But as it is the case with any respectable university, the lecture alone will not cover all the chapters required for the test, you will need to do a lot of research on your own as all promising students do. That being said, let us begin with our lesson.
The Phantom of the Opera is a book published by french author Gaston Leroux in 1910. It tells the tragic story of Erik, a disfigured genius. His deformities are described as making him look so ugly that no other human could stand to look at him which results in him being hated even by his own mother. In order to try and live among humans, Erik always wears a mask to hide his face but even so he is still treated like an animal by all people.
However he is gifted with other almost superhuman qualities: a voice compared to that of an angel as well as being a genius architect and composer. During his life he also becomes a master of different skills like that of illusion, ventriloquism as well as handling of the punjab lasso, a deadly weapon gaining him the reputation of a fierce assassin.
His love for music and architecture is what urges him to get involved in the construction of the Paris Opera House as a contractor. This way he has a direct role in the building of one of the greatest buildings of Paris but he also manages to create for himself a network of hidden paths and trapdoors leading to a secret lair that he uses as his home away from all humanity.
In order to amuse himself and also to extort the managers of the Opera House of a monthly fee, he uses his skills combined with the maze he created through the walls of the opera to scare workers, actors and guests and create the myth that the whole building is haunted. He also kills anyone that would come too close to his secret lair. That is how the legend of the Phantom of the Opera was born.
Erik's life takes a sudden turn when one day he watches a young chorus girl during practice. This was Christine Daae, an orphan girl raised by her father who seems to have a beatiful voice but somehow "lacks spirit". Erik falls in love with Christine without even realising and decides to train her to become a great soprano. To do that, he uses a story that Christine's father used to tell her: after he were to die, she would be visited by the Angel of Music, a mythical spirit that watches over talented singers. With his skills of illusion and ventriloquism Erik easily impersonates this angel and becomes Christine's mentor.
His strange relationship with young Christine Daae is endangered by the appearance of Raoul de Chagny, a young viscount that happened to be a childhood friend of Christine. They quickly develop feelings for each other arousing Erik's jealousy and anger. The Phantom reveals himself to Christine and takes her to his lair where asks her to become his wife and live in that home for the rest of their life. However, when she pulls his mask off and finds out what he was hiding beneath it she is becomes terrified of Erik and asks to be taken back.
He decides that he can't keep her captive against his will so he takes her back on the surface asking her to think about his proposal and come back to him to deliver an answer. Despite his plea, she plans to run away with Raoul without giving him an answer or even saying goodbye. But Erik secretly followed them and found out about this plan right from the start. Blinded with anger he kidnaps Christine and then traps Raoul as the viscount was trying to save her.
Erik asks Christine to choose one of two terrible fates. Either she will accept to marry him or he will blow up the entire opera house killing all guests, himself, Christine and Raoul in the process. In an act of pitty and sacrifice Christine kisses Erik, something that surprised and impressed him since even his own mother denied him any kiss. Overcome with emotion he relseases both Christine and Raoul giving them his blessing to marry each other. Erik is known to die of a broken heart a few weeks later.
The whole book is written in the form of interviews with a few of the key characters of the plot and the author insists both in the prologue and the epilogue that the whole story was real and all those interviews really took place. This hypothesis becomes an interesting one as we find out that many of the caracters from the book are based on real people and some of those events really took place. Actually the only important character that seems to not have any corespondence in real life was of course Erik. But then again his existence wasn't confirmed by officials even in the book so if he was real we wouldn't expect the press of those days to aknowledge him.
Gaston Leroux's books didn't enjoy a great success untill 1925 when a movie based on his book was released. It was a silent movie starring Lon Chaney known as the man with 1000 faces. And truly his makeup was considered revolutionary for that age. Actually the women were advised in theaters to keep smelling salts on hand in case they fainted at his sight. Since then some more movies were released based on this story most notably the ones from in 1943 and 1962.
The Phantom of the Opera was also subject to book adaptations. Out of those, the best known is Susan Kay's Phantom which tells the story of Erik starting with his childhood and even spans some years after his and Christine's death. That book is divided into several parts each of them narrated by one of the main characters of the plot including his mother, Erik himself as well as Christine. This book comes as an addition to the original novel answering lots of questions that Leroux left pending with his work and also offering a different perspective on the events of the original story.
But the most important adaptation to the Phantom of the Opera is Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. It was released for the general public in 1986 with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the main roles and quickly became a success. Today it is considered the most successful entertainment event of all times surpassing the movie Titanic. In 2011 it celebrated 25 years of performances (each of them sold out) during which it has been seen by 130 million people. And for those of them that hadn't been lucky enough to be able to travel to one of the select cities and see it live, the anniversary performance starring Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess was also filmed and released on DVD for the first time in it's history. In 2004, a movie based on the musical was also released starring Gerrad Butler and Emmy Rossum.
I hope you've enjoyed the lesson so now it's time for your test. There is no time limit so you may do a proper research before answering any of the questions.
1. There were many movies based on the original story of Erik. And since the original book was very vague as to what happened to him in the end many of those movies improvised some more or less spectacular ending. What happened to Erik in the first movie ever made based on the story?
a) He was buried alive when the roof of the opera house colapsed
b) He was chased by an angry mob and drowned
c) He and Christine disappeared beneath the opera house
d) He was shot and killed by Raoul while he was involuntarily hurting Christine
e) While the fire burned the opera house, he sacrificed himself in order to save Christine from the flames.
2. The end of Erik wasn't the only thing that movies improvised about. His deformity is one other aspect that is different from one movie to another. For example, in one of those movies, someone throws acid in his face right after he killed his first victim. In what year was that movie released?
a) 1925
b) 1943
c) 1962
d) 1998
e) 2004
3. One scene common to the original book as well to the well known musical was that of the masquerade ball. On the original story Erik shows himself as a guest without actually wearing a mask and every other guest is shocked at how grotesque his "makeup" is. In the musical he appears wearing a skeleton mask instead the actual deformity of the leading character. He then proceeds to deconspire himself as being the phantom while making threats at everyone present. But in both cases, this costume is well known by it's name which is:
a) The Angel in Hell
b) The Demon of Music
c) The Devil's Child
d) The Red Death
e) The Mask of Death
4. Many of the caracters and events from the original story were based on true facts. There was a real Chagny noble family, Carlotta is based on a real person, there is a real opera house in Paris with and underground lake (that it is said was completely dried out), there was a real accident in a opera house involving a counterweight falling and killing an employee. It would seem that most people and events from the book actually existed except for Erik himself. But then again his existence was supposed to be a secret one so who knows what Leroux actually knew. But to get back to the subject, for one of the characters the inspiration source is quite clear and that is Christine Daae. There was a opera singer also named Christine (it was actually Christina) who shares lots of aspects of her life and musical careeer with that of Erik's loved Christine. She even became a countess just as Christine is supposed to if she married Raoul. What is the last name of the real Christine?
a) Brightman
b) Curry
c) Nilsson
d) Firmin
e) Minnie
5. Erik's origin and death isn't the only thing that movies changed from time to time. There was one movie in which the Phantom didn't even have any deformities and he wasn't wearing a mask. What's the release year of this one?
a) 1925
b) 1943
c) 1962
d) 1998
e) 2004
6. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical was a huge success. And it's theme song was performed by many international artists or different instruments and music styles. Richard Clayderman played this song on the piano, the finnish band Nightwish has a rock cover, Blik 182 performed it in their own original way and it's even been sung using the pan flute by a romanian singer. But what one could find really surprising is that a well known pop star performed the song almost as good as a soprano along 4 singers all known for their history as leading actors in the musical. Who is that star?
a) Jennifer Lopez
b) Lady Gaga
c) Nicole Scherzinger
d) Kylie Minogue
e) Inna - don't even bother looking, it's not her :)
7. While rising as a star of the opera with the help of Erik, Christine replaced a famous soprano. As usual, each move took the liberty of naming her as they pleased and changing everything about her as they saw fit. In Webber's musical, she does have the same first name as in the original book but her home country is changed to Italy. What country was that soprano from in the original story?
a) Spain
b) England
c) France
d) Russia
e) Germany
8. The phantom was not only a great artist who fell in love with the young Christine Daae. He was also a deadly assassin prepared to kill anyone who stood in his way. This side of him inspired a few directors in creating horror movies based on his story besides the better known dramas. In one of those movies, the role of the phantom was assumed by an actor well known for another horror movie character. What character would that be?
a) Hannibal Lecter
b) Jason Voorhees
c) Michael Myers
d) Freddy Krueger
e) Jack Torrace
9. Erik didn't only used his skills to hide himself or scare away unwelcome visitors. He also extorted the managers of the opera house who genuinely thought a ghost was haunting the building and were paying him a sum of money each month. How much money were they paying him each month?
a) 1500 francs
b) 10000 francs
c) 20000 francs
d) 40000 francs
e) 100000 francs
10. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical is the greatest entertaining event of all time. In october 2011 it celebrated 25 years. 25 years of full house performances and more records than one might count. However there is one world record that it doesn't hold and that's the one for the longest running show on West End. And that is held by Les Miserables which opened one year ahead of Phantom of the Opera and also celebrated 25 years of activity of course one year ahead of Phantom. But the interesting thing about these shows is that they are connected by many actors that played different parts in both of them. They even share the same producer, Cameron Mackintosh. How many actors (main characters, minor characters as well as special guests - Cameron not included of course) appeared both in the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables and of The Phantom of the Opera?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
d) 5
e) 6
11. Erik was a huge mistery for everyone. Most didn't even believed he existed and those who did believe thought he was a ghost haunting the opera house. But according to the original novel there was one person who knew his identity all along and who will help Raould in the end at the risk of his/her own life. Who is that person?
a) Madame Giry
b) The Persian
c) Richard Firmin
d) Philippe de Chagny
e) The rat catcher
12. Most of the actors from the 2004 movie weren't professional singers but they pulled a decent job. However there was one actress who couldn't perform her role and her singing is dubbed by a soprano. What role was that?
a) Christine Daae
b) Carlotta
c) Madame Giry
d) Meg Giry
e) Madeleine Chagny
13. Susan Kay's novel "Phantom" retold the original plot from different perspectives and even extended Erik's life story starting from even before he was born. What year did she claimed he was born?
a) 1830
b) 1831
c) 1832
d) 1833
e) 1834
14. During 26 years of live performances plus the movie based on the musical there were tens of actors playing either the role of Erik or that of Raoul. Some were even lucky enough to play both during all these years. But one of them is the only one to have portrayed all three men that Christine is sentimentally attached to. Name this person:
a) Michael Crawford
b) Ben Lewis
c) Gerrad Butler
d) Ramin Karimloo
e) Colm Wilkinson
15. Michael Crawford was the original Phantom of Webber's musical and thus became the most famous Phantom in history. But before he was cast for this role, the producers chose another singer for this role. They even released a music video starring him and the leading female performing the Phantom of the Opera before deciding to cast Crawford instead. Who was this original phantom?
a) Steve Harley
b) Lon Chaney
c) Steve Barton
d) John Owen-Jones
e) Anthony Warlow
All done? Good. The good news is that you will get your grade on the spot. Up next is the scoring table. You start with the score of 0 and add or substract different number of points based on your answer to each of the questions.
Question 1
a) +40
b) +50
c) +60
d) +70
e) +80
Question 2
a) +250
b) +300
c) +350
d) +400
e) +450
Question 3
a) -10
b) -15
c) -20
d) -25
e) -30
Question 4
a) +10
b) +20
c) +30
d) +40
e) +50
Question 5
a) +15
b) +25
c) +35
d) +45
e) +55
Question 6
a) -110
b) -120
c) -130
d) -140
e) -150
Question 7
a) +500
b) +550
c) +600
d) +650
e) +700
Question 8
a) +35
b) +45
c) +55
d) +65
e) +75
Question 9
a) -40
b) -50
c) -60
d) -70
e) -80
Question 10
a) -50
b) -100
c) -150
d) -200
e) -250
Question 11
a) +53
b) +57
c) +61
d) +65
e) +69
Question 12
a) -50
b) -55
c) -60
d) -65
e) -70
Question 13
a) -70
b) -80
c) -90
d) -100
e) -110
Question 14
a) -80
b) -90
c) -100
d) -110
e) -120
Question 15
a) -10
b) -20
c) -30
d) -40
e) -50
Very well, now you have your score as well. Didn't get maximum points? Maybe that's not your objective today. There is one more step before becoming a certified Phantom of the Opera fan, you have to sign the register to apply for the title. You will find the register at N 44 26.( score - 140 ), E 026 03.( round(score/3) + 145 ) if you are worthy of signing it.
If you want to check your score before going on a trip to the wrong location you may use the following link:
Score checker
In the end a few of my thought about this cache:
- I decided to make my own score checker on this one. I didn't include a classic geochecker link because I felt that 10 attempts every 10 minutes is a bit much and would encourage users to just guess the answers to the harder questions and then try each options there. You can still check for one answer every 30 minutes and I think that's enough so you don't look for the box in the wrong place.
- The box is not 100% waterproof but if placed in the same spot again it souldn't get wet on the inside. Also, moving it even slightly might lead to it's discovery by muggles so I'd appreciate if that didn't happen.
- I've placed some initial souvenirs in the box. They might look valuable but they aren't working anymore (as far as I know) so they have more of a sentimental value than anything else.
- This is my first placed cache so any feedback would be of great help to me. I am especially worried about the difficulty I've set for it since I don't know how easy or hard this really is. For a long time fan of the Phantom of the Opera most of those questions are trivial and even if I forgot an answer I know where to look for it but I don't know what's the case with other people. If I messed up with that, I appologize.