Why the Phantom of the Opera declares war to the management?

Answer 1

I'm taking that by this question you meant:

"Why does the Phantom of the Opera declare war on the management?"

In Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera", the Phantom didn't declare war on the managers. The only time he says a line of this sort is at the end of the scene Wandering Child. The line is, "So be it. Now let it be war upon you both!" Referring to Raoul and Christine. Raoul managed to break Christine from the Phantom's hypnotic, "I am your angel of music, come to me angel of music..." moments before. He is not literally going to declare war on Raoul and Christine, even though he hates Raoul at this point.

You may have gotten this confused with the line in the scene Notes II. That line is said by Raoul. He is talking to the unseen Phantom by shouting into the theater, "So, it is to be war between us! But this time, my clever friend, the disaster will be yours!" Which, ironically enough, comes two scenes beforethe Wandering Child scene.

Before this line in Notes II is said, Christine is so conflicted that she has run out of the managers office. Raoul is infuriated that this is causing Christine so much stress (and Raoul is also jealous of the fact that Christine can't decide between him and the Phantom.) Since the managers (along with Carlotta, Piangi, Meg and Madame Giry) are in this scene and it does take place in the manager's office, it is understandable how you may have gotten Raoul confused with the managers or the Phantom.

In the end, that is not so. The only said "declaration of war" in the musical is Raoul declaring war on the Phantom, not the Phantom declaring war on the managers.

If you were just referring to why the Phantom is mean and pins down the managers and makes them bow to his every whim, then here is your answer.

The Phantom had grown up in the depths of the Opera House, and he was mischievous to begin with. He knows every nook and cranny of the Opera House, from the roof to the fifth cellar. He has also perfected his art of sneaking around and hanging people with his Punjab lasso, so the managers can't really do anything to catch him (police, detectives, etc.). As of the first seventeen scenes of the musical, the managers don't even know that the Phantom lives in the Opera House. To the managers, he is just a pain in the ass who they have to watch out for, and if they don't do what he tells them to do, they know they will be punished somehow. This leg up on the managers gave the Phantom a sense of power and control, which he had never had before. It gave him a little more self confidence knowing that he could make people do what he wanted, which may have helped him believe he could control Christine. If he thought he had power over her, then she would think he had power over her.

I hope I've answered your question.