Closing of “The Phantom of the Opera”, the longest running show on Broadway

“The Phantom of the Opera,” the longest running show in Broadway history and, for many, an icon of musical theater, will be dropped famous chandelier for the last time in February, becoming the latest show to fall victim to declining audience numbers since the pandemic.

The shutdown was long overdue—no show lasts forever, this guy’s earnings have plummeted—but also astounding, because “Phantom” seemed like a permanent part of the Broadway landscape, a piece of a period and a tourist attraction that stood apart from the vagaries of the commercial theater market. .

But in the year that’s passed since Broadway’s return from a devastating pandemic lockdown, theatrical audiences haven’t fully recovered, and “Phantom,” He came back strong last fallIt didn’t sell well enough to afford its high weekly operating costs.

The show will celebrate its 35th anniversary in January, after which the final show will play on Broadway on February 18, according to a spokesperson. The cast, crew and orchestra were informed of the decision on Friday.

The show will continue elsewhere: London’s production, which is older than New York’s, shut down in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, but then returned, with a smaller orchestra and another cost-cutting remodel, a year later. new production It opened last month in AustraliaThe first Mandarin-language production is scheduled to open in China next year. Also: Antonio Banderas is working on a new production in Spanish.

“The Phantom” is an icon of Broadway in the 1980s, created by three of the most legendary figures in the history of musical theater: composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Hal Prince and producer Cameron Mackintosh. They were all long devoted to the show – in 2018, when he turned 30, they celebrated it Light show projected on the Empire State Building Simultaneously with parts of the result; Last year, when the show resumed shows after closing, Weber DJ’da block party outside the theater. (Yes, there was a remix of the “Phantom” theme.)

The series, which is about a mask-wearing opera lover who haunts the Paris Opera House and becomes obsessed with a young soprano, is best known for that chandelier that crashes on stage every night, featuring superlative spectacle and melodrama. .

When the Broadway production opened on January 26, 1988, New York Times critic Frank Rich criticized many elements of the show, but began review it By acknowledging, “You might have a hard time in ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ but you’ll have to work on it.”

By 2014, when Times critic Charles Isherwood revisited the show, the show had captured many skeptics. “Shortly after the orchestra blew the ominously resounding harps, I found my expectations turned upside down, and my worn-out armor melting,” Isherwood Books. “More than a decade away—and two hundred new musicals—since my last visit, I’ve found myself with a new appreciation for Gothic theater for this beloved show.”

Over the years, “Phantom” has become a staple that has attracted massive audiences around the world. Since its first show opened in London in 1986, the show has been watched by more than 145 million people in 183 cities around the world. Performed in 17 languages, this number is expected to rise next year to 18, when Mandarin production begins.

On Broadway, the show has been watched by 19.8 million people, and has grossed $1.3 billion, since it opened, according to numbers compiled by the Broadway League. It made $867,997 in earnings during the week ending September 11, which is decent but not good enough to keep a musical of this size running (with a great cast, great orchestra, and elaborate set, all driving up operating costs).

Production intention was to close the show Reported on Friday by the New York Post.