Don Juan Triumphant
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Don Juan Triumphant is the name of a fictional opera written by the title character in the novel The Phantom of the Opera by French novelist Gaston Leroux (on which the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber is based).[1] Employed as opera within an opera, it is a thinly veiled adaptation of Mozart's Don Giovanni which premiered in Prague in 1787, only told from Don Juan's point of view.[2]
The work is forced on the opera company by the Phantom, who expects Christine Daae, the object of his affection, to perform in it. Viscount Raoul de Chagny, Christine's fiancé, devises a plan to capture the Phantom by using her as bait to lure him to the performance. Christine reluctantly agrees.
In the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, only a small portion of the opera is seen onstage, in which Don Juan (played by leading tenor Ubaldo Piangi) and his servant Passarino make plans for Don Juan's seduction of the maiden Aminta (Christine). Passarino, dressed as Don Juan and hiding his face, is the one who made her acquaintance. According to the plan, he is to leave the house before Aminta arrives for a dinner with Don Juan, who has assumed Passarino's identity. Passarino will announce his return later, prompting Don Juan to suggest that Aminta hide with him in a bedroom to avoid being found.
As soon as Piangi slips into a hiding place to await the start of the scene, he is quietly strangled by the Phantom, who takes his place and in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical sings "The Point of No Return" with Christine before declaring his love in front of the whole audience. The opera breaks up into chaos when she exposes his horribly deformed face and Piangi's body is found, leading to the finale of the musical ("Down Once More"/"Track Down This Murderer").
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