The Panton Of The Opera

T HE PHANTOM
OF THE OPERA
Do you believe in ghosts? Of course not. We like to talk
about ghosts, and to tell stories about them, but we
don't really believe in them ... do we?
In the Paris Opera House in 1880, strange things are

happening. One of the dancers sees a shadow in a dark
passage. It comes through a wall in front of her, and its
face has no eyes. One ofthe stage workers seesa man in
a black evening coat, but he has the head of a dead man,
with a yellow face and no nose. People hear a voice in
another room, but the room is empty.

It is the Phantom of the Opera ...

O XFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY

Fantasy & Ho"or

The Phantom of the Opera
Stage 1 (400 hl'adwonts)

Series Editor. Jennifer BasseU
FOWlder Editor: Trkla Hedge
Activities Editors: JermiferBaS»Ctt and Allson Baxter

F or
Ridlard

J ENNIFER

BASSETT

The Phantom
of the Opera

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

C ONTENTS
STORY IN1ROOUCTION

i

The Opera House in Paris

1

1 The dancers

2

2 The directors of the Opera House

S

3 Cbristine Daae

8

4 The Phantom is angry

12

5 A letter for Raou!

15

6 La earlotta

~ngs Marpm

18

7 My angel ofmusic

22

~

28

8 \vh...

Christine Daa6?

9 The bouse

OD

the lake

10 Madame Giry visits the Persian

32
37

G~Y

41

ACTMllES: Before R.... 1ng

4S

ACI1VI11FS: WhiJe Reading

46

ACflVITlES: After Reading

48

ABOtrr THE AUTHOR

S2

ABOUT BOOKWORMS

S3

T HE OPERA HOUSE IN PARIS

is a very famous and beautiful

building. It isthe biggestOpera House in the world. Work on
the building began in 1861, finished in 1875, and costfortyseven million francs.
It has seventeen floors, ten above the ground, and seven
under the ground. Behind and under the stage, there are
stairs and passages and many, many rooms - dressingrooms for the singers and the dancers, rooms for the stage
workers, the opera dresses and shoes... There are more than2,500 doors in the building. You can walk for hours and never
see daylight under the Paris Opera House.
And the Opera House has a ghost, a phantom, a man in
black clothes. He is a body without a head, or a head without
a body. He has a yellow face, he has no nose, he has black
holes for eyes...
This isthetrue story of the Phantom of the Opera. It begins
one day in 1880, inthe dancers'dressing-room ...

_
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1
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The dancers
'Quick! Quick! Close the door! It's him!' Annie Sorelli ran into
the dressing-room, her face white.
One of the girls ran and closed the door, and then they all
turned to Annie Sorelli.
'Who? Where? What's the matter?' they cried.

'It's the ghost!' Annie said. 'In the passage. I saw him. He
came through the wall in front ofme! And ... and I saw his face!'
Most afthe girls were afraid, but one ofthem, a tall girl "With
black hair, laughed.
'Pooh!' she said. 'Everybody says they see the Opera ghost,
but there isn't really a ghost. You saw a shadow on the wal1.'
But she did not open the door, or look into the passage.
'Lots of people see him,' a second girl said. 'Joseph Buquet
saw him two days ago. Don't youremember?'
Then all the girls began to talk at once.
'Joseph says the ghost is tall and he wears a black evening
coat.'
'He has the head of a dead man, lNith a yellow face and no
nose
And no eyes - only black holes!'
Then little Meg Giry spoke for the first time. 'Don't talk
about him. He doesn't like it. My mother told me.'
'Your mother?' the girllNith black hair said. 'What does yourmother know about the ghost?'

T he dancers

'Joseph sqvs the ghost is talL and he 'wears a bLack evening Coal.'

3

4

The Phantom of/he Opera

'She says that Joseph Buquet is a fool. The ghost doesn't like
people talking about him, and one day Joseph Buquet is going
to be sorry, very sorry.'
'But what does your mother know? Tell us, tell us!' all the
girls cried.
'Oh dear!'...