Category Archives: Phantom

Two penguins are standing on an iceberg. One penguin says to the other penguin: “It looks like you are wearing a tuxedo.”And the other replies: “What makes you think I’m not?”Unknown Author (?) A joke. Featured in the likes of A Prairie Home Companion radio show and Twin Peaks. A joke without an origin. ButContinueContinue reading “A Tale of Two Penguins”

The world spins into being, flying around its axis in practiced precision. A new world forms in its wake. A world of horror, romance, and music. The Universal Studios logo as it would’ve been seen in 1925, 1943, and 1962. Such is the world that introduces me to the Phantom. Since the debut of GastonContinueContinue reading “A Night at the Movies”

The ghost in the Paris Opera existed. He was not, as was long believed, a delusion of the singers… the dancers… their mothers…Gaston Leroux, “The Phantom of the Opera” (1910), translated by Lowell Bair What’s in a name? A question posed by Shakespeare in an old and dusty past but universally understood. Does a nameContinueContinue reading “Chorus Girls”

“…I must pay a public tribute to the generosity of my friend and former collaborator, M. J. Le Croze, who allowed me to dip into his splendid theatrical library and to borrow the rarest editions of books by which he set great store.”Gaston Leroux, Prologue of “The Phantom of the Opera” (1910) The perfumed airContinueContinue reading “A Phantom in the Library”

“Have you forgotten the rosy hours of Mazenderan?””Yes,” he replied, in a sadder tone, “I prefer to forget them…”GASTON LEROUX, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1910) A secret is not a secret without one that holds it. The holder of that mystery sometimes lurks in the shadows or takes the truth to their grave. SometimesContinueContinue reading “The Persian”

A dark figure stirs in the mist. He calls you toward the shadows. A doorway opens to his underground kingdom. The kingdom of the Opera Ghost. The Angel of Music. The Phantom of the Opera. The shadows pull away from his face, but it is not his face that greets you. It is his mask.ContinueContinue reading “Mask”

It disappears into the shadows like a ghost. It transports you, changes you, discovers you, yet never stays. We keep it in our memories until the memories become staged. False images turn into reality. Emotion controls our sight. Our senses trick us into seeing something that isn’t there. A phantom. Everything else falls away whenContinueContinue reading “Silver Screen”

A group of playwrights walk into a room… No, this is not the start of a joke. Though, I’m sure that many jokes could start this way. Actually, this is the start of how Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera made its way to Next Stage Press. At the 2023 Valdez Theater Conference, whileContinueContinue reading “The Next Stage”

Just then, Carlotta made her entrance in a box facing the stage, a sensational entrance. Poor Christine raised her eyes upon this fresh subject of excitement. She recognized her rival. She thought she saw a sneer on her lips. That saved her. She forgot everything, in order to triumph once more.Gaston Leroux, The Phantom ofContinueContinue reading “Carlotta’s Redemption”

Flat, ink words lay waiting on the page. Lifeless. Silent. But to read them, brings them to life. They speak with ghostly voices. They spring from the stage to memory and back again. Theater is ephemeral, fleeting. Once the lights go down, the world created by the actors falls away. Yet something remains. Their voices.ContinueContinue reading “Hearing Voices”