UNMASQUED is an erotic novel of The Phantom of the Opera. It is not the 1910 Gaston Leroux story. It is not Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical interpretation. It is not even the film version starring Gerard Butler as the mysterious Angel of Music. Yet all the things it is not are all the things the author must contend with as readers bring their preconceived notions to the reading of the book.
The Christine Daaé of UNMASQUED lost her virginity at sixteen after coming to the National Academy of Music at the Paris Opera House at twelve. Along with the rest of the girls under the tutelage of ballet mistress Madame Giry, she has learned how to “select a good protector who would not be physically cruel in the boudoir and who would otherwise treat" her well. And though she is known as one of the Madame’s most virtuous girls, she too has been instructed in using her feminine powers to the best of her ability, and in making certain she is “not gotten with child, and what to do” if she should be.
Remember. UNMASQUED. Not Leroux, not Webber, not even Gerard.
As the story opens, Christine finds herself preparing to take the place of the diva Carlotta who has claimed illness after being frightened by the fall of a backdrop and has stalked off the stage. Upon hearing for the first time of the legend of the Opera Ghost, the two new managers, Messieurs Richard and Moncharmin agree to let the “dancer girl” perform in Carlotta’s place. They have no other choice as the Opera House's new patron, Comte (Philippe) de Chagny, and his brother the Vicomte (Raoul) will be in attendance, and the show must go on.
Following a successful performance and having agreed to dine with Raoul who she is delighted to see, having known him as a child, Christine first ventures out onto the darkened stage alone. Once there, a spotlight shines down and her Angel of Music, the Opera Ghost who has been her secret tutor, materializes behind her. He has come to show her how greatly she has pleased him. He does so by binding her hands with a rope hanging from above, stripping her out of her bodice, and beginning her true tutelage with a leather clad hand under her skirts. He tells her to call him Erik.
And thus begins a series of similar scenes: Erik fixing a naked Christine to a dressing room mirror and showing her pleasure. Erik fixing a naked Christine to a harp in his underground cottage and “punishing her” for allowing Raoul to touch her. Erik fixing a naked Christine (once they have “made love”) with the responsibility to, “Never betray me.” Soon enough she does, removing his mask while he sleeps and causing him to damn her and return her to the world above after seven days spent in his home beneath the Opera House.
In the meantime, Madame Giry makes certain Monsieur Moncharmin understands the Opera Ghost’s requirements of continued monthly compensation and the availability to him of box five at all times, and does so by seeing to both of their orgasms in said box. Later, she does her best to ease the tension in the Opera House brought on by the kidnapping of Christine by doing the same for Monsieur Richard inside the papier-mâché and wood construction representing Hell for the production of Faust – which happens to be going on around them at the time.
And then there’s Philippe and Raoul and the games they play with the Comte’s Comtesse, Delia, and the maids in Philippe’s specially designed rooms (complete with whips, cuffs, dildos, racks, and peep holes) at the Château de Chagny. Oh, and Carlotta has her fun as well . . .
Again. UNMASQUED. Not Leroux, not Webber, not even Gerard.
Ultimately, the goal of any erotic art is titillation. Too often, these scenes in UNMASQUED (and there are many, oh there are many) came across as overly choreographed encounters with no purpose (beyond the obvious), leaving the reader to mentally situate hands and mouths and knees rather than share in the eroticism of the acts themselves.
In fact, much of the staging was over-choreographed, and many descriptions were, well, over-described. The language was often distancing, rather than intimate, resulting in a story that was viewed voyeuristically rather than experienced physically. Still, the book's dedication -- "For all the women who thought Christine should have stayed with the Phantom" -- gives readers a hint of the ending, and for fans of Webber's and Gerard's bittersweet interpretation, that ending is a lovely happily ever after.
You can visit Colette Gale here and buy UNMASQUED at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
