Artists performing the musical “The Phantom of the Opera”
After 35 years of shining with nearly 14,000 performances, the longest-running musical in the history of the famous American Broadway stage, The Phantom of the Opera has officially closed amid predictions that the show will one day return. “The Phantom of the Opera” is an extremely popular musical by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber about a musical genius wearing a mask, The Phantom. This classic musical is the longest-running show in the history of Broadway, attracting more than 20 million audiences and bringing in ticket sales of up to 1.4 billion USD.
In the final performance before closing, the Majestic Theater of the Broadway theater system recorded a sold-out phenomenon with the number of audiences coming to see up to 13,981 people. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber also attended the performance to the applause of thousands of audiences, many people consider this work a symbol of musical theater. However, the musical "Phantom of the Opera" is considered a "victim" seriously affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, when the number of audiences coming to this theater has not been able to recover to the level before the outbreak. The musical requires a lot of money to maintain and stage, while the staging and costumes are very elaborate with a large cast and musicians. Although the play has resumed on Broadway after 18 months of closure due to Covid-19, ticket sales at $850,000 - $1 million/week cannot cover the operating costs of the entire crew.
According to British producer Cameron Mackintosh, the production of the musical suffered losses due to the relatively low number of international visitors returning to New York City after the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with that, the production costs increased by about $950,000 per week, which was also a factor that prevented the producers from continuing to bear the loss to invest in staging this play. The musical "The Phantom of the Opera" was staged by composer Andrew Llyod Webber from the French novel of the same name by French writer Gaston Leroux.
Journalist Gayle King said, I was really lucky to catch the flight to see the final performance of the musical “The Phantom of the Opera”, a classic play about a love story formed from the combination of sound, light, music, giving the audience an unforgettable experience. The work was “conceived” by three “legendary” figures in the history of theater: Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Hal Prince and producer Cameron Mackintosh.
Since its debut in the UK in 1986 and its arrival on Broadway in January 1988, The Phantom of the Opera has become a huge hit with New Yorkers and tourists alike, becoming an icon of the famous theater. After 35 years, The Phantom of the Opera has grossed over $6 billion worldwide and over $1.4 billion on Broadway alone. As of 2021, the show has played to 130 million people in 145 cities in 27 countries. The Phantom of the Opera is the highest-grossing musical and an icon of the theater in New York City.
The production has won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and holds the record for the longest-running musical in Broadway history since January 9, 2006.
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