The Phantom of the Opera has held the fascination of readers, playgoers, and movie buffs for decades. It’s little wonder that this legend has remained so popular– the story is perfectly intriguing, and it contains just enough truth to make one wonder whether the Phantom might really have existed after all. While most of the story is pure legend, there are some interesting facts surrounding both the narrative and the stage adaptations. Here are some fun facts you might not know.

1. Phantom has a name. Yes, that’s right! The elusive Phantom of the Opera has a real name. In the original book by Gaston Leroux, the Phantom is named Erik. However, this name is never mentioned in either the Broadway hit or the popular 2004 film version. 
2. The Paris Opera House exists– and so does the underground lake. Palais Garnier is an old and famous opera house in France, and you can go visit it in person or even take a virtual tour. The most famous scene from Phantom is the subterranean boat ride taken by Phantom and Christine as they sing the theme for the musical. In the film and stage renditions, this lake below the opera is an eerily romantic world of gargoyles, meandering turns, and mysterious passages. In the book, it is an expansive lake with the mysterious house in the middle. In real life, the lake is a murky holding tank, created as a solution for a structural issue when the opera house was built. Of course, there are no floating candelabras or ghosts, but there are lots of fish for the opera staff to feed!
3. Many events in Phantom are based on real life. The opening of Leroux’s novel is a journalistic-type argument for the existence of the Phantom of the Opera. In this introduction, the author lays out several events that he claims are proof of the ghost’s existence. Although the skeletons in the basement are fictional, many elements are fact. The chandelier really did fall, causing a fatality. There really are tunnels below the opera. And there was supposedly a mason who asked to live in the bowels of the opera house and was granted permission to do so.
4. Christine was based on a real person. The fictional Christine Daae and the factual Christian Nilsson were both famous sopranos born in Sweden. Many people believe Leroux based his protagonist on this woman. 
5. Phantom of the Opera is the longest running Broadway production and the highest-grossing show of all time. Phantom opened on Broadway in 1988, and is still running today. It is also one of London’s longest-running shows in Her Majesty’s Theater. The play has been adapted for over a dozen different languages, and the combination of box office sales from both stage and film productions are higher than any other show in the world, including Titanic.
6. Gaston Leroux never saw the success of Phantom of the Opera. In Leroux’s lifetime, Phantom was only moderately popular, and then only in a serialized format. It was not until after his death that the book became popular and the stage version became a hit. Sadly, this seems to be the case for many now-famous authors.