Prologue

Sold. Your number sir? Thank you
Lot 665,ladies and gentlemen: a papier-maché musical box, in the shape of a barrel-organ
Attatched, the figure of a monkey in Persian robes, playing the cymbals
This item, discovered in the vaults of the theatre, still in working order.
Showing here.

May I start at twenty francs? Fifteen, then? Fifteen I am bid
Twenty sir, thank you. Twenty. Twenty-five, thank you madame
Thirty, and do I hear thirty-five madame
(Madame Giry shakes her head)Selling at thiry then, thirty once, twice
Sold, for thirty francs to the Vicomte de Chagny. Thank you, sir.

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?

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 it 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 reassembled
Perhaps we may frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination, gentlemen?