Andrew Lloyd Webber

AUCTIONEER
Sold. Your number, sir? Thank you.
Lot 663, then, ladies and gentlemen: a poster for this house's production
of "Hannibal" by Chalumeau.
PORTER
Showing here.
AUCTIONEER
Do I have ten francs? Five then. Five I am bid. Six, seven. Against you,
sir, even. Eight. Eight once. Selling twice. Sold, to Raoul,
Vicomte de Chagny.
Lot 664: a wooden pistol and three human skulls, from the 1831
production of "Robert le Diable" by Meyerbeer. Ten francs for this.
Ten, thank you. Ten francs still. Fifteen, thank you, sir. Fifteen I am bid.
Going at fifteen. Your number, sir?
Lot 665, ladies and gentlemen: a papier-mâché 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 theatre,
still in working order.
PORTER
Showing here
AUCTIONEER
May I start at twenty francs? Fifteen then? Fifteen I am bid.
Sold for thirty francs to the Vicomte de Chagny. Thank you, sir.
RAOUL
A collector's piece indeed... every detail exactly as she said...
She often spoke of you, my friend... your velvet lining and your figurine
of lead... Will you still play, when all the rest of us are dead...?
AUCTIONEER
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 which figures in the famous disaster. Our workshops have
restored it and fitted up parts of it with wiring for the new electronic light,
so that we may get a hint of what it may look like when re-assembled.
Perhaps we my frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a
little illumination, gentlemen?