Broadway’s ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ Will Close in 2023 After 35 Years; Final Tickets On Sale “Shortly”

deadline.com:

The Phantom of the Opera, Broadway’s longest running show, will close in February following its 35th anniversary in January, producers have announced.“We are sad to confirm that after 35 years on Broadway, Phantom will play its final performance at the Majestic Theatre on Saturday February 18th, 2023,” the show has announced on its website. “Tickets are currently on sale for performances through January 22nd, 2023, and we expect the final block of tickets to be placed on sale shortly.”The news comes as the musical, known for its falling chandelier, its half-masked title character and its most famous song “The Music of the Night,” has become an icon of Broadway over the decades but has been as susceptible as other productions to the soft Covid market and weak tourist climate.The musical has long played at the Shubert Organization’s Majestic Theatre.With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, and a libretto by Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group, Phantom opened in London’s West End in 1986 and, two years later, on Broadway, with direction by Harold Prince.

The musical made stars of, or at least cemented the theater legacy, of stars Michael Crawford, as the Phantom, and Webber’s then-wife Sarah Brightman as Christine.

Among the records set by the musical over the years is first Broadway production to hit 10,000 performances (in 2012). Reported estimates of the Broadway productions grosses over the years exceed $1 billion.Among its trove of Tony Awards in 1988 were Best Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Crawford), Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Judy Kaye), Best Direction of a Musical (Harold Prince),