Abstract for 2008 Honors Colloquium
Kristin Boos
Literary and Cultural Studies
"The Mega-, Melo-, and Meta-Drama in Adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera"
Since its original publication in 1910, the French novel The Phantom of the Opera has been adapted into countless film and theater productions, solidifying its position in the popular consciousness of twentieth and twenty-first century America. This cross-media analysis examines the original novel, the 1925 Lon Chaney silent film, and the 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber megamusical, addressing the formal issues of adaptation from words to film to stage and the text's continuing cultural significance.
