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Muppets Meet the Classics: The Phantom of the Opera

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What do you get when you cross the Muppets and the classics? A monster hit! Join Kermit, Miss Piggy, Uncle Deadly, and the other Muppets as they bring this tale of mystery and suspense to life in their own way.
This tale of love, intrigue, and jealousy at the Paris Opera House, has now been reimagined with the cast of the Muppets. Kermit (as Raoul), Miss Piggy (as Christine), Uncle Deadly (as the phantom), and the chickens (as the ballet corps) give a whole new meaning to the word "classic.

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2017

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About the author

Gaston Leroux

1,200 books1,102 followers
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.

In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. It was also the basis of the 1990 novel Phantom by Susan Kay.

Leroux went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Then in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1905 he was present at and covered the Russian Revolution. Another case he was present at involved the investigation and deep coverage of an opera house in Paris, later to become a ballet house. The basement consisted of a cell that held prisoners in the Paris Commune, which were the rulers of Paris through much of the Franco-Prussian war.

He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. In 1909, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans to simultaneously publish novels and turn them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in America. Leroux died in Nice on April 15, 1927, of a urinary tract infection.

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5 stars
61 (28%)
4 stars
68 (31%)
3 stars
69 (32%)
2 stars
15 (7%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
Profile Image for Andi.
1,741 reviews
December 30, 2017
Eh.

It was good but it could have been better. This was clearly written by a fan of the Muppets and you can tell from the dialogue. More on point than the shitty Disney films. Gonzo actually acted like Gonzo. Piggy acted like Piggy. Fozzie acted like Fozzie... you get the idea. Though, Kermit's dialogue was fucking atrocious. He was saying stuff that was not a good blend of Raoul/Kermit and came off cringey and cheesy.

That's the strongest praise it gets from me... That's where the two stars come from.

The biggest problem with this book is if someone took the Leroux novel, copied it to Microsoft Word, rewrote the story with Muppet characters. By the paragraph, down to the damn scene with the envelope and the franc swapping. Listen, Muppet Christmas Carol is damn faithful... even if it doesn't adapt the subplot with Scrooge's sister... but really, even Brian Henson/Jerry Juhl knew that ALL the scenes did not need to be adapted.

I give credit to Erik Forrest Jackson, he tried something that hasn't been done in a while since the early 90's... but I feel he really missed the mark on what makes an adaptation shine. Not being 100% faithful but allowing the Muppets to be the Muppets.

If you're a Phantom fan, buy it. If you're looking for a good Muppet retelling, watch Muppets Go to the Movies or one of the two 90's adaptaions (Carol or Treasure Island).
Profile Image for Jess.
377 reviews
August 31, 2018
This book was a hoot!
Though I am puzzled what/who it's intended audience was for?
Phantom Fans? Muppet Fans?
Kids? (maybe).
I think it was pretty spot on the characterization of the Muppets. It is also incredibly faithful to the original novel. It includes almost all of the weird and eccentric details from Leroux's story (the head of fire, the safety pin etc.) I loved Gonzo as the Persian.

People who have read the original Phantom novel will have a more insider perspective and appreciation for this little book. It might be one of the most faithful adaptations for children out there (putting aside the typical Muppet lunacy)

Yeah Disney if you want to make this the next Muppet movie? Shut up and take my money.
Profile Image for H.D..
179 reviews
Want to Read
October 13, 2017
A classic love triangle with everyone being obsessed with the greatest singer/actress/star of its time? Obviously only one person could do this story justice.

Profile Image for Brittany.
188 reviews
October 20, 2017
it's like this was made for me. Phantom of the Opera, the Muppets, snarky humor...this was pretty much perfect.
Profile Image for Jean-Pierre Vidrine.
649 reviews4 followers
February 3, 2018
This book is anachronistic, chaotic, and riddled with groan-worthy puns. In short, it's just about everything one expects with any project featuring the Muppets. With me being a lifelong fan of the Muppets in different media, and with The Phantom of the Opera being one of my favorite novels, Jackson had high hopes to live up to. And he didn't disappoint.
Leroux's work is delightfully reinterpreted and cleverly skewered here with the random humor of the Muppets. Though a fan, I still made use of Google a few times to reacquaint myself with some of the Muppets cast in new roles here. Sometimes the casting was spot on. Sometimes it was just weird. But it was always fun.
Profile Image for Minnie.
77 reviews31 followers
September 17, 2021
This was fun!

•The timeframe of the original Phantom of the Opera is left vague, Muppets Meet the Classics decides to take that to the extreme. Victorian dress and modern technology are common place in this book and I love it.

•Musical/theatre references are plenty here
(Miss Piggy's debut song made me scream🤣 )

•The character's are nicely done, a good blend on both the muppet's personality and the Poto character's personality.

•My feelings towards the last few chapters are a bit iffy, but it's been a wild ride overall!
Profile Image for Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads).
1,637 reviews48 followers
Did Not Finish
September 2, 2019
The concept here was a lot of fun, and I'd definitely watch the muppet movie version of Phantom of the Opera if there was one, but something about writing quality or style here just wasn't holding my interest.
Profile Image for •Kait• •Boers•.
94 reviews
March 31, 2026
I admire this book for what it is. That being said, I wouldn’t call it good.

I am the exact target demographic for this book—as both a Muppet fan and an enjoyer of the musical version of Phantom—but nothing about this book really did it for me. I got the occasional laugh, but other than that, I was never invested, and lowkey skimmed the last half so I could finish it faster.

I’m not gonna recommend this one. Like read it if you want—not on any necessary lists.
Profile Image for Danise.
225 reviews1 follower
February 11, 2018
This was a silly blend of the Muppets and the Phantom. As long as you go into it knowing it will have Muppet humor and enjoy that, you'll be good. Definitely not great literature, but fun.
Profile Image for char.
307 reviews5 followers
July 19, 2022
Absolutely perfect and exactly what I needed in every way. I especially appreciated its commitment to the original book rather than the ALW musical and the deepest-cut Muppets references. Brilliant!
Profile Image for Rachel.
891 reviews
January 31, 2018
If you - or your child - is a lover of all things Muppet, this book is a riot to read. While I haven't read the original Phantom myself, I certainly knew the general gist. The imaginative ways the author threw almost the entire Muppet cast into the story was wonderful. I read this with my 9 year old, and he laughed regularly while we were reading. To be honest, I laughed even more frequently than him!

One issue I have with the book, is *who* it is actually targeted for. It came from the library as a juvenile book, but so much of the humor is adult, much of it went over my guy's head. Frequent references to The Eagles 'Hotel California' absolutely made me smile, but he just didn't catch it - after all, Piggy Daae can't leave the Phantom (aka Uncle Deadly) because 'you can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave!'

All in all, the two of us loved it. It was so much fun to read...he is hoping that they do more of these kinds of books in the future!
Profile Image for Sonia Critchlow.
214 reviews1 follower
February 18, 2018
This book was brilliant. It has all the muppets and all the muppet humour. Kermit is a hero, Miss Piggy is the heroin, Uncle Deadly the Villian and Fozzie the bumbling copper.
Profile Image for Nancy.
703 reviews1 follower
September 8, 2018
If not a movie
at least a Muppet special
Come on Disney
Ive never known you to kick
money out of bed.
The mouse needs a new pair of yellow shoes
478 reviews3 followers
November 25, 2017
Fun, but I couldn't get used to the role reversal of Kermit & Miss Piggy. Also, more Sam the American Eagle please!
Profile Image for Alyssa-Joy.
18 reviews
August 31, 2018
Very cute. Lots of nice references to musicals and theater trivia and nonsense in general. Great read for fans of phantom or Broadway.
Profile Image for Shane Perry.
484 reviews3 followers
April 5, 2018
I was severely disappointed in this. I’m not sure if it’s that the antics of the Muppets just don’t translate well to prose or if the author just isn’t very good...either way this book falls flat. I like some of the ideas and the way Gaston Leroux’s characters are cast, but this book just tries too hard to be funny. At first, the humor seemed very in line with the Muppets. As the book goes on, the references (from Snapchat to Brexit) just become too modern. The Muppets have always had a bit of meta humor, but never to the extent of making such blatant anachronisms. If this series continues, I hope a different author is chosen. I will say that the artwork for each chapter was gorgeous.
Profile Image for Brian.
64 reviews3 followers
October 11, 2018
I don't hate this book, I don't regret reading it, but man, it could've been so much better. It's not the anachronistic humor; A Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island had plenty of that, and both films are great. It's the book seems to overcompensate for the lack of visuals by overloading the anachronisms, to the point where some pages have two or three on them, and the print is not small.

That said, I do appreciate that the writer stuck closer to the source material than to the more widely known Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (though the musical does get referenced once or twice).

All in all, this book was fine. But that's all; fine. And it could've been so much more.
84 reviews3 followers
December 18, 2017
What fun! Full of genuine Muppet humor and a delightful cast of favorite Muppets as well as plenty of more obscure Muppets for the die-hard fan, this retelling of the Phantom of the Opera was a delightful read.
Profile Image for Kathleen.
3,819 reviews7 followers
May 27, 2018
A great interpretation, true to both of its original sources!
Profile Image for Melissa.
212 reviews9 followers
May 30, 2018
This was so funny, I loved all the references and jokes. It was a fun version of The Phantom of the Opera.
Profile Image for Veld.
62 reviews1 follower
May 6, 2026
This was so good! As a big fan of the original Leroux novel, this lifted a lot from the English translation. I believe it’s closest to the de Mattos translation, but I wasn’t exactly comparing one-to-one.

There were a lot of lines lifted basically straight from the original novel. I like to believe this was in the spirit of other word-for-word line borrowings, like in “A Muppet Christmas Carol”. I think it’s quite fun, though I can understand it being a bit heavy-handed to some other readers.

The Muppets were, well, sufficiently Muppet-y! I loved Miss Piggy as Christine, and Kermit did well as Raoul. I can’t speak to Uncle Deadly, but assume that he was fairly well characterized, but can’t see through the characterization of the original Erik/Phantom know for sure. It was so fun to see the changes, like the ring pop, the voyage to the North Pole being to find Santa Claus, all of Miss Piggy’s snacks, etc.

The place it loses a star for me is the mix of modern day references. I know it’s the Muppets, and that this was published in the 2010s, but sometimes the mix of modern and attempting-to-be-period-correct elements were a strange blend. It was weird to see, for example, the hand-written notes alongside Starbucks references. It almost felt like the notes should be emails in order to keep up with the modernization, and I quite dislike that.

Overall, it’s a fun, hilarious read that had me laughing out loud. A dang good blend of Muppet-y nonsense and the genre-bending tale of “The Phantom of the Opera” for fans of either—but mostly both.
Profile Image for Robin Ellsworth.
91 reviews
March 26, 2026
This book is exactly what you think it is, and I loved it!

The only thing I found confusing was that it is shelved in the kids section at my local library. I don’t think any kids reading this would understand half the jokes (I mean there’s a whole running bit about Hotel California) but I don’t know where else you would put it. This book is definitely a collector’s item!

Here are my favorite quotes:

“Tragically, Rowlf’s wife passed away in a freak scratch-off lotto accident when little Piggy was just turning six. After that Rowlf – who focused only on his daughter, his music, and a chew toy shaped like a tuning fork – sold the family dog house and made the move into Uppsala with a list of the things he thought would best improve their lot in life. That list included:

1. Fame

and

2. Fortune

But the only thing he found was poverty, which had not been on his list at all, so he stopped writing lists altogether. (And, anyway, he couldn’t afford pen and paper.)”





“Up went the curtain. Johnny Fiama played the lead role of Dr. Faust, an aging scholar who makes a deal with the devil to regain his youth. *

Footnote:
*Faust, a five-act grand opera, is by Charles Gounod with a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michael Carré. It is loosely based on Faust, Part 1, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe’s lesser-known follow-up, 2 Faust 2 Furious, focused on a man who made a deal with the diesel.”
Profile Image for Delanie.
162 reviews7 followers
September 3, 2023
Unfortunately this book just wasn't muppet-y enough for me. The first chapter thrilled me and left me excited for the rest of the book but I didn't get that feeling again until chapter 21 out of 27.

This book is set sometime in the early 1900's but after 1977 but before 1981 but after Ariana Grande gets her ponytail. Yes, I know it's confusing. The author put the book in the same time frame as the original book but also added in a lot of modern references that apparently haven't happened yet. Gonzo says that space shuttles WILL BE invented in 1981 (so its before then) yet U.D. sings "Hotel California" to Piggy Daae. U.D. also knows of fictional events that took place in 1977 and cellphones exist BUT everyone is still using carriages and horses. I'm not asking for much, just a consistent time frame.

The ending was quite good, with lots of fun quotes. I think the swan peddle boat sections have to be my favourite. I also appreciated that the characters were thoughtfully assigned to their POTO counterparts. I had no idea why EFJ had picked Uncle Deadly for the role of the Phantom until I learned U.D. had been killed in the Muppet's theatre and now haunted it.

Just fixing the timeliness and adding in a few more jokes or Muppets gags between chapters 1 and 21 would have boosted this to a 5 star book.
Profile Image for Chelsea.
2,142 reviews64 followers
August 29, 2020
Well this was a delight!
A retelling of the novel The Phantom of the Opera with all the most popular Muppets as the famous characters. While Piggy and Kermit were of course Christine and Raoul, it was a nice touch with Uncle Deadly as the Phantom, Mama Fiama as Madame Giry, Janice as Sorelli, and Gonzo as the Daroga to round out our cast.
Erik Forrest Jackson found a perfect balance of Muppet humor while still maintaining true to the spirit and plot of the original Leroux novel. An odd mixture for sure, but it just works so well. I still felt for Uncle Deadly's pining for love and to not be feared for his monstrous appearance. There were some more modern references peppered in, including an Ariana Grande and Elvis Presley statue on the rooftop, they still built an authentic Opera House to play in. I especially enjoyed the "Carnival Under the Opera House" which served as the Phantom's lair.

I think both fans of the Phantom or fans of the Muppets will enjoy this quirky mashup. Heart and humor are the driving force in this narrative. For younger or older readers to fall in love with the story of a creature just wanted to find acceptance.
Profile Image for Briar Graovac.
61 reviews3 followers
December 8, 2019
This book is very silly.

If you're really good at picturing the Muppets and feel like expending the additional concentration to do it--I did a few times--then I will credit the writer that it is possible to visualize a charming little movie here. But. I'd rather just have a charming little movie on a streaming platform or available to rent. I like the idea in theory as both a great lover of the Phantom and a decent lover of the Muppets, and there were a few decent jokes here, but nothing that particularly added to my enjoyment of either property.

Still, it's a quirky little addition to my Phantom collection and I don't regret having it or reading it.
Profile Image for Jifu.
733 reviews65 followers
November 7, 2023
It's a shame this is only one of two books in the short-lived "Muppets Meet the Classics" series. Now, this wasn't without its own flaws. Some of the characters here were a bit like one-note stereotypes of themselves more than anything. However, others felt dead-on accurate to the point that I could immediatley hear their voices in my head as I read their lines. Between this and the very silly, Muppet-y humor, this was a very fun read (and admittedly an interesting first introduction to The Phantom of the Opera, speaking as someone who never read the original novel or even saw the musical).
Profile Image for Nuffy.
233 reviews2 followers
September 13, 2025
Cute book with some uneven execution. It took me a while to get into it, because the prose reads mostly like classic literature, and then the dialogue is very muppets. The classic literature to Muppet ratio varies throughout the book as well. But I think this would have been really fun as a movie.

Casting I really liked:
Statler and Waldorf as the managers
Fozzie as the police investigator (even if he was a bit much sometimes)
Gonzo as the Persian

Casting I struggled with:
Miss Piggy as Christine
Kermit as Raoul (they kind of had to be the leads, but they’re such weird choices for these parts. Kermit’s dialogue as Raoul is so cringe, and Miss Piggy is Carlotta if she’s anyone…)
Profile Image for Heather.
603 reviews6 followers
February 13, 2018
I wanted to like this book so much. I even went back and read the original Phantom of the Opera in order to understand the references.
I think this would have been delightful as a movie but on paper this just doesn't work.
Even with being well versed to even recognize obscure rarely used Muppets by description and picking up their mannerisms and tone of voice and knowing the story of Phantom of the Opera and rereading it... this still was tough to enjoy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews