Inside Princeton's 'Phantom'

Costume parties and an excess of candy might be fun, but Halloween festivities can at times seem trite. University students attempting to deviate from the usual mid-fall entertainment, however, don't have to look very far. For the past 13 years, the Chapel Music program has been inviting students, faculty, parents and members of the surrounding community to begin their Halloween season in an atypical way. Every year on the Friday of Freshman Parents Weekend, the Chapel Music program holds a screening of the silent horror movie "The Phantom of the Opera" with organ accompaniment. With the mood set by Chapel Choir members dressed in scary costumes and singing spooky songs, Phantom Night in the Chapel adds a cultural twist to classic Halloween customs.

The tradition began as an attempt to attract more people to the Chapel after the organ was renovated. "The dean of the Chapel said he wanted people to come into the Chapel any way we could get them in," Director of Chapel Music Penna Rose said. Rose began to organize various events to draw people to the melodious sounds emanating from the chapel's doors, including organ concerts and regular Sunday services. When fall approached, Rose got the idea to organize an event that both used the newly renovated instrument and mirrored standard Halloween celebrations. The University community responded extremely well to the quirky yet classic qualities of Phantom Night, in some instances coming in crowds of over 1,000.

The Chapel Choir's involvement in the show adds a fun spark to Phantom Night. Chapel Choir president Matt Westmoreland '10 described the event as "one of those truly unique Princeton traditions," adding that "[before the show,] the Chapel Choir members all go around in scary costumes and try to scare the audience members. Then we sing a really creepy song by candlelight right before the movie starts." Westmoreland is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

A newbie to the quirks of the Phantom tradition, Simon Krauss '11 was delightfully surprised with his first Phantom Night. "I got there and saw things like people dressed up, pretending to be dead ... and then there were people up top dropping spiders on strings on people as they walked in," he said. "Everyone got really into it."

Though the basic idea of Phantom Night hasn't changed much since 1994, each year brings subtle variations to the old tradition. One change has been that the screening, which used to take place closer to Halloween, is now organized on the Friday of Freshman Parents Weekend. This schedule change gives the Chapel Choir a bigger audience, adds a diversion to the typical drone of Orange Key tours and panel discussions and marks the start of the Halloween season on campus. While the date has changed, the audience's enthusiasm has not. This year nearly 300 people attended, and the Chapel Choir raised close to $1,500 to be used to cover costs for its 2009 tour to Spain.

For now, the Chapel Choir has no intention of making any major changes to this longstanding tradition. "We've even tried different movies — we've tried doing 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame,' " Rose said, "and nothing we've tried was nearly as popular as 'Phantom' is."