Carlotta (The Phantom of the Opera)

Carlotta is a fictional character from the French novel "The Phantom of the Opera".

In the novel she is a minor character hailing from Spain. The first time that she is mentioned in the novel is during the chapter "The New Marguerite", where it is revealed that she could not perform at the ceremony for the former managers. Later in the novel she is threatened by Erik that if she performs at the Opera House "a great misfortune will strike". She shrugs the warning off and performs anyway. When she does however croaking noises come out of her mouth and the chandelier comes crashing down. Ashamed, she hides from the public view for a few weeks, before making a return to the opera house.

In Andrew Lloyd Webber's production, Carlotta is from Italy and is one of the major singing parts, being thoroughly spoiled by everyone, but also is a large source of comic relief in the production. She has been played by Rosemary Ashe and Judy Kaye among others. In the musical, it can be deduced that she is having an affair with Ubaldo Piangi, as she is Signora Giudicelli, but when Piangi is found dead, she refers to him as "Ubaldo my love!" (although she could also be a widow)

In the Lloyd Webber-Joel Schumacher 2004 film version, she was played by Minnie Driver. Due to Driver's lack of experience in opera, her singing voice was dubbed by opera singer Margaret Preece, although she lent her actual voice to the song "Learn To Be Lonely" at the end of the movie (the credits).