Phantom of the Opera (1976 musical)

Phantom of the Opera
Logo
Music	Adapted by: Ken Hill
Lyrics	Ken Hill
Book	Ken Hill
Basis	The Phantom of the Opera 1911 novel by Gaston Leroux
Productions	1976 Lancaster 1984 Newcastle 1987 St. Louis 1988 San Francisco 1989 U.S. Tour 1991 West End 1992 Japanese tour 1992 New Zealand & Australia 2013 Japan

Phantom of the Opera is a 1976 musical with book and lyrics by Ken Hill. It is the first musical adaptation of the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, about the hideously disfigured Phantom's amorous obsession with the magnificent, naïve singer, Christine. Hill wrote the original English lyrics to the music of Verdi, Gounod, Offenbach, Mozart, Weber, Donizetti, and Boito.

Hill’s Phantom of the Opera was the first musical version of the story by Gaston Leroux and has enjoyed financial success. Hill's musical inspired the award-winning Andrew Lloyd Webber musical version of the story, although he never received any formal royalty for it.

As Ken Hill rummaged through a used bookstore, he picked up a copy of Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera novel and eventually produced it as a stage musical. The show started off as a production at Morecambe Pier as the first staged musical version, but was also first staged when Hill was working as Director of Productions for the Newcastle Playhouse. This first production was produced at The Duke’s Playhouse in Lancaster on 26 July 1976, where it proved to be a hit. It was directed by John Blackmore, designed by Clare Lyth, with musical direction by Gary Yershon. It differed from the later version of Ken Hill’s musical, in having a modern musical score by Ian Armit (who also worked with Hill on his production of The Curse of the Werewolf) in addition to excerpts from the opera Faust by Charles Gounod.

...
Wikipedia