Christine Daaé

Christine Daaé
The Phantom of the Opera character
Christine Daaé (Mary Philbin) in the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera, alongside The Phantom (Lon Chaney).
Created by	Gaston Leroux
Information
Occupation	Singer
Family	Madame Valérius (adoptive mother) Daddy Daaé (father, deceased)
Spouse(s)	Viscount Raoul de Chagny
Nationality	Swedish

Christine Daaé is a fictional character and the female protagonist of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and of the various adaptations of the work. She is a young singer with whom the title character Erik, the Phantom of the Opera falls in love.

Character history

Lifetime

Christine Daaé was born in a town near Uppsala, Sweden. Her mother died when she was six. Raised by her father, they constantly travel to fairs where he plays the violin and she sings. They are discovered at one of these fairs by Professor Valérius, who takes them to Gothenburg and then to Paris, providing for Christine's education.

Christine is extremely close to her father, who tells her Scandinavian fairy-tales; the tale of the "Angel of Music" is her favourite. Christine enters the Paris Conservatoire and trains for four years to become an opera singer to please her father and Mamma Valérius, the bedridden wife of the late Professor. However, by the end of the four years, she has lost her passion for singing.

When Christine arrives at the Opéra Garnier, she is described as "sounding like a rusty hinge", but one person finds the beauty hidden in her voice. When Erik, the Phantom of the Opera begins to tutor her, he tells her that he is the "Angel of Music" of whom her father had spoken (Erik tells her this because he has fallen in love with her). She believes him, and he inspires her soul back into her voice. Christine debuts at a gala at the opera in place of the singer Carlotta, who has fallen ill. Christine's singing is described as "seraphic".

Christine becomes torn between her loyalty for her mentor, Erik, and her love for her childhood friend Viscount Raoul de Chagny.

In the Lofficier translation of the novel, Christine's age is given as 15 years old. However, this is a mistranslation of a passage that says her heart was "as pure as that of a 15 year old". The evidence of Christine's childhood friendship with Raoul, and her studies at the Paris Conservatoire, put her age at 20.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera

Main article: The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)

Christine is a chorus girl, who becomes the object of obsession, passion and love for the mysterious Phantom of the Opera. He becomes her mentor, and with his help, she is chosen to replace the company's prima donna, Carlotta. When she falls in love with her childhood sweetheart, Raoul, the Phantom kidnaps Christine in a jealous rage and drags her down to his lair. She is forced to choose between the Phantom and Raoul, but her compassion for the Phantom moves him to free them both and allow them to flee.

2004 Film

The film version of the musical follows the musical's script closely, but Christine's age is reduced. Her gravemark says that she was born in 1854, and the beginning the movie shows the setting as 1870, so that makes her 15 or 16 years old.

Father's name

In the novel, Christine's loving father is named Daddy Daaé. In the musical, he is called Gustave, and in Sarah Brightman's music video version of "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again", his name is Charles.

Basis

Several researchers claim the character Christine Daaé was based upon the real-life Swedish-born opera star Christina Nilsson, also known as Kristina Nilsson or Christine Nilsson. This claim is unverified by any official source, but it is supported by several biographical similarities between Nilsson and Daaé. The most obvious is that Nilsson, like Daaé, was born in Sweden and trained in Paris.

Actresses

The first actress to portray Christine Daaé was Aud Egede-Nissen in the 1916 German silent version by Ernst Matray, Das Gespenst im Opernhaus or Das Phantom der Oper.

• Mary Philbin played Christine in the 1925 American silent version by Rupert Julian, The Phantom of the Opera.

• Susanna Foster played Christine DuBois in the 1943 Technicolor version, Phantom of the Opera.

• Heather Sears played Christine Charles in the 1962 version of The Phantom of the Opera.

• Jane Seymour played Christine in the 1983 TV movie version.

• Christina Collier played her in Ken Hill's camp-classical musical version in 1984.

• Sarah Brightman debuted the role in the 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

• Patti Cohenour debuted the role in the 1986 Broadway production, alternating with Sarah Brightman. Cohenour was thus the first American Christine and went on to reprise the role for the First Canadian National Tour.

• Glory Crampton originated the role in the much revived Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit 1990 musical Phantom.

• Jill Schoelen played Christine Day in Dwight H. Little's 1989 film version.

• Rebecca Caine debuted the role in the Canadian production (1989) and featured on the Canadian Cast album.

• Teri Polo took the role in the 1990 television miniseries version.

• American Janet Marie Chvatal performed the role in 1991-1992 in the German version of Das Phantom der Oper in Vienna, Austria.

• Asia Argento played her in the 1998 film

• Template:Es:Claudia Cota played her twice in The Phantom of the Opera (musical 2000) by Morris Gilbert in Mexico and Player her on Phantom of the Opera (musical 2009) in Argentina by Harold Prince.

• Emmy Rossum played her in the 2004 film version of the Lloyd Webber musical.

• Sierra Boggess first played Christine in the 2006 version of the Lloyd Webber musical, Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular. In 2010 she originated the role in Lloyd Webber's sequel, Love Never Dies. She next played Christine in the 25th Anniversary concert, The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, in 2011 and on Broadway in 2013 and 2014.

• Kimilee Bryant played the role in the Lloyd Webber musical on Broadway (1994–95; 1998; 2009–2012 occasionally) and in the Swiss (in German; 1995–96), U.S. National Tour (1996–98) and Toronto (1999) productions.

• Gina Beck played the role in the Lloyd Webber musical in London.

• Jennifer Hope Wills played Christine in the Lloyd Webber musical on Broadway and on a Canadian tour of the musical.

• Julia Udine is has been playing Christine on Broadway in the Lloyd Webber musical since 2014, after playing the role in the North American tour in 2013–2014.

External links

• The Phantom of the Opera free e-book, Project Gutenberg