Phantom of the Opera, The
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishPhantom of the Opera, TheThe Phantom of the OperaˌPhantom of the ˈOpera, The (1910) a book by the French writer Gaston Leroux about a frightening man whose face has been disfigured (disfigure ) and who wears a mask to hide it. He kidnaps a beautiful opera singer because he loves her. Several films and plays have been based on the story, and Andrew Lloyd Webber made it into a successful musical in 1986.