The Stage

Phantom celebrates 9,000 performances on Broadway

Published Thursday 17 September 2009 at 16:28 by Judd Hollander

The Phantom of the Opera, already the longest-running show in Broadway history, will today hit another milestone when it becomes the first Broadway show to reach the 9,000 performance mark.

With music by Andrew Lloyd Weber, directed by Harold Prince and produced by the Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Group, this milestone has been recognised with a special presentation during the 2pm matinee curtain call. The show is now in its 22nd year on the Great White Way, having begun performances at New York’s Majestic Theatre on January 26, 1988.

According to figures for the week ending September 13, (released by The Broadway League, the national trade organization for the Broadway industry), Phantom took in $768,270 at the box office for the standard 8-show week, playing to 79.8% of capacity.

Over its more than two decade Broadway run, Phantom has earned more than $740 million, making it the highest grossing show in Broadway history. The total attendance is more than 13 million. Phantom also holds the record for going the most years in New York (14) before the show went up on the TKTS ticket discount booth in Times Square.

Worldwide the show has played more than 65,000 performances and has been seen by more than 100 million people in 144 cities in 27 countries. There are currently ten productions of Phantom playing across the globe, with companies is London, New York, Budapest, Nagoya (Japan), Warsaw (Poland), Copenhagen (Denmark), Seoul (Korea), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Las Vegas and a U.S. National Tour.

Plans are currently in the works for a sequel to the show, Phantom: Love Never Dies.