Lot 666 then – a chandelier in pieces. Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never fully explained…”

I have been listening to the soundtrack of The Phantom of the Opera for as long as I can remember. I made copies of my parents’ CDs, then when I got a computer, I put the discs on my iTunes. I used to listen to the music while I did my homework in high school and while I studied in college. It was soothing (except for the sudden blast of the full orchestra at the beginning of the Overture and the sudden organ at the end of The Music of the Night), and it was perfect background noise. I didn’t realize, however, that while I was studying biology or theories of mass media, I was also memorizing the entire musical.  Continue reading →