The Phantom of the Opera is very strange to say the least. I believe that the word strange was actually even used throughout the play as part of the lyrics to various songs. However, strange just doesn’t cut it. I don’t think there is a single word that can express the feelings that this play depicts across the audience. The emotion that the play brings to the table is unlike any movie or play that I have ever seen. It is so powerful, so demanding. Throughout this whole play, I would feel a type of confusion of what I should feel, or what I should think of the current situation. The play allows for you to interpret how you think you should take it, although I do feel strongly about a certain feeling. In the very beginning of the play, it was very dark and sad. There was a big depiction of sadness in the air, of death. Everything was dreary, and the auction was taking place in an opera house that had seemed abandoned, misused, and destroyed. It looked as if it was really haunted. The setting was quiet, very quiet. All you can hear is the very boring, very dull pitch of the man speaking on behalf of the auction. Even the numbers he spoke were very boring, nothing going above 30 franks, no numbers to actually give people to speak about, to wow us and make us think “wow that’s expensive, it must be valuable”. Then comes the monkey, a small, childish looking circus monkey with a cymbal in each hand. The auctioneer presents it, “[I]tem number 665 ladies and gentlemen. A papier-mache musical box in the shape of a barrel organ. Attached, the figure of a monkey in persian robes, playing the cymbals. This Item discovered in the vaults of the theater, still in working order, showing here” (Leroux). The minute he took the monkey out and presented it to the audience, it was obvious that there was something special about it. Something just wasn’t quite normal. Then they whined the monkey up, and it played. I expected for the monkey to bang the cymbals loudly and uncontrollably, being that this is of course the nature of this type of to. To one’s surprise, it didn’t. The sound that it actually produced was a soft, comforting tone, one of which would only be similar to a tone used to nurture a baby. Right away it was obvious that this, in fact, was not a regular item up for auction. When the older man and the older women seemed to have been willing to pay anything for it, it was made very obvious. At this moment, the audience does not know who either of these characters are, or if they even play an important role in the play. When the old man spoke his words about the monkey, I’m sure this scene in the script was solely meant to confuse the audience and give them something to think about throughout the play. The most interesting part of this scene and quite frankly my favorite part, comes right after. The auctioneer presents the next item. “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. We are told ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier that figures in that famous disaster. Our workshops have restored it and fitted parts of it with wiring for the new electric lights so that we may get a hint of how it may look when re