'The Phantom of the Opera' to close on Broadway after 35 years
The musical is the longest-running show in Broadway history.
UPDATE: The Phantom of the Opera has extended by eight weeks and will now close on April 16.
The music of the night will no longer play. Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is set to end its Broadway run at the Majestic Theatre. The musical's final performance is set for February 18, 2023, shortly after its 35th anniversary on Broadway on January 26.
The Phantom of the Opera is the longest-running show in Broadway history, but even after closing, it will maintain its record for a while. At the time of closing, Phantom will have played nearly 14,000 performances; the 1996 revival of Chicago, which is in second place, has run for 26 years and counting and just surpassed 10,000 performances.
Based on Gaston Leroux's 1910 thriller novel, The Phantom of the Opera follows the dark, obsessive relationship between an opera ingenue and the mysterious Phantom who lives in the opera house's underbelly. When she falls for another man, he threatens the opera house and all its performers. A moment when he drops a chandelier from the rafters has become one of the most iconic scenes in musical theatre history.
Webber, along with Richard Stilgoe (co-book writer and co-lyricist) and Charles Hart (co-lyricist) adapted Phantom into a musical in 1986, when the show premiered in London's West End. After winning four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical there, the show transferred to Broadway in 1988 and won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Since then, Phantom has been performed in more than 40 countries and 17 languages, and Webber even wrote a sequel, Love Never Dies.
When will The Phantom of the Opera close on Broadway?
The Phantom of the Opera will close on Broadway on February 18, 2023, after having played almost 14,000 performances and just after its 35th anniversary. The musical is the longest-running show in Broadway history.
A 2015 review of The Phantom of the Opera reads, "This story has it all: music that stays with you long after the curtain comes down... love in an array of colors, fantasy, danger, sex, hopes and dreams. The Phantom of the Opera remains a stunning production that engages the ear, the eye and the heart. The fact that it has done so for nearly 30 years world wide is testament to the crafty craft of making theatre."
The Broadway production was directed by legendary Broadway director/producer Hal Prince and choreographed by Gillian Lynne.
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