The most successful stage musical of all time, the Cameron
Mackintosh/Really Useful Group, Inc. production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, directed by
Harold Prince, will reach an unprecedented milestone when it celebrates its 20th Anniversary on Broadway on Saturday, January 26. On that date, playing its 8,138th and 8,139th
performances at The Majestic Theatre (247
West 44th Street), it will become the first
Broadway production ever to run 20 years.
The longest-running show in Broadway history (a feat it
achieved in January 2006 when it surpassed the then-record run of Cats), the musical is the winner of 7
1988 Tony Awards including Best Musical.
Since its Broadway debut on January 26, 1988, The Phantom of the Opera has grossed over $675 million, making it
the highest-grossing show in Broadway history.
Total New York
attendance is at 12.5 million. It has
since gone on to play over 8,000 performances – the only show in Broadway
history to do so – and all with no end in sight.
Its international success – equally staggering – is
represented by total worldwide grosses estimated at over $5 Billion. This colossal figure makes The Phantom of the Opera the most
successful entertainment venture of all time, surpassing not only any other
stage production, but also far surpassing the world's highest-grossing film
Titanic (at $1.2 billion) and such other blockbusters as The Lord of the Rings, Jurassic
Park and Star Wars. Worldwide attendance is over 80 million
people.
The Phantom of the
Opera has always been a record-breaker, with the New York production
setting benchmarks that have dominated the industry: for capitalization (a
then-spectacular $8 million), total advance (a then-enormous $18 million),
total gross and attendance ($675 million and 12.5 million and counting), total
performances (becoming the first and still only show to ever reach 8,000), and
even the number of years before a single ticket
was ever sold at the TKTS ticket booth in Times Square (over 14 years,
which is still the record, by a long shot).
And since becoming the longest-running show in Broadway history in 2006,
each performance has set a new longevity record.
The musical has also broken all touring records. It continues to be the longest continuously-touring
show in U.S.
history, with the first of its three National Tours having gone out over 19
years ago in May 1989. The current tour
is the longest-running touring production in U.S. history, having recently
celebrated its 15th Anniversary on December 13, 2007.
In addition to The
Phantom of the Opera's amazing longevity and continued box office success,
the Broadway production consistently earns rave reviews from returning critics:
The Phantom of the
Opera had its world premiere on October 9, 1986 at Her Majesty's Theatre in
London, winning
every major British theatre award including the Olivier and Evening Standard
Awards. The New York production opened on January 26,
1988 with a then record advance of $18 million.
The musical went on to sweep the 1988 Tony Awards, winning seven,
including Best Musical. The Phantom of
the Opera also won seven Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critics Circle
Awards. The original London cast recording was the first in
British musical history to enter the charts at number one. It has since gone both gold and platinum in Britain and the U.S. selling over 40 million copies
worldwide.
"Based on the classic novel Le Fantôme de L'Opéra by Gaston
Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera
tells the story of a masked figure who lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris
Opera House, exercising a reign of terror over all who inhabit it. He falls madly in love with an innocent young
soprano, Christine, and devotes himself to creating a new star by nurturing her
extraordinary talents and by employing all of the devious methods at his
command," explain press notes.
The Phantom of the
Opera stars Howard McGillin in the tile role with Jennifer Hope Wills as
Christine and Tim Martin Gleason as Raoul.
Having donned the mask in over 2,000 times, McGillin has performed
the title role more than any other actor in the Broadway production.
