The Phantom of the Opera (radio)

“The Phantom of the Opera” is a radio program from the American radio anthology series Radio Tales. The anthology series adapted classic works of American and world literature for the radio. The series was a recipient of numerous awards, including four Gracie Allen Awards from the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television (in 2004, [ [http://www.awrt.org/press-releases/2004/Press_Release_%20Announce_Winners.pdf "AWRT Press Release"] AWRT.org. Accessed March 21, 2008.] 2003, [ [http://www.npr.org/about/press/030402.gracie.html "NPR Productions Win Gracie Allen Awards"] NPR.org. Accessed March 21, 2008.] 2001, [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20011126020253/www.awrt.org/awards/2000GracieWinners.html "2001 Gracie Allen Award Winners"] AWRT.org, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008.] and 1998), a New York Festivals WorldMedal, [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20050207122048/http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/res/pdf/2004RPwinners.pdf "2004 Winners, Radio Programming and Promotion, New York Festivals"] NewYorkFestivals.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008.] and a Golden Reel Merit Award. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20010802161539/www.nfcb.org/2001reelsinfo.html "NFCB Announces 2001 Golden Reel Award Winners"] NFCB.org, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008.] "The Phantom of the Opera” program from the Radio Tales series was an adaptation of the classic novel by Gaston Leroux.

Broadcast History

The Radio Tales production of “The Phantom of the Opera” was first broadcast via NPR on June 5, 2001 [National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition Spring 2001". NPR Marketing, Vol. VII, No. II] . The program encompassed two half-hour installments that were distributed to NPR member stations as part of the NPR Playhouse cultural series. Since November 28th, 2002, the entire Radio Tales series has aired in reruns on the Sonic Theater channel (163) of the XM Satellite Radio service [ [http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/features/sonictheater.xmc "Sonic Theater"] XMRadio.com. Accessed May 22, 2008.] . "The Phantom of the Opera” program debuted on XM Satellite Radio on May 17, 2003.

Production Information

The program was produced and script edited by series producer Winnie Waldron, who also served as the on-air host [ [http://www.winifredphillips.com/wp_bio.html "Winifred Phillips Official Site: Biography"] Winifredphillips.com. Accessed May 19, 2008.] . Composer Winifred Phillips created over fifty-six minutes of music for the program, and also performed as the featured actress [ [http://www.mninter.net/~jstearns/nprPH.html#top "NPR Playhouse - January - March, 2001"] MNinter.net. Accessed March 21, 2008.] . “The Phantom of the Opera” was part of the sixth year of Radio Tales on NPR Playhouse [National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition Spring 2001". NPR Marketing, Vol. VII, No. II] .

Media

The Radio Tales production of “The Phantom of the Opera” has been available in numerous formats and venues, including burn-on-demand CDs manufactured and distributed by MP3.com [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20031129193548/artists.mp3s.com/artists/33/npr_radio_tales.html "MP3.com: Radio Tales"] MP3.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed July 15, 2008.] and Ampcast.com [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20060212003627/http://www.ampcast.com/music/25229/artist.php "Ampcast.com: Radio Tales"] Ampcast.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed July 15, 2008.] . Beginning in 2005, programs from the series, including "The Phantom of the Opera” program, have been available for download via the Audioville.co.uk web site [ [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view.php?Id=583&ProductCategoryId=59 "audioVille | Stor>>Fiction | Radio Tales | Download Audio Books, Podcasts and more in MP3. Comedy, Fiction, sport, news, science, drama."] Audioville.co.uk. Accessed [September 25] , 2008.] .

Opening narration

Plot Summary

The initially unidentified narrator begins the story by describing a remarkable superstition about a phantom resident of the Paris Opera House. The apparition is apparently responsible for the death of the chief scene-shifter. But this catastrophe does not stop the night’s performance, which turns out to be a veritable triumph for the young soprano Christine. Claiming no singing professor, apparently untrained and sounding ‘like a carrion crow’ only six months previously, Christine’s voice has made an inexplicable and remarkable transformation. Her aural (and visual) loveliness win over a young spectator named Raoul, who insists on visiting Christine backstage after the performance. He hesitates before knocking on the dressing room door, hearing a man’s voice within. At length Christine emerges, alone, closing the door behind her. Instead of approaching her, Raoul enters her dressing room, and finds it unoccupied. Over the course of the following days Raoul and Christine spend time together, their initial bond blossoming into love and then into marriage plans – which are interrupted when the young soprano is carried off in the middle of a performance. Everyone assumes the unknown kidnapper to be the renowned phantom.

The identity of the narrator is now revealed as a distant relation of the Shah of Persia, who met a brilliant but disfigured architect in Persia many years previously. Wearing a mask to conceal his face, the architect had designed the palace of the Shah, incorporating many secret passages that were triggered by inspired mechanical devices. Once the palace was completed, the Shah had ordered the death of the architect (so the secrets of the palace should be known by no one but himself). The narrator had helped the architect escape.

Now, many years later, the narrator has discovered that same architect to be living in an underground house constructed inside an enormous cavern, and situated beneath an opera house that he had designed himself. By these means had the architect established himself as the “phantom of the opera”, by the use of many secret passages he had installed in the opera house. These passages and other hidden devices had also enabled him to hide unseen and speak to Christine like a disembodied voice whispering close to her ear, giving her vocal instruction as well as tender professions of his love. His adoration for the young soprano has not been dimmed by the fact that she has never seen him.

Upon Christine’s kidnapping, the narrator takes Raoul down through the bowels of the opera house, through a trap door that leads directly into the phantom’s lair – though the narrator had not known that dropping down through the trap door would leave them in a sealed room resembling the Shah’s palace dungeon in precise detail. From this prison they overhear the phantom’s voice through the wall as he exhorts Christine to either marry him or die along with everyone in the opera house above them. Soon, the narrator and Raoul discover a chamber below the dungeon, which is loaded with barrels full of gunpowder, and thus is the phantom’s deadly plan revealed.

In the adjacent room, the phantom directs Christine towards two switches on the mantelpiece, telling her to activate one or the other – one would mean that she agreed to marry him, and the other would signify her refusal. Thinking of the innocent lives at stake, Christine selects the switch that indicates her assent to the marriage, at which point the storehouse full of barrels (and the connected dungeon which Raoul and the narrator currently occupy) begin filling with water. Raoul and the narrator are quickly plunged in swirling water that overcomes them both, and they lose consciousness. The narrator awakens briefly to discover that the phantom has rescued them. Later, the narrator awakens at home, where the housekeeper reveals that the narrator had been discovered, propped in the doorway, left by a stranger who had rung the bell and then retreated. Raoul, however, has yet to be located. At length, the phantom visits the narrator’s home. During this visit, the phantom is a changed man – frail of body and drowning in the intensity of his own emotions. He tells the narrator of Christine’s tenderness towards him, of how she had allowed him to kiss her forehead, of how he had removed his mask and she did not shrink from his ugliness. They had cried together, and the beauty of that moment had inspired the phantom to give Christine and Raoul their freedom, so that they could be married. The phantom tells the narrator that he is stricken by the pain of love, and that he is dying. He promises to have all his possessions sent to the narrator upon his passing, whereupon the narrator will inform Christine and Raoul of the death of the phantom.

References

External Links

* [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view.php?Id=583&ProductCategoryId=59 The Phantom of the Opera Streaming Audio Excerpts on Audioville.co.uk]
* [http://www.radiotales.com/ The Official Radio Tales® Web Site]
* [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view_productcategory.php?Id=59 Radio Tales® Full Series - Streaming Audio Excerpts]
* [http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/channelpage.xmc?ch=163 XM Satellite Radio – Information on the Sonic Theater Channel]