Prologue

Sold
Your number, sir?
Thank you

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 theater
Still in working order, ladies and gentlemen

Showing here

May I commence at 15 francs?
15, thank you
Yes, 20 from you, sir, thank you very much

Madame Giry, 25, thank you, madame
25 I'm bid, do I hear 30?
30, and 35?

Selling at 30 francs, then
30 once, 30 twice
Sold for 30 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're 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?