The Phantom of the Opera, Broadway's longest-running show ever, took its final Broadway bow at the Majestic Theatre yesterday, April 16, 2023.
Andrew Lloyd Webber appeared on Morning Joe this morning to discuss The Phantom of the Opera closing and the economics of Broadway.
"The average musical now is sort of breaking even at $900,000 a week and that doesn't include people like me, the creatives, because now, the creatives are put into something called the royalty pool and then they participate in the profits if there are any. It's getting very, very difficult to see how you do new work," Lloyd Webber revealed.
The legendary composer also discussed The Phantom of the Opera's resurgance on TikTok, how the business community should want to invest in Broadway, AI and holograms, and more. Watch the complete interview below!
Lloyd Webber recently penned an open letter in the New York Times, discussing the economics of Broadway. Check out more information here.
The Phantom of the Opera, Broadway's longest-running show ever, took its final Broadway bow at the Majestic Theatre yesterday, April 16, 2023. Bad Cinderella, which also features music by Lloyd Webber, recently opened at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway.
Several of Lloyd Webber's songs have been widely recorded and were successful outside of their parent musicals, such as "Memory" from Cats, "The Music of the Night" and "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from Evita, and "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
In 2001, The New York Times referred to him as "the most commercially successful composer in history". The Daily Telegraph ranked him the "fifth most powerful person in British culture" in 2008, lyricist Don Black writing "Andrew more or less single-handedly reinvented the musical."
Watch the new interview here:
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