Prologue [The Phantom of the Opera (Original London Cast)]

Sold
Your number, sir? Thank you

Lot 665, ladies and gentlemen: a papier-mâché musical box
In the shape of a barrel-organ
Attached, the figure of a monkey in Persian robes, playing the cymbals
This item, discovered in the vaults of the theatre, still in working order

Showing here

May I start at twenty francs? Fifteen, then?
Fifteen I am bid
Twenty, sir? Thank you
Twenty? Twenty-five? Thank you, madam
Thirty, selling at thirty, then
Thirty once, twice
Sold for thirty francs to the Vicomte de Chagny
Thank you, sir

A collector's piece indeed, every detail exactly as she said
She often spoke of you, my friend
Your velvet lining, and your figurine of lead
Will you still play, when all the rest of us are dead?

Lot 666, then: a chandelier in pieces
Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera:
A mystery never fully explained
We are told, ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier
Which figures in the famous disaster
Our workshops have restored it and fitted up parts of it
With wiring for the new electric light so that we may get a hint of
What it may look like when reassembled
Perhaps we may frighten away the ghost of so many years ago
With a little illumination, gentlemen?