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 (1986 musical) of "Cats", provided the integral musical staging and choreography. A preview of the first act was staged at Sydmonton (Lloyd Webber's home) in 1985, starring Colm Wilkinson (later the star of the Toronto production) as the Phantom, Sarah Brightman as Kristin (later Christine), and Clive Carter (later a member of the London cast) as Raoul. This very preliminary production used Richard Stilgoe's original unaltered lyrics, and many songs sported names that were later changed, such as "What Has Time Done to Me" ("Think of Me"), and "Papers" ("Notes"). The Phantom's original mask covered the entire face and remained in place