Twenty Year Old Phantom
Twenty Year Old PhantomToday marks a most auspicious occasion for Broadway's longest running show ever. Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera celebrates its twentieth anniversary treading the boards of Rialto's Majestic Theatre, after opening there on January 26, 2008.
As Kenneth Jones of Playbill points out, after today's showings (both matinee and evening) conclude, the tuner will have enjoyed 8,319 performances.
When Phantom opened stateside a year and a half after its West End debut, its two London leads -- Sarah Brightman (then Webber's wife) and Michael Crawford -- transferred to New York. The original Broadway cast also featured a very young Rebecca Luker in her Great White Way debut.
The Phantom Of The Opera would dominate the 1988 Tony Awards, winning Best Musical over the original Into The Woods, Romance/Romance and Sarafina! Overall, the show received ten Tony nominations and won seven, including for Crawford, Judy Kaye (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Hal Prince for Best Direction of a Musical.
Even though I've now seen The Phantom Of The Opera twice (three times if I count my visit last year to Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular), I've never seen it on Broadway. Is that heresy? I mean, I did see the show in London 20 years ago, but the only other time I took in the show was in Los Angeles in 1998 when I was provided a free ticket.
While I've never truly understood the lasting appeal of The Phantom Of The Opera, I realize this is often the very first entry level Broadway or West End show for millions of fans around the world. Over 12.5 million have seen the Broadway incarnation alone, and the production at the Majestic has grossed over $675 million -- more than any film.
And so, The Phantom phenomenon continues. Happy anniversary to everyone associated with the show.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:
Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular (The SOB Review) (September 12, 2007)
Where's Oscar The Cat When We REALLY Need Him? (July 20, 2007)
London: The Show Must Go On (June 29, 2007)
Phantom Sequel: So Much For Writing On Otto-Pilot? (June 17, 2007)
Broadway's Longest Running Hits (March 17, 2007)
The Phantom Of Manhattan? (March 12, 2007)
Is It Just Me, Or...(Part II) (February 21, 2007)
Wicked Becomes Broadway's 8th Overall Cumulative Grosser Among Current Hits (June 2, 2006)
Labels: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Anniversary, Broadway, Hal Prince, London, Michael Crawford, Musical, The Phantom Of The Opera
posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Saturday, January 26, 2008
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