Yeah, that’s one of my least favorite scenes as well. I prefer the book version and not because I read it first–I didn’t. I didn’t think that scene was well done and it is too long and I don’t like the song.
In the book, the Phantom arranged for her to go to go there. She still believed he was her father’s “Angel of Music” at the time and he promised to play (I think) “The Resurrection of Lazarus” for her on, supposedly, her dead father’s violin. It was supposed to be a treat and obviously was meant to manipulate her further into believing he was the angel. Raoul follows her there and looks for a realistic explanation for what’s happening. He decides a man could be hiding in a pile of bones and sees Eric with his ‘death’s head’ which I think was one of his masks but could’ve been his real face, I can’t remember. Anyway, I think the phantom knocks him out at that point. They find him the next morning in the graveyard frozen half to death!
I can see how ALW derived his version but I still prefer the book version. Of that scene, at least.