The Phantom of the Opera newspaper articles and interviews relating to the Paris Opera House, and the character Erik (the phantom) who fills the roles of the "mad genius", disfigured monster, and one of three in a love triangle all at once. Fitzpatrick argues that all of these elements make the book good for light reading. Myers agrees that the novel makes for a good "airplane read", but says that it fails in terms of being a good mystery novel. She claims that one of the book's downfalls is that one of the important characters - the mysterious Persian - is introduced too late in
The Phantom of the Opera (1989 film) called "The Phantom of the Opera 2: Terror in Manhattan", in which the Phantom lives in the sewers of present-day Manhattan. Television writer Duke Sandefur was hired to add bookend segments set in present-day Manhattan to O'Hara's script, so that the film would tie into its proposed sequel. Ultimately, the sequel was not made, but the bookend segments remain in the film. The original music, written for the film by Misha Segal (also known for the soundtrack to "The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking"), won a 1989 Brit for best soundtrack. Of particular interest to fans of the original novel