The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical) place long ago), "a chandelier in pieces", alluding to a connection with "the Phantom of the Opera". As the porters remove the drop cloth covering the fixture, it flickers to life and ascends to the ceiling as the auditorium's former grandeur is restored ("Overture"). It is now 1881 and the cast of a new production, "Hannibal", are rehearsing onstage when they learn that new owners, Firmin and André, are taking over the Paris Opéra House ("Hannibal Rehearsal"). Carlotta, the Opéra's resident soprano prima donna, begins to perform an aria for the new managers when a backdrop inexplicably falls from the
The Phantom of the Opera day readers of the book, Sean Fitzpatrick and Cathleen Myers, the novel is praiseworthy for its drama, but overall it does not rise to the standards of great literature. Fitzpatrick claims that ""The Phantom of the Opera" is not a great book, but it is a great read." He digresses that even though the book is not good enough to be in the canon of great literature, there are many aspects of it that make it fun to read such as the drama of the "whodunnit" plot, the investigative styling of the book which pretends to pull from real life