THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA presented by East Lynne Theater Compan

In 1908, Gaston Leroux wrote about a disfigured man who terrorizes the Paris Opera House and falls in love with the young leading lady. This Parisian native was already known for his cutting-edge horror stories, but if he were alive today, he would probably be amazed at all of the various adaptations of his “Phantom of the Opera.” The story has been made into six films, and two musicals: one by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the other by Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston. Leroux was impressed by the first film version, produced by Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Pictures, in 1925, but didn’t live long enough to see any other incarnations.
For one night only, Friday, October 28 at 8:00p.m., East Lynne Theater Company, in partnership with The Cape May Film Festival, presents this original “Phantom of the Opera,” with live organ accompaniment provided by Wayne Zimmerman. The location is The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes St., where ELTC is in residence. Tickets are only $15, and for reservations and information, contact ELTC at 609-884-5898 or online at www.eastlynnetheater.org.
The 1925 film stars Lon Chaney in the title role, with Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis, Snitz Edwards, and the fifteen-year old niece of Carl Laemmle, Carla Laummle, playing the role of a prima ballerina. Well-known reviewer Roger Ebert states that “Phantom” has “two elements of genius: It creates beneath the opera one of the most grotesque places in the cinema, and Chaney’s performance transforms an absurd character into a haunting one.”
This “Phantom of the Opera,” a silent film, opened two years before “The Jazz Singer,” in which Al Jolson spoke and sang on screen. But this doesn’t mean that there was absolute silence when “silent” films were shows. They were accompanied by an organ, piano, and sometimes a full orchestra: the beginnings of film scoring as we know it. From Charlie Chaplin, who scored his own films, to John Williams and Randy Newman of today, the power of music accompanying a silent or a talking film cannot be undervalued. Experienced composers know that music enhances the action and emotion, but never overshadows it.
Providing the musical accompaniment for the showing of “Phantom” on October 28, is Wayne Zimmerman, who has played in a variety of venues from coast-to-coast and in Hawaii, regaling audiences with his silent-film accompaniment as well as audience sing-alongs, and concerts. At varying times he’s served as organist at the Lansdowne Theatre in Lansdowne, PA, the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, PA, the Brookline Theatre in Havertown, PA, and the Merlin Theatre in suburban Philadelphia. Recently, he’s been accompanying silent films at the Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Jersey City.