Phantom of the Opera

Yay, more classics! I've been listening to Sarah Brightman sing Phantom of the Opera since I was a child, and have recently rediscovered it! It really is a touching story of the heights of love and the depths of suffering.
For those of you who don't know this story, it centers around Christine, a young soprano at the Paris Opera House, but we all know the real main character is Erik. Better known as the Phantom of the Opera, he resides in a place by the lake beneath the Opera House. A tormented genius shunned for his physical disfigurement, he has spent his life alone, living only for his music. That all changes when he falls in love with the beautiful Christine Daae. There's several problems with this relationship, but the most prominent takes the form of her fiance: Raoul de Chagny. Now Christine must choose between her childhood friend and sweetheart, and her teacher, the man who captured her imagination and worships the ground she walks on.
Erik is a singularly unforgettable character, with so much depth it's almost painful. He has suffered unbelievably in his life, cast out by his mother, captured and paraded about by gypsies and at last driven beneath the Opera House to live out the rest of his life in solitude. His so described 'angel's voice' and passion for music lead him to Christine, whom he mentors in secret to usurp La Carlotta as the Prima Donna of the Opera House. To be sure, he had some real issues, and is incredibly emotionally unstable, but he cares deeply for Christine.
Christine herself is mind-bogglingly naive, believing Erik to be the angel of music, sent to her by her dead father. Given, he was hiding and projecting his voice into her room, but still. She is very sweet and innocent, fairly the picture of everything Erik isn't, and can't have. She has an amazing vocal talent, but it seems lost after her father's death. With Erik's mentoring, she regains the muse she lost.
Raoul, needless to say, is hated by the majority of the phan base. He is a flat, one dimensional character who serves as the hero in the antihero's world. He not only fails to notice something is wrong with Christine, but fails to rescue her from Erik, who had taken her to his house below. He is a hindrance to the mission and the my serious Persian would have done better to leave him behind.
The story itself is unique, written by Gaston Leroux and set in 18th-century France. It's a beautiful tale of love, redemption and the ultimate unfairness and cruelty of life. Some people just get dealt really shitty hands in life. Some people get to be happier than their wildest dreams. That's just the way it goes.
If I am the phantom, it is because man's hatred has made me so. If I am to be saved it is because your love redeems me.