The Phantom of the Opera is best known as a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. There have been many differing versions of the story, originally a novel by Gaston Leroux (1911). The story is set in the Paris Opera house, and its inspiration is the legend of a disfigured man, Erik, who was said to once inhabit the basement of the opera house he helped to create. The Phantom of the Opera is the story of his love and infatuation with opera singer Christine Daaé.