The Phantom of the Opera brought down the curtain this Sunday and hung up its mask after 35 years on Broadway. The musical, the longest-running musical in history in the theater district, racked up a total of 14,000 performances during its New York run and gave its final swan song to standing ovations and champagne toasts. Some theatergoers paid up to $900 to enjoy one last performance at the Majestic Theater:
The final chandelier drop at ‘THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA’ on Broadway! @PhantomOpera | #ThePhantomoftheOperapic.twitter.com/VPZg2gWjfA
— Starring🍿 (@StarringUK) April 17, 2023
Continuing with 'The Phantom of the Opera' was unfeasible
Throughout its 35-year run, The Phantom of the Opera attracted 19.8 million theatregoers, grossed a total of $13 billion and won a total of 70 awards. However, the show was unable to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
As revealed in September 2022 by the Financial Times, the curtain rose each week at a cost of $950,000 and the profits accumulated, also on a weekly basis, were less than $850,000. It was simply unfeasible to go forward with it.
Therefore, they decided that the time had come to hang up the mask for good. And they did it in style by reuniting some of the original cast with the current cast in a performance that composer Andrew Lloyd Webber dedicated to his son, Nick. He passed away a month ago after suffering from gastric cancer. He was 43 years old and Lloyd Webber dedicated the following words to him: "When he was a little boy, he listened to this music."
Based on the novel by Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of the Phantom, a deformed composer who haunts the Paris Opera. There he falls in love with a young soprano, Christine, with whom he becomes obsessed. A story that has been on Broadway for almost 35 years and according to its producer Cameron Mackintosh, in statements published by Los Angeles Times, could return sooner than expected:
The one question I get asked over and over again: will the Phantom return? Having been a producer for over 55 years, I’ve seen all the great musicals return, and Phantom is one of the greatest. So it's just a matter of time.
