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This is how it all began! On Thursday, 23 September, 1909, the first section of Gaston Leroux’s Le Fantôme de l'Opéra was printed on page 3 in the feuilleton section of the Parisian daily newspaper, Le Gaulois.

Le Fantôme de l'Opéra ran for 15 weeks, from 23 September, 1909, to 8 January, 1910, and was printed in 68 sections.

To celebrate 115 years of Phantom in print, I will be posting all 68 sections of Leroux’s novel on each day that Le Fantôme originally appeared in Le Gaulois.

This first section includes the text of the Avant-Propos (Foreword) from Leroux’s novel (I’ve included it as a single panel, and as two panels for easier reading).

As you will see in the following sections, Leroux and his editors at Pierre Lafitte et Cie made significant edits to the Gaulois text when they published the First Edition of Le Fantôme de l'Opéra in April of 1910 (including some amusing typos that made their way into several of the published English translations).

In the following sections, I will be highlighting all of these edits that were made to the Gaulois text, so you can see exactly what was changed.

However, Leroux must have been happy with the Avant-Propos, because the text of the First Edition matches that of the Gaulois edition.

To read my translation of the Avant-Propos, click here.

If you are following along in David Coward’s translation of the First Edition of Phantom of the Opera (which I recommend for its accuracy and completeness), click here for the paperback, or click here for the Kindle version. Both link to Amazon US, but I encourage you to buy your copy from another vender if you so choose. The ISBN-13 of David Coward's translation is: 978-0199694570.

Click here to see the entire edition of Le Gaulois from 23 September, 1909. This link brings you to page 3 of the newspaper – Le Fantôme is at the bottom of the page in the feuilleton section. Click on the arrow buttons at the bottom of the screen to turn the pages of the newspaper, and click on the Zoom button at the bottom left to magnify the text.

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Happy birthday Sandra Joseph

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Little Kanisha doodle I did earlier this month.

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This Saturday on Behind the Mirror of Music

This Saturday (September 21) we reach the highpoint of our Phantom of the Opera celebrations as Dannii Cohen is joined by four Phantoms to celebrate 115 years since the first chapter of the novel was published in the Gaulois (on September 23 1909.)

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Ethan Freeman performed the role of Erik The Phantom many times on West End as well as in Vienna, Toronto and Essen, Germany.

During his run he received the nickname "The Leroux Phantom" for his very Leroux accurate take on the role.

His West End run was so well received that he was voted "Most Popular Phantom" in a poll by the International Phantom Of The Opera Fan Club which brought him the opportunity to record a Phantom highlights album for Jay Records together with Claire Moore whom was voted most popular Christine. In 2009 it was updated with songs from Love Never Dies.

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Peter Karrie performed the role of Erik, The Phantom on the West End, the Canadian (Far East) Tour, Toronto and the UK Tour. Well known for his expressive body language and hand gestures, he’s considered to be among one of the finest “old school” Phantoms.

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Ciaran Sheehan was understudy Phantom and first cast Raoul on Broadway before landing the position of first cast Phantom in Toronto.

Currently he is touring the USA with three other Phantoms as "The Four Phantoms".

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Jonathan Roxmouth performed the role of The Phantom in various South African productions and two world/Asian tours.

During the pandemic this production was the only one that continued making him "The only Phantom in the world" for several months.

The Episode will premiere on Saturday 20.00 UK time on YouTube

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oh wow maybe i'm the only one who hadn't noticed but margherita toso posted some footage of herself as christine daee, presumably from the only day she went on in monte carlo!

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Colleen Rose Curran, photo taken from her Instagram story.

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Kayleigh Marven debuted as Christine in Shanghai after understudying the role in the Australian restaged tour! Photos taken from her Instagram, as well as Matt Leisy’s, Claire Lander’s, and Laura Bratek’s.

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Bird in the cage

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Instrumental Favourite Whateverday - Part I

"Favourite" might be a strong word, but it's just too weird to not love.

This definitely stretches my definition of "instrumental", since it features vocals by Michael Crawford and Barbara Bonney for a short portion of the title song section - as if the spa lounge guitar and xylophone effects weren't enough spice.

Stephen Hill joins as Raoul for some equally strange few seconds in the suite's grand finale, AIAOY reprise, which features a theremin (!!) and some extremely rad electric guitar.

Also rather unique is the inclusion of Down Once More as well as portions of the Final Lair.

Quite a rare recording, it seems. I originally downloaded this file from a dodgy website in 2008, and haven't seen it online since.

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Judith Tobella as Christine in Sitzprobe, Spain ( from her Instagram )

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FAMILY MEMBERS WORKING ON THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: A Fairly Exhaustive List

Note: I spent a significant time researching this post, searching for photos (thank you @operafantomet), and editing the photos (in some cases, significantly enhancing low quality photos). If you repost this content on another platform, credit would be much appreciated.

Annemarijn Maandag (u/s Christine in Oberhausen) and her sister Lillian Maandag (u/s Christine in the Vienna revival)

Rebecca Pitcher (Christine in the US tour, Broadway, and World Tour) and her brother Rob Pitcher (u/s Phantom, Raoul, and Piangi in Antwerp, Hamburg, and Oberhausen)

Mark Jacoby (Phantom in Chicago and Broadway) and his son Ben Jacoby (Raoul in the restaged US tour)

Ayumi Hikasa (ballerina in the 90s West End cast) and her daughter Maiya Hikasa (Meg in the West End revival)

Alexander Lewis (Raoul and u/s Phantom in the first Australian revival/World Tour) and his brother Ben Lewis (Phantom in the West End)

Morgan Cowling (Meg in the Restaged US tour) and Corinne Cowling (u/s Christine in the West End)

Per Engström (conductor in Stockholm and Copenhagen) and his daughter Christine (dresser in Copenhagen, and yes, she's named after Christine Daaé)

Sierra Boggess (Christine in Las Vegas, Royal Albert Hall, Broadway, and cancelled Paris) and Summer Boggess (cello player on Broadway)

George Lee Andrews (André and Firmin on Broadway) and his son-in-law Aaron Galligan-Stierle (André on Broadway)

In addition, there's Jan Kyhle (Raoul in Stockholm) and Magnus Kyhle (ensemble in Stockholm) but I don't have photos of Magnus in Phantom

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If only Erik had a loving mother.....

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Some phantom pen scribs from my sketchbook 🥀⭐️🌙

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paper faces on parade

+close up

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