The music is as familiar as the image of its placid white mask. And the story, well, it borrows from the now-classic Gaston Leroux novel written in 1910.

The beloved gothic mystery/romance “The Phantom of the Opera” has settled on the banks of the Potomac for the next five weeks. It?s a triumphant return to Washington, and Broadway?s longest-running musical belongs on such a grand stage at the Kennedy Center, even if the “Phantom” chandelier is dwarfed by the Opera House?s enormous golden-snowflake conglomeration of lights.