Raoul, his huntsman's instincts aroused, conceives of a plan to capture the elusive Phantom. The opera will, as asked, stage Don Juan Triumphant, and when the Phantom attends, drawn by the lure of his own work with Christine as its diva, they will have the police close the building and search it.
Comes opening night, and the theater is packed with an audience that has no idea of the real drama about to be played out before them. The opening of the opera, a series of discords followed by a scene set in hell, does not win their approval, and they are restless. When the male lead, following convention, steps behind the backcloth to allow his manservant to take his place, he is ambushed by the Phantom, who strikes him down, and emerges, cloak covering his face.
As this substitution for a substitute has been happening Christine has gone downstage to sing the opening that leads to the duet with Don Juan, and the audience, charmed by the young, barefoot innocent with the lovely voice has settled in its seats, even as police fill the corridors out of their sight. Raoul, in his box, watches his beloved perform...
And his eyes tear as he realizes that what she had feared and he had not allowed himself to understand has happened: She has been mesmerized, seduced with scarely a touch, and the man singing to her that she has passed the point of no return is the Phantom himself. All are frozen, unable to act, until the Phantom begins the duet Christine has already sung with Raoul. Eyes opening wide, she awakens from her tranced state. It is the wrong man!
Upon an instant, the Phantom grabs Christine, slashes ropes, and plunges into the cloth-flamed pit of hellfire center stage, as the house explodes in chaos. The vast chandelier, deprived of its stays, is descending onto the audience. The Phantom has escaped with Christine even as the Opera Populaire bursts into fire and a panicked mob heads for the doors.
(To be continued)