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This Phantom of the Opera trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the whole story of the Opera Ghost, not just the musical. You will start with Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel, the real Paris opera house it was set in and the genuine 1896 chandelier accident that inspired it, then move through Lon Chaney's 1925 silent film, the 1943, 1962, 1974 and 1989 screen versions, and the 2004 film with Gerard Butler. The bulk of the questions are about Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical: the original London and Broadway casts, how the half-mask came about, the show's Tonys and Oliviers, its record-breaking Broadway run and closing, the 25th-anniversary concert and the sequel. Songs are referred to by title only. It is written for musical-theatre fans, book lovers and horror-film buffs alike, with a mix of easy, medium and genuinely hard questions. Every answer was checked against a reference page (mostly Wikipedia's articles on the novel, the films and the musical) and each question links to its source, so you can trust what you learn here.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Paris newspaper first serialised Gaston Leroux's novel, from September 1909 to January 1910?
Le Gaulois
The serial version even contains a whole chapter, 'L'enveloppe magique', that was cut from the book and not printed in English until 2014.
Q 02In the novel, what is the Phantom's actual name?
Erik
He is a deformed stage magician, architect and ventriloquist who also styles himself the 'Angel of Music' and the 'Opera Ghost'.
Q 03Christine Daaé, the young soprano at the centre of Leroux's novel, comes from which country?
Sweden
Her late father, a violinist, used to tell her stories about the Angel of Music, which is how the Phantom first wins her trust.
Q 04In the novel, how is the mysterious opera regular who leads Raoul to the Phantom's lair known?
The Persian
The 1925 film swapped him for a secret policeman named Ledoux, and the musical dropped him entirely, giving his function to Madame Giry.
Q 05Leroux set his story in a real Paris building. Which one?
Palais Garnier
Built for Napoleon III between 1861 and 1875, it seats 1,979 and was the Paris Opera's main house until the Bastille opened in 1989.
Q 06The underground 'lake' beneath the Paris opera house really exists. What is it actually?
An enormous cistern
It is still used today to train firefighters to swim in the dark.
Q 07What broke free and crashed into the Paris opera house auditorium in 1896, inspiring the novel's most famous scene?
A chandelier counterweight
The falling weight killed a concierge; a fire in the roof had melted the wire holding it.
Q 08The real 1896 accident happened during a performance of which opera?
Hellé
Act One had just finished when a roof fire melted through a wire, injuring several people and killing one.
Q 09The Phantom's letters to the managers demand that which box be kept empty for his personal use?
Box 5
In the novel he also demands that Christine sing Marguerite in Faust, and threatens a curse on the house if ignored.
Q 10What is the Phantom's signature strangling weapon, per stagehand Joseph Buquet's warning?
A Punjab lasso
Buquet ends up hanging from it himself; in the musical his body drops from the rafters during Il Muto.
Q 11What is the title of the opera the Phantom has composed himself?
Don Juan Triumphant
In the musical its music is deliberately dissonant and modern, hinting that the Phantom is artistically ahead of his time.
Q 12At the masked ball, the Phantom appears in costume as which figure?
The Red Death
The costume nods to Edgar Allan Poe, one of the two writers Leroux most admired; the other was Arthur Conan Doyle.
Q 13Who starred as the Phantom in the 1925 silent film?
Lon Chaney
The film's producer bought the novel after the author himself handed him a copy in Paris in 1922.
Q 21The 1943 Phantom of the Opera is the only classic Universal horror film to win Oscars. In which two categories?
Art Direction and Cinematography
Reviews at the time were mixed, but the film was a box-office hit and has been reappraised more kindly since.
Q 22Which actor played the Phantom in Hammer's 1962 British version?
Herbert Lom
Hammer moved the story to a London opera house in 1900 and gave the Phantom a murderous dwarf as a helper.
Q 23Hammer producer Anthony Hinds said he wrote the 1962 Phantom of the Opera script for which Hollywood star?
Cary Grant
Q 14What nickname did the 1925 silent film's star earn for transforming himself with his own makeup?
The Man of a Thousand Faces
Both his parents were deaf, and he grew up fluent in American Sign Language, which shaped his intensely physical acting.
Q 15Who created the skull-like Phantom makeup for the 1925 film?
The lead actor himself
The design was kept a studio secret until the premiere; the wire loops that pulled his nostrils up sometimes made him bleed.
Q 16Which studio made the 1925 silent Phantom, and later the 1943 remake?
Universal
Its success bankrolled the studio's whole horror cycle, starting with Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931.
Q 17In what year was Stage 28, home of the 1925 Phantom of the Opera set, finally demolished?
2014
Until then it was the world's oldest surviving structure built for a specific film, and it appeared in hundreds of other productions.
Q 18How does the 1925 film's Phantom die?
A mob throws him into the Seine
His last trick is to hold up a clenched fist as if it hides a bomb, then open it to show an empty palm.
Q 19For the 1929 sound reissue, the studio could not record its star's voice because he was contracted to which rival?
MGM
Ads had to promise 'Lon Chaney's portrayal is a silent one!'; a new messenger character was invented to speak for him.
Q 20Who played the disfigured violinist Claudin, the Phantom of the 1943 Technicolor remake?
Claude Rains
The picture reused the opera house set built for the 1925 film and was the first version shot entirely in Technicolor.
The star never made the film; it was shot at Bray Studios on a modest budget and lost money.
Q 24Phantom of the Paradise (1974), a rock-musical riff on the story, was written and directed by whom?
Brian De Palma
It flopped almost everywhere except Winnipeg, where the soundtrack alone sold 20,000 copies and went gold in Canada.
Q 25Which horror star, better known as Freddy Krueger, played the Phantom in the gory 1989 film?
Robert Englund
He took the part as a promised favour to his agent, who wanted one more horror project 'outside of Freddy'.
Q 26In the 1989 film, the Phantom is a composer who sold his soul to the Devil. What is his surname?
Destler
The other three names belong to the Phantoms of the 1943, 1962 and 1974 films respectively.
Q 27Which actor played the Phantom in the 2004 film after only four voice lessons?
Gerard Butler
All three of the others were at some point considered or courted for the role.
Q 28Who played Christine in the 2004 film after Anne Hathaway dropped out?
Emmy Rossum
She modelled Christine's bond with the Phantom on the ballerina Suzanne Farrell and her mentor George Balanchine.
Q 29Which future West End Phantom appears in the 2004 film only as a portrait of Christine's father?
Ramin Karimloo
He went on to play both Raoul and the Phantom in London and to headline the 25th-anniversary concert.
Q 30Which new song written for the 2004 film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song?
Learn to Be Lonely
It lost to 'Al otro lado del río' from The Motorcycle Diaries; the film's other two nominations went to The Aviator.