Why So Silent
(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 . . .!