Lessons From The Phantom of the Opera© and Other Phantom Ramblings: About the Blog

Welcome to Lessons From the Phantom of the Opera. You've landed on a blog that had its inception in January of 2008, after I was introduced to the Phantom of the Opera. I originally started the blog as a place to dump my thoughts about the story. Of course, when I did so, I had no idea that it would turn into a monstrosity of over 110 posts.

Those who have followed the blog from its inception know it was never written as a "literary" review of the original work, but focuses upon the emotions, symbols, and events, and delves into the reasons behind why the basic story touches everyone differently. Thoughts are taken from all versions - Leroux, Webber's stage version, and the Webber/Schumacher movie. To categorize the blog as an attempt at literary interpretation of Gaston Leroux's original work is grossly incorrect. The author has read Gaston Leroux's Phantom many times and is not ignorant of its setting or its contents, as well as other well-known critics and analyzers of the story.

About a year after putting this blog up, I started to get requests from readers to put it into print form. I hesitated at first, because naturally if I did so I would probably have to go the "vanity" route, as most coin self-published works. However, the requests kept coming, so I pursued that course. I paid licensing fees to reprint lyrics from The Phantom of the Opera in the book and released the first version on May of 2009, which at that time contained all of the posts to date. The blog kept growing when I started to focus more on Leroux's themes, and eleven posts later, I released a second edition under my own publishing company in March of 2011. The blog is still free for those who wish to dig through posts one by one or is available in print and eBook format for purchase worldwide.

As far as I'm concerned, The Phantom of the Opera belongs to everyone - not just a few in the Phantom community who believe they are absolute authorities on the matter or hail one version over the other. It is a worldwide phenomena that has touched the hearts of fans in many forms through the original Leroux book, the Webber stage play, and the Webber/Schumacher movie, plus other versions. Lessons From the Phantom of the Opera shows no partiality to any of those three forms, because the author realizes that there are many fans worldwide who relate to the story on various levels.

In conclusion, it should be noted that after publication, I stopped dissecting the story and moved to blogging merely on news or occurrences in the Phantom world, including Love Never Dies. I had the opportunity to see it in London in late March of 2010,and came back to dissect each of the characters in LND. You can find those posts through drop-down menus off to the side.

Eventually, I decided to blow out the candle and stop posting for the most part altogether. I hope you enjoy your stay here and find my unique view through my own opera glasses interesting as you feed your need for all things Phantom.

The Phantom's Student
aka Vicki Hopkins, Author

Blog/Book Review

"Lessons From 'The Phantom of the Opera' " is a creative and thoughtful approach to pop culture hit. I enjoyed the book because I teach French history at the college level and I have long enjoyed Gothic novels as well as opera. I connect with the story on several levels, professional and personal. "Lessons" takes a personal, reflective approach that asks readers to think about why they react as they do to the musical and novel. Why does such an old fashioned, romantic story have such appeal in post modern society? Simple: young or old or in between, we still respond to the emotions explored in the story. I plan to tell some of my students who are Phantom fans about this book." (Dr. Melanie Byrd)

The Joy of Audio Books

I love audio books. They open up a whole new world of entertainment. They save time from sitting down and reading a book. You can listen while driving to work, during work, taking a walk, running, or working outside and around the house. It's a time-saving opportunity to take a moment and enjoy your favorite books, acted out by talented voice artists, many of which are from television and stage.

The talent chosen for The Phantom of Valletta, has extensive voice experience. My other narrators are from the stage, or are professional voice artists that have done television, documentaries, and commercials.

Why not try out a membership at Audible? It's easy - starts with a free trial, has no long-term commitment, and is filled with entertainment.

Join today, and I'll give you a free code to one of my books of your choosing to get you started.

JOIN HERE AT AUDIBLE

Listen To All Things Phantom on BlogTalkRadio

All quotations used in this blog are the property of:

The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux, Pubished by Random House, Inc. 2002 (Quoted with Permission)

Introduction by Anne Perry, Copyright 2002, Random House, Inc. (Quoted with Permission)

Phantom Of The Opera lyrics are the property of their respective authors, artists and labels. (Music Andrew Lloyd Webber/Lyrics Charles Hart, The Really Useful Group, London, UK). Licensing fees were paid to use them in my book, Lessons From the Phantom of the Opera, but have been omitted here on the blog. Artwork is posted by permission of artist.

Writer's icon and other photos used in his blog were purchased from iStockPhotos.com, with rights for use, or are personal photographs taken by Phantom's Student. POTO from Photobucket.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Anne Perry who has given me permission to quote her from her introduction to The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, published by Random House, 2002, and her good luck wishes.

Special thanks to the Hal Leonard Corporation, who made my experience in getting licensing permission to use Webber's lyrics in my book easier than I dreamed.

Special thanks to my readers that allow me to express my views from behind my mask and keep coming back for more even though I poke at them.

Special thanks to Sadie Montgomery (Author of the "The Phoenix of the Opera" series) for holding my hand through my self-publishing experience and for her faithful and continued encouragement.

References Used