I'm writing this partly because I fucking love this musical after having seen it one (1) time, partly because I have the memory of a goldfish and would like to remember what happens, partly to encourage other people to watch the (imo) superior musical about Erik Phantom :]
Speaking of encourage, I highly recommend people watch this the first time blind because I will be spoiling the twist and ending in this post and they both punched me in the gut when I watched it :D
Without further ado, summary (?) under the cut!
starts with a short description of the opera house and Erik (I'll just call him Erik throughout unless I'm quoting from the musical) appears on the side wearing the sickest mask I ever seen
Christine Daae is introduced and she's selling sheet music in front of the opera house. Everyone is enamored with her because she's nice, pretty, and sings well. (think Belle from Beauty and the Beast)
One of the people who finds her is Phillipe de Chandon, head sponsor for the opera house. He's immediately interested in her and recommends she get lessons in the opera house from the manager Gerard Carriere. He'd escort her if he could but he's got business (and other girls) to attend to. Christine's song is one of the cutest I ever seen
Joseph Buquet and Carlotta are going through the opera house. Buquet doesn't want to go to the basement but Carlotta forces him to cause, as it turns out, Carlotta is the wife of the new manager of the opera house. Buquet goes down to the basement and gets lost in the catacombs before happening upon Erik. However, he sees Erik while he's changing his mask and freaks out. Erik is forced to kill him after a moment of hesitation
In the opera house, things are in turmoil cause Gerard Carriere got sacked in favor of a new manager Alain Cholet (he bought his way into the job). Gerard tries to convince Alain to not sack him because there are parts to his job that he can't explain or talk about but are very important, but Alain won't have it. Erik drops down a note which says that Joseph Buquet has broken the rules. Carriere takes Alain to his office to try and scare him with the story of the ghost of the opera house, but Alain Definitely doesn't believe in Ghosts and he Isn't Scared and believes this is all a ruse by Carriere to get his job back.
Erik calls down Carriere. Erik reminds Carriere that it's his job to prevent people from coming into the catacombs, but Carriere says he couldn't do anything because he got fired. Carriere asks him if he really killed Buquet and he confirms. He had no choice, Buquet broke the rules AND saw his face. Just then Carlotta begins practicing upstairs and Erik freaks out. "Oh my god, Carriere this place really is haunted 😢" "No, that's just Carlotta" "Her voice is as hideous as my face... what does she do?" "She's the new diva of the opera house." "Carriere I'm going to die." "Can't help you I got sacked, remember? I gotta go." "Take me with you 😭" "You know you can't leave." "I know! Someone as hideous as me couldn't go to the world above!"
Christine makes her way to the opera house and tries to find Gerard Carriere as Phillipe recommended but because he got fired, she's sent to Carlotta to get "music lessons". Carlotta doesn't want to teach her but Alain tells her she's sponsored by a rich guy and so she decides to let Christine work in the costuming department to "learn by observation"
Christine sings a song about feeling at home in the opera house, even as a costumer, and Erik overhears and is instantly smitten. He offers to teach Christine as long as she promises to not see his face. She agrees!
Carlotta being the lead singer doesn't sit right with Erik so he keeps pranking her (putting bugs in her wig, gluing her props down, etc.) so her shows all flop. They ask the help of Inspector Leroux to catch the perpetrator but you can't catch a ghost. They also find the body of Joseph Buquet in the manager's closet, left there by Erik. Meanwhile Phantom is teaching Christine and falling steadily in love with her. They nearly kiss 3 times and Erik both initiated and turned away from it all three times 😔Erik says that Christine has learned all she can and should debut soon. She mentions that auditions are closed, but Erik has a plan. The Bistro across the road has open mic :]
There's a party being hosted by Phillipe that's a singing competition. He's invited everyone including Carriere and Christine. Carlotta sings first and only gets fanfare from her husband. Christine sings next and blows everyone away. Carriere mentions she's extremely good at singing like one of the previous opera house divas, Belladova. Carlotta (in a very sus move) praises Christine and says she absolutely has to play the lead role Titania in a new opera. Phillipe, who was already smitten with Christine, is now fully in love.
Phillipe escorts Christine to his favorite place in Paris in a car (there's a CAR!) and shares a glass of champagne with her. he sings about how he loves her and she says she needs some time to make a decision. Erik saw them from the shadows and is sad that she didn't see him. He wonders if he's just going to have to let her go the way he's let everything else good in his life go.
It's the day of Christine's debut and she's nervous as hell. Carlotta brews up a drink and tells her that it's an "herbal tea" to "help soothe the nerves". So Christine drinks it all and goes out to perform. But as then she finds her throat is really dry and unable to sing properly. Erik reveals himself and drops the chandelier (it actually drops to the floor! controlled of course, but! it drops!) as a distraction while rappelling down and taking her down to the catacombs. Phillipe tries to stop him, but gets shoved out of the way by Erik. Erik also notices on the way down that the "drink" Christine was given was actually a poison. Carriere knows where Erik is going, so he goes down to confront him.
End of Act 1 :D
(warning for Act 2: some mentions of attempted suicide and death)
Before Act 2 really starts they fix the chandelier
Erik takes Christine (unconscious) on a boat ride to his room. He sings about how she's his world and the thought of her having to face the cruel outside world pains him and that he'd protect her no matter what. That he'd get revenge for her.
He settles her into bed and is about to leave when Carriere confronts him. Carriere begs Erik to let her go but he refuses. "I can't send an angel like her to a hell like that." When Carriere doesn't let up, he explains how she was betrayed and he loves her and would never let anything bad happen to her. He'd much rather pull a lever that destroys the whole opera house (which is a thing, apparently) before sending her back up. Erik kicks Carriere out and tells him to never come back before leaving himself.
Christine wakes up, confused. Carriere (who didn't leave) finds her awake and tries to convince her to leave, saying how Erik was a horrible guy and if you'd just see his face. Christine says that she's seen his eyes and believes he's a good man at heart. Carriere explains that even good men can do evil things (this doesn't do anything to her) and that he loves her because she sounds like his mother. Christine notices that Carriere knows a lot about Erik and Carriere reveals that HE'S ERIK'S DAD?????
They then move into a ballet/musical number hybrid that details how Carriere, when he was assistant manager, met Belladova who was a ballerina at the time. They soon fell in love and Belladova revealed to him that she was actually an extremely good singer. He convinces her to audition and she becomes really popular for her singing extremely quickly. The lovers get really close and eventually Belladova reveals she's pregnant with his child and wants to get married but, uh oh! Carriere hasn't told her a very important fact about himself! He's fucking married! Because Belladova became pregnant out of wedlock, she gets rejected by everyone she relied on and runs away from Carriere. She turns to poison in an attempt to either abort the child or kill herself, but it fails to do both and she gives birth to Erik. Carriere is horrified by Erik's disfigurement, but Belladova believes that he is the most beautiful child in the world. She tries to take care of him within the catacombs but ends up passing away when he's still a child, leaving Carriere to take care of him. Erik eventually sees his face for the first time in the water and freaks out, thinking it's a sea monster. This is when Carriere fashions him a mask and his cries begins the rumors of the Phantom of the Opera.
At the end of the story, Carriere tries one more time to convince Christine to leave, but Christine is dead set on staying. Carriere takes his leave.
Cut to Phillipe looking through the catacombs for Christine but failing to find her in the depths.
Cut again to Erik who's gone to face Carlotta. He tells her to leave his opera house or die and she tells him to get out of HER opera house. She runs up a metal staircase and Erik unattached a live cable and sends the electricity up the stairway, shocking her to death. (The bitch fucking dead yall can I get a hell yea)
Erik comes back down to his lair a bit in shock and accidentally wakes Christine up (she fell back asleep waiting for him). Erik awkwardly stands and asks what they should do, if she wants to have a picnic with him at the nearby forest. She agrees and they go to the "forest" (it's made of papermache and paintings) and excitedly shows off the "animals" that live there. He sets up a picnic and they share a poem which leads to Erik admitting he misses his mother. He asks her to sing and Christine agrees as long as he does a favor for her. He says he'd do anything for her and she requests to see his face. He says he can't do that, but she persistently requests it. When he finally capitulates, she's horrified and runs away. Erik laments his fate and how everything good to him seems to disappear. "I curse you! No, no, I love you. I love you! I curse you, my Christine!"
Phillipe who's been looking everywhere for Christine (he's very disheveled and not looking great himself) and has come back to her dressing room where she was last seen. Suddenly Christine appears behind the dressing room mirror and Carriere (who heard the commotion) comes up to open the false mirror. Christine admits that she saw his face and that she was so in shock she ran away. She realizes that she messed up and that she needs to go back and apologize. Tell him that she loves him and that she made a mistake. She runs away (not through the mirror) and Phillipe follows her. Carriere tells Inspector Leroux (who had also heard the commotion and come by) to evacuate the building as he wasn't sure what the Phantom would do. Everyone leaves to find Erik and Carlotta's body is found by her husband. Erik appears through the dressing room mirror, looking for Christine. Erik wanders through the opera house and is discovered by some of the patrolling policemen. He runs away, but is shot in the side in the process.
Carriere finds Erik bleeding out and hiding in a side room. Seeing Erik's state Carriere doesn't know what to do. Erik wants to go back to his home, but there's no direct access to the catacombs from where they are and they'll have to cut across the stage. Erik asks if Carriere has anything he wants to say to him. Carriere admits to being Erik's father and Erik acknowledges he already knew. They could only look so similar before it becomes suspicious. They have a really cute father-son bonding moment 😭. "Is there anything you wished of me?" "Well, I had wished you would've been more handsome." "Well, at least I have my mom's voice." "You certainly do. You would have been the best tenor in the world." Erik begs Carriere not to let him be captured by the police. To be shown off like a freak or monster. He wants to die in peace. Carriere agrees and attempts to escort him down to the catacombs.
Christine finds them as they attempt to make their way across stage and tries to apologize only to be horrified to see Erik's been shot. Phillipe (who's still following her) finds them and attempts to apprehend Erik. They brawl and Erik pulls a knife on Phillipe, but in his weakened state is unable to do anything and tries to run away instead. They find themselves brawling on the second floor walkways. Leroux tells his men to capture Erik alive. Erik tosses Phillipe over the balcony and he hangs on for dear life. Erik's about to push him off, but Christine begs Erik to save him. That she knows he isn't like this. Erik hesitates, but ultimately chooses to pull Phillipe back up, but also finds himself surrounded in the process. With no means of escape left, he grabs a nearby rope and attempts to swing over to where Christine is, but fails becoming trapped on the rope. He screams for Carriere to help him and Carriere steals a gun, threatening those who are around to back off. Erik begs Carriere to shoot him, he promised to allow Erik to die in peace, to not let him get captured. Carriere hesitates, but ultimately shoots Erik in the chest. Erik falls to the floor, not yet dead, but soon to be so. Carriere requests Leroux get everybody out of the opera house, that he'd explain everything later. Leroux says he can't do that, but Carriere whispers something in his ear and Leroux clears out the building. Christine runs over to Erik and stays with him. He asks her to sing and she does, taking off his mask and seeing him "for real" for the first and last time. He passes away as the song ends and Christine and Carriere cry for him.
AND THAT'S IT! THAT'S LIKE 90% OF THE MUSICAL! Some things I loved but wasn't really sure where to mention in the summary:
Carlotta and Alain are the funniest duo and extremely cheesy kind of lovey dovey. They will unironically call each other their "Cutie" and "Itty bitty little guy"
The actress that I saw who plays Carlotta is really good at singing bad and is perfect.
I'd say Erik in this is in his early to mid twenties with Christine being about the same
Phillipe co-owns a famous champagne company
Carlotta often laments that she has to do EVERYTHING as a diva and complains how she's "only" able to sleep 10 hours a day.
Erik has a lot of different masks which are all both a real mask and a symbolic mask. There's a winged one which he wears during the introduction that's kind of his "mysterious" one. A crown mask for when he feels particularly triumphant. A black one which he wears when he kills people. A half face white mask with a teardrop shape decal that he wears when he's feeling particularly sad. And his "normal" mask (the half face white one) which he wears when he's being more genuinely himself.
This is one of the few times I genuinely wholeheartedly ship Christine/Erik. They deserve each other and love each other and ueue
Phillipe is also a womanizer. There's that. He also felt more like a main side character than a main character which I think helped him in the end. You didn't need to know much about him except he's rich and he likes Christine and Christine ends up rejecting him by swearing her love for another.
Like I said in the beginning I love this musical. It's so fun, it's a really good mix of comedic moments with serious moments. Erik is really endearing and feels more human (?) than in PotO. Also Christine and Erik's relationship doesn't feel stockholms-y/pity-y at all. They genuinely learned to love each other. Erik is also much less stalkery about everything, holding their lessons in person and asking if she wants lessons in person and actually considering letting her go if she loves Phillipe. He's so nervous around Christine because he wants to make a good impression 😩 And Christine voluntarily chooses to stay which makes her running away hit so much harder. The music is also banger, costuming is amazing, the ballet sections were gorgeous, and all the other characters (not just erik) felt really human. 10/10 would highly recommend :D
Erik is definitely going on the "yea, he murdered people, but he didn't do anything wrong" list
Housemates AU main characters (as of yet) updated designs and their relative heights :3
Closeups and some details under cut
Dorian! His goal is to revive Basil using his angel core he’s kept on his person for years. He gets into contact with V since he’s rumored to know the most about angels.
V Dracula! His goal is to protect people from what he believes is to be the “evil” influence of angels. He’s lately been having his beliefs tested by Al’s relationship with their angel.
Al Van Helsing! Their goal is to rid the world of those who use their contracts with angels for “evil”. Al is extremely close with their angel, having saved one another’s lives. They have a frenemy relationship with V as they don’t agree with V’s idea that all angels are evil, but they understand that some contracts are better off not existing.
Dr. Henry Jekyll! His goal is to figure out the effects of prolonged exposure and consumption of Angel Ash. He got into contact with V whose goal of killing angels gives him relatively easy access to angel cores used to make angel ash.
Lazarus (aka Frankenstein’s Creature)! His goal is to find the balance between its human nature and its angel nature and who they is outside of the fragmented memories of the angel “Henry Clerval”. They’ve been hanging out with Al after Al helped contain an outburst of his angel power.
Erik (the Phantom)! His goal is to finish the “pinnacle of music” that his angel promised him when he was a child. V had attempted to kill his angel, but he was too slippery for V and they’re currently in a bit of a game of cat and mouse.
Death/Thanatos/Hel/Todd (nicknamed that by Dorian after he introduced himself as Der Tod). Its goal is to figure out why humans make contracts. She just pops in from time to time to learn what’s going on with the humans.
