Prologue [The Phantom Of The Opera]
Lot 665, ladies and gentlemen
A papier-mâché musical box in the shape of a barrel-organ
Attached, the figure of a monkey in Persian robes playing the cymbals
This item discovered in the vaults of the theatre
Still in working order, ladies and gentlemen
Showing here
May I commence at fifteen francs? Fifteen, thank you
Yes, twenty from you, sir, thank you very much
Madam Chagny, twenty five? Thank you, madam
Twenty five, I am bid if I get thirty
Thirty, and thirty five
Selling at thirty francs, then, thirty once, thirty twice?
Sold, for thirty francs to the Vicomte de Chagny, thank you, sir
A collector's piece indeed
Every detail exactly as she said
Will you still play, when all the rest of us are dead?
Lot 666, then, a chandelier in pieces
Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera
A mystery never fully explained
We are told, ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier
Which figures in the famous disaster
Our workshops have repaired it and wired parts of it for the new electric light
Perhaps we can frighten away the ghost of so many years ago
With a little illumination, gentlemen?
Writer/s: Andrew Lloyd Webber / Glenn Slater