The rumor that inspired ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ The workers put the water into a large tank and it remains there to this day - though, sadly, it’s not inhabited by any phantoms. When workers broke ground for the opera house in 1861, there was an enormous swell of water. This tidbit was inspired by water beneath the Palais Garnier. In the book and many of its adaptations, the Phantom lives by a lake underneath the Palais Garnier. RELATED: Pink Floyd: Was ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ Stolen From Them?Īnother one of the many memorable moments from The Phantom of the Opera is loosely based in fact. Sadly, the counterweight killed someone when it fell. That year, a counterweight used to hold up a chandelier fell through the roof of the Palais Garnier, the most famous opera house in Paris. This was inspired by an actual incident from 1896. For example, one of the more famous scenes in Lloyd Webber’s version of the story is the sequence where the chandelier falls. However, Mental Floss reports parts of The Phantom of the Opera are based on historical events.

The story of Erik and Christine Daaé is fictitious. This raises an interesting question: Is The Phantom of the Opera based on a true story? The Phantom of the Opera and Christine Daaé | Simon Fergusson/Getty Images That famous falling chandelier Many of the most famous musicals, from The Sound of Music to Hamilton take some inspiration from historical events. In the years since the book’s publication, it’s been adapted into numerous films as well as a Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Phantom of the Opera began as a novel by Gaston Leroux.

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