‘The Phantom of the Opera’ ending as Broadway’s longest-running show

Show ends in Feb 2023

Broadway’s longest-running show, The Phantom of the Opera, is ending its run in February 2023 after 35 years. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical has been losing between $800,000 and $1 million per month since reopening in October 2021. It has failed to recover from the 18 month COVID-19 closure in March 2020.

The New York Post reports a big 35th anniversary bash is also expected around the time of closing.

The show has played 13,733 performances since opening January 26, 1988 at New York City’s Majestic Theatre. It has accumulated over 70 theater awards, including seven Tony Awards in 1988 for Best Musical, among others.

Phantom is based on the horror novel Le Fantôme de L’Opéra by Gaston Leroux. Webber and Richard Stilgoe wrote the play with iconic music by Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart.

The play tells the enticing romance story of the Phantom, who haunts the stage of the Paris Opera and subsequently falls in love with a beautiful young soprano.

The show will continue in London’s Her Majesty’s Theatre in the West End where it’s played since opening in October 1986.

The Phantom of the Opera is widely considered one of the most beautiful and spectacular productions in history, playing to over 145 million people in 41 countries and 183 cities in 17 languages.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com