Hello, my name's Tim. You might know today's story as a best-selling stage musical,
but it was originally a novel about love, obsession and the possibility of redemption.
Our tale begins in 1880 at the famous Palais Garnier Opera House in Paris.
Its directors, Debien and Polini, are staging a gala to mark their retirement.
But trouble is afoot.
Some ballerinas have seen the so-called phantom,
a mysterious entity which haunts the theatre with its skull-like face and burning eyes.
More horrifying still, a stagehand is found dead,
hanged by the neck, but without any sign of the rope.
Carlotta, Palais Garnier's talented but vain lead soprano, is ill.
Her replacement, Christine Daae, takes to the stage and triumphs.
Amongst the cheering audience is Viscount Raoul de Chagny,
who recognises Christine as a childhood companion and visits her backstage.
Waiting outside her dressing room, Raoul overhears a man declaring his love for her.
When she leaves, he bursts in to confront the man, but the room is empty.
At this stage of the game,
the action shifts to a seaside resort where Raoul and Christine spent their childhood.
Raoul reminisces about Christine's late father,
a violin player who used to tell them tales of the Angel of Music,
a spirit that turns musicians into prodigies.