At the height of the activity a grotesque figure suddenly

appears at the lop of the staircase. Dressed all in

crimson, with a death's head visible inside the hood of

his robe, the PHANTOM has come to the party. With

dreadful wooden steps he descends the stairs and takes the

centre of the stage)

PHANTOM

Why so silent, good messieurs?

Did you think that I had left you for good?

Have you missed me, good messieurs?

I have written you an opera!

(He takes from under his robe an enormous bound

manuscript)

Here I bring the finished score -

"Don Juan Triumphant" !

(He throws it to ANDRE)

I advise you

to comply -

my instructions

should be clear -

Remember

there are worse things

than a shattered chandelier . . .

(CHRISTlNE, mesmerized, approaches as the

PHANTOM beckons her. He reaches out, grasps the

chain that holds the secret engagement ring, and rips it

from her throat)

Your chains are still mine -

you will sing for me!

(ALL cower in suspense as the music crescendos, until

suddenly, his figure evaporates)

BACKSTAGE

(GIRY is hurrying across. RAOUL appears and calls

after her)

RAOUL

Madame Giry. Madame Giry . . .

GIRY

Monsieur, don't ask me - I know no more than

anyone else.

(She moves off again. He stops her)

RAOUL

That's not true. You've seen something, haven't

you ?

GIRY (uneasily)

I don't know what I've seen . . . Please don't ask me,

monsieur . . .

RAOUL (desperately)

Madame, for all our sakes . . .

GIRY (She has glanced nervously about her and

suddenly deciding to trust him, cuts in):

Very well. It was years ago. There was a travelling

fair in the city. Tumblers, conjurors, human

oddities . . .

RAOUL

Go on . . .

GIRY (trance-like, as she retraces the past)

And there was . . . I shall never forget him: a man . .

Iocked in a cage . . .

RAOUL

In a cage . . ?

GIRY

A prodigy, monsieur! Scholar, architect, musician .

RAOUL (piecing together the jigsaw)

A composer . . .

GIRY

And an inventor too, monsieur. They boasted he

had once built for the Shah of Persia, a maze of

mirrors . . .

RAOUL (mystified and impatient, cuts in)

Who was this man . . .?

GIRY (with a shudder)

A freak of nature . . .

more monster

than man . . .

RAOUL (a murmur)

Deformed . . .?

GIRY

From birth, it seemed . . .

RAOUL

My God . . .

GIRY

And then . . . he went missing. He escaped.

RAOUL

Go on.

GIRY

They never found him

it was said he

had died . . .

RAOUL (darkly)

But he didn't die, did he?

GIRY

The world forgot him,

but I never can . . .

For in this darkness

I have seen him again . . .

RAOUL

And so our

Phantom's this man . . .

GIRY (starts from her daze and turns to go)

I have said too much, monsieur.

(She moves off into the surrounding blackness)

And there have been too many accidents . . .

RAOUL (ironical)

Accidents?!

GIRY

Too many . . .

(And, before he can question her further, she has

disappeared)

RAOUL (running after her)

Madame Giry . .