When they resume rehearsal, a stage prop falls on the lead diva, Carlotta (Minnie Driver). Rehearsals are under way when the Opera manager informs the cast and crew that he is leaving for Australia and that the Opera House is now under the command of Gilles Andre and Richard Firmin (Simon Callow and Cirian Hinds). When the chandelier is revealed, we are whisked back to 1870 ('Overture') where we see the opera house in full swing for it's performance of Hannibal by Chalemau. The next item is a chandelier that was broken but has been repaired.

An older gentleman in a wheelchair buys the monkey and holds on to it tightly. One of the items is a stuffed monkey dressed in Persian robes and playing the cymbals sitting on top of a music box. The Opera has been shut down and they are auctioning off props to make some money. The movie starts with an auction being held in the Paris Opera House.The synopsis below may give away important plot points. His despair quickly turns to furious, jealous rage and is willing to do anything to win her, even if it means raising the stakes to the ultimate level in Christine's choice between her love for Raoul and her strange attraction to the Phantom. But when Christine, whom the Phantom has fallen in love with, accepts a marriage proposal from her childhood sweetheart Viscount Raoul de Changy, the Phantom's heart is broken. With no understudy, the mangers turn to Christine who at the time was no more than a chorus girl.

Everyone at the opera house is used to the Phantom's deadly pranks when his demands are not met but when a canopy falls on top of her, nearly crushing her, the opera's leading diva: Carllota resigns. His one companion is his young singing protégé, a soprano named Christine Daae who is drawn to and mystified but at the same time terrified of her Angel of Music whose rapturous voice sings songs in her head while she sleeps and whispers in her ear during day. He's a genius who must hide his facial disfigurement behind a mask and in the catacombs beneath Paris's Opera Populaire, known only as the Phantom of the Opera or Opera Ghost. An architect and designer, a composer and magician.

Imdb the phantom of the opera 2004