Phantom in this regard like other people? Is he different?
What lies behind his mask, and how can Christine and the au-
dience respond? These are valid questions, and the play has not
skirted them until now. When Christine tears away the mask,
only she can see the face—the Phantom stands in profile and in
shadow. But what does Christine see? How does she respond?
The heroism of the gesture is hers, but she is given nothing to
say or sing. The Phantom sings instead, damning her first,
then swinging around to the hope that she can love him any-
how. Can she? Should she? We do not know, because Christine
has no response. She merely gives back the mask, and the
Phantom sings that it is time to be getting back to the opera
rehearsal (they are in the fifth basement). Off they go, and the
issue of the reality behind the mask is not taken up.
Perhaps the second time Christine removes the mask is
meant to be more significant. This occurs in the opera within
the musical, when the Phantom has taken over the role of Don
Juan (having murdered the tenor backstage). This could be the
turning point of the action, because the Phantom’s disfigured
face is revealed to the audience for the first time, and he and
Christine are singing about being “past the point of no return.”
But the scene dissolves into technology. The tenor’s corpse is
being discovered. Everyone is catching on—the Phantom is
playing Don Juan himself! So the Phantom sweeps his cloak
around Christine and they disappear. There is nothing but
seamless unity in the composition at this point where the per-
formers of the number disappear into technology before their
song is over. The orchestra continues playing “All I Ask of You,”
which is what the duet has become, the chorus is bursting on to
the scene to no purpose, the magic of stage technology is pro-
ducing a disappearing act, and there are no characters.
Later, in the Phantom’s lair again, Christine makes her
courageous decision to kiss her abductor in order to save her
true lover, who stands off to the side with a magical rope around
his neck. The kiss comes after she sings:
God give me courage
to show you