Adult SR Calendar

While most audiences are familiar with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical, The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux’s 1910 source novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra is a curious narrative based on an apocryphal myth. University of Cambridge-trained scholar, Raj Shah, has spent years studying and writing about the inspiration for and the publication and French reception of this popular phantom legend. In this presentation, BYU-Idaho English professor, Dr. Jacqueline Harris, shares Shah’s discoveries about Gaston Leroux’s life, his research at the Paris Opera House and how he discovered the inspiration for his novel, and how this story participated in the Gothic tradition long before it was adapted to the stage. 

Leroux's work, with characters ranging from the spoiled prima donna Carlotta to the mysterious Persian from Erik's past, has been immortalized by memorable adaptations. Despite this, it remains a remarkable piece of Gothic horror literature in and of itself, deeper and darker than any version that follows.