The Phantom of The Opera closes after 35 years of run at Broadway

It's an end of a glorious era on Broadway as the long-running musical The Phantom of The Operashowcased its final performance on Sunday. The show which debuted in 1988, marked its 13,981 performance on the final day making it as the longest-running show in Broadway history.

Since its debut in 1988, the show has been seen by 20 million people, earning $1.36 billion at the box office.

The final show was star-studded with Tony Award winner and creator of Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda and members of the show’s original cast, including the show’s original star, Sarah Brightman in attendance.

The show was originally set to close earlier this year, on February 18 but the news led to a spike in demand for tickets among fans and makers decided to push the final show to April 16. The demand also made it the highest-grossing show on Broadway again, raking in over $3 million a week.

The decision to end the iconic musical came due to poor ticket sales during the pandemic. The sluggish ticket sales coupled with an increase in overall expenses of the production led to the makers deciding on pulling the plug on the show.

Phantom of the Opera was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Charles Hart and directed by Hal Prince. It was based on the Gaston Leroux horror novel of the same name, and narrated the tale of the titular disfigured genius who becomes obsessed with a beautiful young soprano named Christine.