40 Phantom of the Opera backstage secrets and ghost stories – including the British rocker who almost played the lead

The Phantom of the Opera celebrates 40 years at the West End this weekend. So what better way to celebrate a ruby anniversary than with a glitzy gala taking place at His Majesty's Theatre?

The production is currently putting on a run of anniversary shows starring the Gilded Age's Jordan Donica as the masked man at its heart, Beatrice Penny-Touré as the notorious soprano Christine Daaé, and Rhys Whitfield as Raoul.

Speaking exclusively to Radio Times ahead of the experience, the Gilded Age's Donica said: "I literally asked for this when I was a little boy seeing the show. Something in me told me that I was going to do it, and not that I just wanted to, but that I was going to.

"So to get the opportunity to step into this, I don't take it lightly. It's a huge honour. I feel as though I am walking in the footsteps of all of those that have come before me these last 40 years, and creating more new footsteps for those who will come after, and that's a thrill."

The Andrew Lloyd Webber show is known for its epic operatic music, insane production value and high drama, but how much do you really know about it?

Below we've rattled off our very best Phantom of the Opera facts for this oh so special anniversary, plus plenty of exclusive secrets and stories from the anniversary cast.

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1. It's the second longest-running West End musical

The Phantom of the Opera opened at Her Majesty's Theatre (now His Majesty's) on 9 October 1986. That makes it the second longest-running musical in West End history after Les Misérables, which opened the year before.

2. It has played over 15,000 performances

It's also the third longest-running show of all time, after Les Mis and The Mousetrap.

3. It has now played to over 140 million people

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical has been performed in over 40 countries and 190 cities worldwide, making it one of the most successful musicals of all time.

4. It has over 70 major theatre awards to its name

Three Oliver Awards, seven Tony Awards, an Evening Standard Award, seven Drama Desk Awards and five Outer Critic Circle Awards – to name just a few!

5. The story is inspired by a series of novels from Gaston Leroux

Le Fantôme de l'Opéra was first published as a serial in the French newspaper Le Gaulois from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, it was later strung into a full Gothic novel in March 1910.

6. ...But also by true events

Leroux based his novel on multiple spooky events that took place in the real Paris opera house, Palais Garnier.

As a Phantom superfan, Donica spoke about the impact of Leroux's story: "There's a lot in there. It's a mystery. It's a romance. And, because it was a serial in the newspaper, it's like the Blair Witch Project, this cultural phenomenon where everyone was like, "Is this real? This happened?" It was it was very much like that in the 1800s."

7. The chandelier crash was a real event

Act One of Phantom famously ends when a one-tonne chandelier comes crashing onto the stage. This was inspired by a real incident from 1896 in which a counterweight, which held the chandelier up, broke loose and fell through the ceiling during a performance of the opera Helle. One person was killed, and several others were injured.

However, while the Phantom is responsible for cutting the rope in the show, this event was likely caused by an overheating electrical wire.

8. The Paris Opera House really has an underground lake

Another true element is the Palais Garnier really has an underground lake – similar to the Phantom's lair. Leroux heard a rumour that a faceless man once lived in the lake.

9. The Phantom has a name

In Leroux's novel the Phantom's name is Erik, but this is never mentioned in the musical.

10. The novel was first adapted into a silent horror film

It was directed by Rupert Julian and starred Lon Chaney in the title role of the Phantom. Chaney's terrifying, skull makeup is now credited for helping launch Universal's classic monster movie era in the 20s.

11. There was a musical before Lloyd Webber's

English playwright and director, Ken Hill, first produced a stage musical of The Phantom of the Opera at The Duke’s Playhouse in Lancaster in 1976. The show was later revived in 1984 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, where one performance was caught by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh.

12. Lloyd Webber wrote Christine Daaé based on his real love story

While Christine Daaé's story comes from a myriad of places – some say she was inspired by Swedish soprano Christina Nilsson, while others look to ballerina Nanine Dorival – it is true that Lloyd Webber wrote her character for his then-wife and soprano singer Sarah Brightman.

Speaking about the character Beatrice Penny-Touré said: "I really genuinely do love her character. I love that she's so curious about everything. Especially in the time, especially as a ballet dancer who was seen as the lowest of the low, I think women weren't taught to be curious or question anything or want for more for their lives. They are just sort of told to do and they're told to be quiet, but she really challenges that constantly."

13. Michael Crawford prepared for the wrong part before his audition

When Webber first approached Crawford about The Phantom of the Opera, Crawford assumed he would be auditioning for the part of Raoul and so spent months studying for Nelson Eddy’s portrayal as Raoul in the 1943 film adaptation of Phantom.

While developing the show, Webber wrote the title song Phantom of the Opera as a pop single and created a music video featuring Sarah Brightman as Christine and British rock star Steve Harley as the Phantom.

Harley was originally slated to play the Phantom, however, as the show's score became increasingly classic and operatic, Harley's contemporary rock voice no longer fit, and so he was replaced by Michael Crawford.

15. People used to line up around the block and sleep outside to get tickets

In a 2010 interview, Michael Crawford recalled: "People would queue up around the block and sleep overnight to get tickets. It was extraordinary to come to the theatre and see so many people wanting tickets. This went on for months and months."

16. The West End has had over 20 Phantoms

Michael Crawford's run as the Phantom was just the start, since then the role has been taken on by the likes of Killian Donnelly, Martin Smith, Peter Karrie, Dave Willetts, John Owen-Jones, Ramin Karimloo and so many more.

Now for the show's 40th anniversary, the part has passed on to Jordan Donica.

17. The album was the first of its kind to chart at number one

The original cast recording of was the first in British musical theatre history to enter the charts at number one. Nowadays album sales exceed 60 million.

18. Its box office revenues are higher than any film in history

Yes that's right, higher than Avatar, higher than Avengers: Endgame, higher than Titanic, Phantom of the Opera has grossed a box office revenue of $6 billion – more than any film or stage show in history.

19. Becoming the Phantom takes two hours

Putting on the Phantom's legendary makeup takes nearly two hours of prep. It includes prosthetics, two wigs and contact lenses all before you get to the mask.

20. The mask is custom made

Every actor who has played the Phantom has had a mask custom moulded to their face.

21. Gerard Butler went through an insane number of Phantom masks

When filming the 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie, Butler recalled trying hundreds of masks, while another account puts the final selection process at roughly 55 masks.

22. Actors like Hugh Jackman, Antonio Banderas and John Travolta were considered for the film

Director Joel Schumacher considered a range of actors to star in the 2004 Phantom film, but ultimately stumbled on Butler by accident. Schumacher and his assistant went to a cinema in St Louis and watched a screening of Dracula 2000, when Butler appeared bursting out of a coffin, the director began sizing him up for the Phantom.

23. Anne Hathaway and Keira Knightley almost played Christine

Joel Schumacher was very set on casting Emmy Rossum in the role. Since Hathaway was filming another project in 2004, the role ultimately went to Rossum.

24. Plenty of actors have played the Phantom and Raoul, but only one has gone a step further

Ramin Karimloo, who has played both Raoul and the Phantom in the West End production, appears in the 2004 film in a brief cameo as Christine’s father.

This makes him the only actor to ever play all three of the central male figures in Christine's life – he also originated the role of the Phantom in the infamous sequel Love Never Dies, but more on that later.

25. There are 230 costumes in each performance

Not just 230 costumes, but 14 dressers and 111 wigs.

Raoul's actor Rhys Whitfield describes one particular costume change: "There's about a 42nd change that I do out of Masquerade into Managers Two, where I stand there and my dressers have to move so fast.

"Jack's behind me and I have to kind of leap and he just whips my trousers off - sounds dreadful out of context! I think there's so much fun stuff backstage. I guarantee there's like an ensemble that has to do some insane juggling of costume, juggling of propage, juggling of everything."

26. Plus 250kg of dry ice for each performance

It's a foggy, spooky show! That means using 250kg of dry ice per performance across 10 smoke machines, not to mention 281 candles.

27. The chandelier is made up of 6,000 beads

The infamous one-tonne chandelier is three metres wide and features 35 beads per string.

28. The sound of the chandelier crashing in the film is an actual recording

In April 2004, an audience attending the stage production in London was asked to stay behind after the performance. Their reactions were recorded for use as sound effects for the movie's crash.

29. Plus, it has a name

The West End crew fondly named the chandelier Ruthie after Ruth Mitchell, the long-time assistant to director Hal Prince. The Broadway replica was then named Ruthie II.

30. Ruth Mitchell actually took Raoul’s famous "fall" during testing

Speaking of Ruth Mitchell, Prince described a moment in rehearsal when the assistant performed Raoul's famous stunt fall to prove it was safe; climbing over the railing of the travelator and dropping through the stage to the mattresses below.

31. Other props can be an issue

In the production's underground-lake sequence, stagehands physically move the boat rather than it simply gliding automatically, however, it has been known to malfunction. During one Toronto performance, Colm Wilkinson's boat stopped in the wrong place, so he got out, stayed in character and physically dragged it to its mark.

32. Each performance has 120 people directly involved

Phantom is a huge labour of love for those involved, a total of 120 cast, crew and orchestra work behind the scenes each week. Whitfield called it a "well-oiled machine".

Donica said: "There are so many elements. There's the makeup. There's the mask. There's the costumes. There's the vocals. There's the dialogue. Then there's your partners on stage. There's so many elements and moving pieces. It's like a puzzle trying to put it all together, then there's the magic."

33. "The Phantom of the Opera is here... or there" is said 22 times

It's a well-worn phrase in the show!

34. It used to be the longest-running show on Broadway

Phantom ran at Broadway's Majestic Theatre for 35 years, with 13,981 performances completed. It was and still is Broadway's longest-running show.

35. Until it closed in 2023

The musical closed after struggling to recoup its post-pandemic costs. Plus, weekly running expenses jumped by roughly 15 per cent to about $950,000 post-lockdown due to inflation and the sheer size of the production.

Donica, who starred in the Broadway production as Raoul, spoke about its closure: "There were as many people in the crew as there were on stage, which you don't see on Broadway anymore because of all the automation.

"Phantom was very old school, which I think adds to the magic it. When you know that it's a bunch of human beings creating this experience, and not just a bunch of machines, it really makes it makes it something special."

36. Jordan Donica was the first Black actor to play Raoul on Broadway

"I never saw myself as Raoul," he said, "I said as much when I played the role, and you know you get a lot of ignorant comments from people who don't understand history and diasporas and the fact that people have have been moving and all peoples have been everywhere basically since the dawn time.

"There's a lot of source material that we could get into showing the existence of Africans in different parts of the world, and not just Africans, but all different types of people.

"But even when you come across ignorance, you can show ignorance proof of existence, and they'll still be ignorant. But Hal and Seth, upon meeting, Hal just looked at me one day and was like, 'I don't care what anyone says. You look like Raoul to me,' and that was all that needed to be said."

37. The first US Tour of Phantom of the Opera lasted 10 years

The first touring production of Phantom opened on May 18, 1989 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Two additional tours emerged after this, the third and final original production tour spanning 18 years, making it one of the longest-running touring theatre productions in the United States.

38. The show still has a reputation for supernatural backstage stories

Ghostly sightings still haunt the Phantom cast. Some believe the theatre is home to the spirit of its founder Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, while others have joked about the ghost of Sir Tommy Cooper, who tragically collapsed and died onstage during a live broadcast at the theatre in 1984.

39. The show has a sequel

Love Never Dies was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and first staged in 2010. It follows the story of Christine Daaé's debut in America, where she is lured into a trap by the returning Phantom.

However, the show received largely negative reviews from critics and closed after just 18 months. Lloyd Webber stated that although he was, "very, very proud" of the London production, it did not completely work and also said, "something just went slightly wrong; I had cancer just before the production, and it was just that crucial 5 per cent off-beam".

40. It's celebrating 40 years this Friday

9 October is the official celebration day for 40 years of Phantom of the Opera... may it enjoy 40 more.

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