HENRY:

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?

AUCTIONER:

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 that figures in the famous disaster. Our workshops have repaired it and wired parts of it for the new electric lights, so we may get a hint of how it would look when reassembled. Perhaps we can frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination, Gentlemen?

(Overture begins to play as the AUCTIONER switches on the electricity and the chandelier begins to rise wiping away all the cobwebs, dust and damage as it ascends. The chandelier, immense and glittering, rises magically from the stage, finally hovering high above the stalls. The Opera House is restored to its earlier grandeur.)

ACT ONE

(SCENE 1, REHEARSALS FOR ‘HANNIBAL’ BY CHALUMEAU)

(We have reached the great choral scene in which HANNIBAL and his army return to save Carthage from the Roman invasion under Scipio. HANNIBAL is TIM PIANGI; ELISSA, Queen of Carthage (his mistress) is JENNIFER GIUDICELLI. The two leading slave girls are played by HELENA GIRY and CHRISTINE KENNARD. MME GIRY is the ballet mistress. MME REYER, the repetiteur, is in charge)

(We join the opera towards the end of ELISSA’s (JENNIFER’s) great aria. She is alone, holding a present from the approaching HANNIBAL, a bleeding severed head)

JENNIFER: (at the climax of an extravagant cadenza)

This trophy from our saviours, from the enslaving force of Rome!

(A STAGEHAND carries a ladder across the stage. OTHERS are seen still constructing parts of the scenery)

GIRLS’ CHORUS:

With feasting and dancing and song, tonight in celebration, we greet the victorious throng, returned to bring salvation!

MEN’S CHORUS:

The trumpet of Carthage resound! Hear, Romans, now and tremble! Hark to our steps on the ground!

ALL:

Hear the drums- Hannibal comes!

(PIANGI enters, as HANNIBAL)

PIANGI (HANNIBAL)

Sad to return to find the land we love threatened once more by Roma’s far- reaching grasp