A poster for 'The Phantom of the Opera' at the Majestic Theater in New York.Kathy Willens (AP)
The Phantom of the Opera,
the most successful work of the king of musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber, prepares to lower the curtain in New York.
The producers have announced this Friday that after 35 years on Broadway, the farewell performance of the longest-running show in the city's theatrical history will be on Saturday, February 18, 2023.
The theater has not yet put up for sale for the last four weeks.
The musical amassed more than 13,500 performances, more than any other in Broadway history.
Since its premiere in 1988, it has only had a long break due to the pandemic (from March 12, 2020 to October 22, 2021).
It has never fully recovered from the blow that confinement meant for theaters.
The public has not returned to theaters as before and
The Phantom of the Opera
is a very expensive show that is not profitable with half a ticket.
In those more than three decades of performances at the Majestic Theater, next to Times Square, the play has been a magnet for tourists and a symbol of musicals.
Based on the 1910 French novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, it tells the story of a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious musical genius who lives hidden in an underground labyrinth beneath the Paris Opera House and leads a mask to hide a physical deformity.
The work is a triangle of love, jealousy and passion for music.
The scene of the great crashing chandelier and songs like
The Music of the Night
have been etched in the retina and ears of the millions of viewers who have come to see it around the world.
From the same creator as
Cats, Evita or Jesus Christ Superstar,
the play was premiered in London's West End in 1986, where it continues to be performed with a lower-cost version, and reached Broadway in 1988. Exported around the world, it has generated more of 6,000 million dollars in box office receipts, a level surpassed only by
The Lion King,
according to
Variety.
No movie has grossed as much.
If only Broadway is counted, it is the third highest-grossing musical in history, with more than 1,000 million dollars, also behind
The Lion King
and
Wicked,
both still on the bill.
The musical has been performed in more than 40 countries.
He arrived in Spain in 2002 at the Teatro Lope de Vega in Madrid and was very well received.
Almost all the productions made around the world are a replica of the original, with a powerful set design.
The play will continue to be performed around the world.
The Chinese version is expected to premiere next year and the Spanish actor and producer Antonio Banderas recently announced an alliance with Lloyd Webber that includes, among many other productions, a new version of the musical in Spanish.
When the curtain falls, it will take over as the musical with the longest stay
Chicago,
premiered in November 1996, which accumulates some 10,100 performances, and
The Lion King,
which began to be performed in November 1997 and accumulates some 9,700 passes.
They are the only other two musicals released in the last century that are still on the bill.