Changing Gender Roles: From Nineteenth-Century Opera to the Modern Musical

The woman is the prima donna of the opera, the center of attention. The man is the woman’s mysterious and disfigured music teacher. Hidden beneath the depths of the opera house, he reaches her with his voice, and as he infiltrates her mind, he not only teaches her to sing but also holds her mentally captive. She is so under his spell that she does not even know how she learned to sing. But this Phantom wants to be more than teacher and mentor-he wants Christine completely. She is torn between fascination and horror, drawn to his power. To lose his tutelage is to lose her voice.