The Phantom of the OperaAge-adapted version

The Phantom of the Opera was a real man. He lived in the dark corridors beneath the Paris Opera.

He knew every rope and every door. He could make the whole building sound like an instrument.

Old dancers remember him. Stagehands speak of him in hushed tones. A silent man, called the Persian, wrote down everything he knew. And the letters of a young singer, Christine Daaé, tell the rest.

One evening, two directors disappeared. Rumors spread like a cold wind. The ballet girls whispered of a shadow that glided past without a sound.

Joseph Buquet, who knew all the stairs, had seen him: yellow as wax, thin as a skeleton, eyes like dark holes.

That same night, Buquet was found hanged in the third cellar. Some said suicide. Others thought something had taken him.

There was also a box that was never for sale: Box Five. Madame Giry tended it like an altar.

She had never seen him, but she heard three knocks in the first act, and a friendly voice asked for a footstool.

Some evenings, coins were left behind. Sometimes a rose. No one dared say a word.

That same evening, the diva Carlotta had to cancel. A nearly unknown singer, Christine Daaé, took the role in Faust.

She had always been conscientious, but that evening she was enchanting.

Her voice lifted the entire hall. Count de Chagny's younger brother, Raoul, could not hide his admiration. He recognized her: it was the girl from the beach in Perros.

Raoul found Christine backstage. She was trembling and begged him to leave. He heard a man's voice inside the room: "Christine, you must love me."

She answered softly: "I sing only for you."

Raoul searched but found no one. On the stairs, he saw a stretcher: Buquet. Everyone whispered about the ghost.

The new directors laughed at the ghost. Then they received red letters signed "O.G."

He demanded that Box Five be left empty, that Christine should sing, and that money be set aside.

They refused. The next evening, laughter and commotion broke out in Box Five. An unseen voice asked people to leave. Madame Giry was fired. Soon, the white horse Cesar disappeared.

Carlotta received a letter: "If you sing tonight, you will be punished." She laughed. But in the middle of the performance, her voice cracked into a frog-like sound.

The audience gasped.

From Box Five, someone whispered: "The chandelier." The rope gave way, and the great chandelier crashed down. One dead lay in the dust. No one laughed anymore.

Christine told Raoul about the Angel of Music her father had promised. The angel taught her to sing.

Raoul laughed. Christine became angry and sad. At midnight, he followed her to the cemetery.

There he saw a figure with a skull-like head. He grabbed the cloak and stared straight into a face that was not a face. He fell unconscious.

At the masquerade ball, the figure came again, dressed in purple with a skull. Raoul recognized him. Christine pulled Raoul away. Later, he heard her say: "Poor Erik." The mirror opened. She disappeared. Raoul's hands only grasped glass.

Down by the black lake, Christine woke up in a boat. On the other side lay a dream house with an open coffin. "That's where I sleep," said the voice. "I am Erik." He played for her. He did not touch her.

He wanted to be loved. When she tore off his mask, she saw a face that screamed and cried. "A corpse that loves you!" But she said his name calmly: "Erik." And for the first time, he was met with pity.