The Phantom Of The Opera Jennifer Bassett

THE 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 sees a manin a black evening coat, but he has the head ofa 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 ...

OXFORD 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: Jermifer BaS»Ctt andAllson Baxter

For
Ridlard

JENNIFER

BASSETT

The Phantom of the Opera

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

CONTENTS
STORY IN1ROOUCTION

i

The Opera House in Paris 1 The dancers 2 The directors of the Opera House
3 Cbristine Daae

1 2 S 8
12 15

4 The Phantom is angry
5 A letter for Raou!

6 La earlotta 8 \vh...
~

~ngs Marpm

18
22

7 My angel of music Christine Daa6?
OD28 32 37 41 4S 46 48 S2 S3

9 The bouse

the lake

10 Madame Giry visits the Persian
G~Y

ACTMllES: Before R.... 1ng

ACI1VI11FS: WhiJe Reading ACflVITlES: After Reading
ABOtrr THE AUTHOR

ABOUT BOOKWORMS

THE OPERA HOUSE IN PARIS

is a very famous and beautiful

building. It isthe biggest Opera House in the world. Work on the building began in 1861, finished in 1875, andcostfortyseven 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 than 2,500 doors in the building. You can walk for hours and never see daylight under theParis 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 ...

_ -..:,,-;1 1{

1
~

~ l~

The dancers
'Quick! Quick! Close thedoor! 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 of me! And ... and I saw his face!'
Most afthe girls were afraid, but one ofthem, a tall girl "Withblack 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 you remember?' Then all the girls began to talk at once. 'Joseph says the ghost is tall and he wears a blackevening 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 your mother know about the ghost?'

The dancers

3

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

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!' said Meg. 'But please don't say a word to anyone. You know my mother is the doorkeeper for some afthe boxes in the Opera...