In 1992 the Phantom of the Opera caught her attention. Her research into the
story culminated in a number of articles, four works of fiction, the Phantom
magazine and a celebrated website.
Thank you so much dear Carrie, not only for this wonderful interview, but
also for your Friendship, care and support.
Sandra - When did you discover your passion for “The Phantom of the Opera”
story?
Carrie - In 1992 at my first performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatrical
version. The Phantom character’s plight struck a chord with me. He’d
sentenced himself to voluntary imprisonment (in the cellars of the opera)
because the loneliness he suffered there was nothing compared to the cruelty
he endured when he was a part of the world—due to his disfigurement. Even
so, though, the “nothing” of that loneliness was a relative “nothing.” A vast
emptiness as opposed to perennial torture but still a horror in its own right.
And yet, despite that horror he was able not just to love Christine but to give
to her selflessly. I was awestruck by his kindness considering the way he
himself had been treated. But you know, in the end, I don’t think I’d have
been as moved to action had everyone lived happily ever after.
The way the story ended was at the same time upsetting and just so
exquisitely apropos of real life. Someone struggles all his life to survive. He
not only survives but also creates masterpieces of mechanical engineering,
architecture and music. He gives it all up so his beloved will have the chance
for happiness that he himself has been denied. And is rewarded by
abandonment. His beloved leaves him, singing out loud of the great love she
feels for some other man as she goes. Left behind, the Phantom disappears.
Whether he has dissipated wraithlike into the air or gasps his last sometime
later matters little. The point is, he’s alone and forgotten when it happens.
Nobody loves him. Nobody cares.
Of course that’s the way it would be. That reality left me so bereft at the end
of the show that it took me some time before I could even get out of my seat to
go home.
And I needed to know more. Who was this Phantom who could give and love
so selflessly? Who was this author who had conceived of a story that so
astutely revealed the cruelty and unfairness of the world we live in?
Sandra - Do you think Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom” musical has made more
people read Leroux’s novel?
Carrie - I think so. A lot of the people I’ve talked to were drawn to the
Phantom story either via the Lloyd Webber play or movie. And folks who are
hit hard by the story as told by Lloyd Webber and company tend to move on to
the original novel by Gaston Leroux to learn more just as I did. Consider the
fact that Leroux’s book was out of print until Lloyd Webber’s musical
reintroduced The Phantom of the Opera title to the world. Look now at how
many different editions and translations of Leroux’s Phantom one can find in
the bookstores.
That isn’t to say that all who entered the Phantom’s world did so because of
the Lloyd Webber version. I know at least one person who was brought to the
story by way of the 1925 silent film with Lon Chaney Sr. And who knows? I
can certainly imagine someone stumbling across Susan Kay’s book (or perhaps
some other adaptation of the tale) and being intrigued enough to look up the
original.
Sandra - Why, in your opinion, is Erik a character who is so loved?
Carrie - Actually, I don’t believe he is universally loved. If you look at some
of the other versions such as Dario Argento’s or basically any of those that
reduce the character of Erik (the Phantom as named in the original novel) to a
vicious murderer, you can see how there are screen writers, directors and
producers who have no love for him. And I think, too, if you tend to see the
Lloyd Webber theatrical version multiple times, sooner or later you’ll hear a
really odd comment made by someone sitting near you that makes it clear that
person has missed the point of the story.
As for those who love Erik as portrayed by Leroux, I think there may be certain
personalities that tend in certain directions but in this case, specifically, I
think it better that I speak just for myself. For me it seems more a matter of
kinship than of straightforward love. In the story, Erik is the character I relate
to. I haven’t suffered anything like what he suffers. I’ve been unlucky in
love. So when I read Erik’s story it brings back all those bittersweet feelings.
It becomes very easy to relate to how Erik takes the crumbs Christine throws
him out of pity and makes of them the center of his universe. I cry both for
him and for myself. But I also think about the other side of the
situation. I think that if someone had done for me all that Erik did for
Christine—if someone loved me as much as he loved her—I couldn’t have just
thrown him away.
Sandra - What do you think about the possible reality/myth of this character?
Carrie- I started out neither believing nor wanting to believe that any of The
Phantom of the Opera story was true. In fact, in the period during which I
wrote the three stories that appear in Angel of Music: Tales of the Phantom of
the Opera I was a staunch nonbeliever. Over the years, however, a number of
situations caused me to revise my original assessment. I now believe that
Leroux may have drawn from factual sources to enrich his fictitious world.
Sandra - Now that you have published your book “Angel of Music: Tales of
the Phantom of the Opera,” we would like to know where the idea for a trilogy
based on the Angel of Music legend came from.
Carrie - From nothing more than that it happened. I wrote one story that
amplified Leroux’s one-paragraph description of “The Tale of Little Lotte.”
Basically I did that because I’d already read a lot of fanfic and wanted to do
something that hadn’t already been done. Next I started work on “The Portal”
because I wanted a story with Erik in it and still, I think, had my mind partly
on Lotte’s fairytale. I wondered what it would be like in the real world if
someone were visited by… well, not an angel surely… but maybe someone
who said he was an angel. Imagine yourself in a sleep-like state, incapacitated
so you couldn’t move, and then hearing the door to your room open, footsteps
coming toward you and finally a man’s voice saying he was the Angel of
Music. That strikes me as a little disturbing. Don’t you think? There are even
shades of the perverse and the carnal very much at odds with the innocence of
the Tale of Little Lotte as first envisioned. So, “Erik” and “visited by a ‘real-
life’ angel” and that’s where “The Portal” came from. Again, though, I was
looking for a concept that hadn’t already been explored by another writer.
Additionally, when considering a Christine in her late twenties or early
thirties, I couldn’t imagine her as anything but severely emotionally disabled
harkening back to what both her childhood and adult experiences had been…
never mind her self-absorbed, lunatic behavior throughout the course of
Leroux’s novel. She really seemed just a step away from madness even then.
Finally, with “Phantoms of the Mind” I was parked on the freeway during
rush hour and started entertaining myself with all kinds of silliness. “Lotte,
hmm, what would be the root of that name?” Of course I got Charlotte. Then I
wondered what other derivatives there were from the name Charlotte and
came up with Carlotta. With that little flash of insight the whole story just
unfurled in front of me. A few other ideas I’d been toying with on their own
suddenly fell into place as a part of this one story such that, when I sat down
to write it out, it just flowed. Of all the stories I’ve ever written this is the
only one I ever envisioned in its entirety in one “aha!” moment. Regardless,
though, it still went through the usual rewrites and polishings in which I
clarified, added details and took out anything superfluous. But with Lotte in
the story there had to be an Angel. With Carlotta in the story there had to be a
Phantom. There you have your three stories. When published all together in a
single volume, I don’t really see what else it could have been titled except
Angel of Music. And to make it clear this was an anthology rather than a
novel, it seemed right to add Tales of the Phantom of the Opera.
Sandra - In all these years, I’m sure you have some good memories or
anecdotes. Could you tell us one?
Carrie - One of my fondest Phantom-related memories is of the fan get
together after the Broadway Phantom of the Opera matinee performance and
seminar on January 24, 1998. The restaurant we’d chosen for our gathering was
Sam’s. One of the waiters there was a struggling actor who had never seen
Phantom. A lady from our group discovered this and immediately started up a
collection from amongst all those present. She managed to put together
enough to buy our waiter one ticket to attend the 10th Anniversary
performance. What an incredible introduction to Phantom. Don’t you think?
Imagine, someone’s very first experience being that highly-charged 10th
Anniversary show.
Sandra - What are your future projects?
Carrie - Mostly they’re various life goals that have nothing to do with
Phantom. Nevertheless,
my current project is another Phantom of the Opera immersive experience. I
did a very, very scaled-down internet game of this sort in December of 2004.
Some folks might recall it as “The Phantom of the Opera Web Adventure.”
But I’m hoping this time around, with more than just ten evenings of
scrambling to put it all together, I’ll manage something a bit more interesting
and complex.
Sandra - What would you like to say to all the new fans who are discovering
this legend through the recent movie?
Carrie - The world of Phantom is such a rich one that some people (including
yours truly) have become immersed in it for years. There are so many
different facets to it that different individuals seem attracted to it for different
reasons. I’m not sure that all Lloyd Webber movie fans would be happy with
Leroux—the Phantom in his version is so radically different—but I’d suggest
reading the novel just in case. You can always put it aside if it doesn’t fit your
perception of how the story should go but by reading it you’re allowing the
possibility of much deeper vistas. In the end, though, the Phantom of the
Opera adventure becomes each individual’s personal journey.
Bon voyage!
Please, don't copy this text without my permission.
Copyright by Ladyghost.
