Mexico.

Joel Schumacher and Andrew Lloyd Webber meet once again and agreed it is time to make The Phantom of the Opera into a film.

After a week of previews the first production in Africa of The Phantom of the Opera opens in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Phantom of the Opera film premieres in New York at the Ziegfeld Theater.  The same week the film is nominated for 3 Golden Globe Awards including Best Musical/Comedy Picture, Best Actress for Emmy Rossum, and Best Original Song for "Learn to Be Lonely."

The Phantom of the Opera ranks second in BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals".

The Broadway production becomes the longest running show ever on Broadway overtaking Cats with its 7,486th performance.

Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular opens as a 95-minute, intermission-less version of the show at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Andrew Lloyd Webber works with Ben Elton on developing the story for a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, which at that stage is simply referred to as Phantom 2.

The first act of the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera called Love Never Dies is staged to a private audience at the Sydmonton Festival at Andrew Lloyd Webber's Hampshire country home.

The cast album for Love Never Dies is recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

The Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera celebrates its 21st anniversary.  The Phantom at the time, Ramin Karimloo (who later becomes the Phantom in the London production of Love Never Dies) cuts a cake on stage with Andrew Lloyd Webber and the whole Broadway cast.

Rehearsals for the full company of Love Never Dies begin in London.

After a few weeks of previews, Love Never Dies opens at the Adelphi Theatre in London.

It is announced a new Australian production of Love Never Dies will open in Melbourne at The Regent Theatre in May 2011.  It will be the second city in the world to host the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and the first time in almost 20 years that Andrew Lloyd Webber will visit Australia.

Auditions begin for the Australian production of Love Never Dies.

The Australian set of Love Never Dies begins being loaded into the Regent Theatre in Melbourne.

The cast for the Australian production of Love Never Dies experience their first day on set at the Regent Theatre

The first preview performance of Love Never Dies takes place at the Regent Theatre with Andrew Lloyd Webber in the house.

Opening Night for the Australian production of Love Never Dies finally arrives. The post show VIP party takes places at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins where the Grand Ballroom is transformed into Coney Island.

Love Never Dies wins 3 of the prestigious Helpmann Awards for Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design and Best Lighting of a musical.

It is announced that the Melbourne season of Love Never Dies will end 18th December, and will begin a season at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from January 2012.

The Phantom of the Opera will celebrate its 25th Anniversary.