How to Build a Model of the Stage from "Phantom of the Opera"

Use images of the Paris Opera House to inspire your set model.

Build your model set of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" using a cardboard box, just like a set designer. Make a simplified version of his elaborate stage set with a balcony and a grand staircase reminiscent of the Paris Opera House where the story takes place. Decorate it to your own taste, and accessorize it with fabric and miniature furniture.

Things You'll Need

• Set design sketch (optional)
• Cardboard food package box
• Craft knife
• Yellow, gold and orange poster or acrylic paint
• Art brush
• Ruler
• White mounting board
• Masking tape
• Black mounting board
• Craft card
• Newspaper
• Wallpaper paste
• Craft glue
• Old bowl
• Orange-patterned gift wrap
• Red velvet fabric
• 2 dollhouse furniture lights on stands

Instructions

Set Frame

1. Refer to the photograph of the "Phantom of the Opera" set that is the first link in the Resources section; or use your own design sketch to help you to make your set model.

2. Cut the flaps off the top of a cardboard food package box with a craft knife. Remove one of the box's widest side panels to create the three-walled set.

3. Paint the interior and exterior of the box yellow or gold with poster or acrylic paint and an art brush. Allow it to dry for one hour.

4. Cut a rectangle panel for the back wall of the stage out of white mounting board, making it the same size as the box's side panel. Draw a horizontal line across the width of the mounting board and about half way up from its bottom. Draw a vertical line down the center and two more vertical lines one at each side of the center line to divide the board into 1/4 sections. Draw an archway at balcony level on each vertical line. Cut out the three archways with a craft knife.

5. Position the back wall panel against the back wall of the box. Draw a false rectangular double door on the box wall at each archway. Paint the doors orange, and trim the edges with gold paint. Move the back wall panel out so it is 2 inches away from the back, with the guidelines side facing the audience. Fix it in place with masking tape.

6. Cut six rectangles out of black mounting board for the wing panels, each measuring 3 inches wide by the box's height. Work backward from the front edge of the box to position three wing panels an equal distance apart on each side of the stage. Tilt each panel on a slight angle pointing toward the back of the stage. Fix them in place with masking tape with the black side facing the audience.

Balcony and Staircase

1. Simplify the balcony design that the picture linked in Resources displays by creating a single angular staircase rather than three curved staircases. Cut a rectangle measuring about 5 inches wide by the distance stretching across all three archways out of white mounting board; it will be the balcony floor. Place the floor piece on the horizontal line under all arched entrances, and tape it in place.

2. Measure the height from the stage to the balcony. Divide the balcony's height by 12, which is the number of stair steps, to calculate each step's height. Draw two right-angled triangles on a sheet of mounting board for the side panels of the staircase, with the vertical and horizontal lengths measuring the balcony height. Draw the run of 12 descending steps down from the top of the vertical line on the left. Work down the path of the diagonal line to the bottom, measuring the horizontal and vertical runs equally as you proceed. Add a rectangle next to and left of the vertical line of the triangle; make the rectangle measure 2 inches wide and the height of the triangle. Cut around the contour of the overall shape with the craft knife.

3. Connect the side panels together to construct a frame for the staircase. Cut rectangular strips of mounting board 4 to 5 inches in length and about 2 inches wide. Place the strips along the vertical and horizontal edges, and hold them in place with masking tape.

4. Cut out rectangles for the steps in accordance to your stair width and height measurements. Note that each descending step can be slightly longer than the previous step so that the staircase gradually widens. Tape each step in place on the staircase frame. Slide the top of the staircase under the balcony floor in the center, and tape it in place.

5. Draw railings on a sheet of craft card to fit the balcony, staircase and across the central archway. Cut them out, and affix them to your set.

Set Dressing

1. Cover the stage set -- except the wing slats -- with a layer of papier mache to hide the masking tape and to strengthen the set. Make papier mache by tearing 1-inch strips of newspaper and dipping them into a bowl of wallpaper paste. Allow the papier mache you applied to the set to dry overnight.

2. Glue a sheet of orange-patterned gift wrap to the set's back wall to suggest the interior walls of the opera house. Paint the staircase and the stage yellow or gold. Use orange paint for the runs of the railings, and trim the banister with gold paint. Allow the set to dry for one hour.

3. Hang and glue red velvet fabric for curtains down the front wing panels.

4. Make four white mounting board cut-out figures of the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite holding candelabras. Use the picture linked in the Resources section as a reference. Place one of the figures at each side of the staircase at balcony level and two at the bottom of the staircase, and tape them down with masking tape. Paint them gold. Place one dollhouse furniture lights on stands at each side of the central archway on the balcony to complete your "Phantom of the Opera" stage set model.

Tips & Warnings

• Read or watch the play to obtain ideas to incorporate into your stage set model.

• When cutting with a craft knife use the straight edge of a ruler to help guide the blade and to prevent the blade from slipping.

• Trace images of Aphrodite or use plastic figurines of a Greek goddess and paint them gold as an alternative method to create cardboard cut-outs.

References

• Utah State University; The Design Arts of Theater; The Scenic Designer; 2008
• Parsons, the New School for Design; AAS Interior Design; Decoration as Composition; Set of "Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Webber; 2004

Resources

• Parsons, the New School for Design; Set of "Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Webber; 2004
• BBC: "The Phantom of the Opera" -- Stage Design