User: Why does the Phantom have a mask in the musical ‘The Phantom of the Opera’?
Assistant: The Phantom has a mask because he is a phantom. A phantom is a spirit who cannot be seen or heard, but is still very real. The Phantom is not a ghost, he is a living person. The Phantom of the Opera is a musical based on the novel by Gaston Leroux. The novel is about a man who falls in love with a beautiful woman named Christine, but is haunted by a mysterious being called the Phantom. The Phantom is a masked man who haunts the opera house where Christine works.