‘Phantom of the Opera’ to Delay Broadway Closing After Sales Spike - The New York Times

“The Phantom of the Opera” is going to proceed haunting Broadway a portion longer.

The philharmonic — the longest-running amusement successful Broadway past — announced successful September that it would adjacent successful February, ending a storied tally soon aft celebrating its 35th anniversary.

But instantly aft the closing was announced, summons income spiked. And past week, erstwhile Broadway was bolstered by Thanksgiving travelers, “Phantom” enjoyed its highest-grossing week ever: $2.2 million.

So connected Tuesday the show’s producer, Cameron Mackintosh, plans to denote an eight-week hold of the run, to April 16.

“What a phenomenal effect determination has been to the amusement ending,” Mackintosh said successful a telephone interrogation connected Monday. “We’ve sold retired virtually everything that we person connected sale.”

And wherefore not tally forever? The reply is simple: Until the closing announcement, the amusement was not selling capable tickets to defray its rising moving costs. The dilatory instrumentality of audiences to Broadway pursuing the pandemic and ostentation were some contributing factors.

“For astir of past year, we were losing each week,” Mackintosh said. “There comes a constituent erstwhile you go theatrical wallpaper. People took it for granted that it’s going to tally forever.”

The turnabout astatine the container bureau has been significant. The week earlier the closing program was announced, the amusement grossed $867,997. After the announcement, the numbers began to climb.

Broadway is gradually rebuilding pursuing the lengthy pandemic shutdown and past winter’s Omicron slump, which forced a fig of shows to close.

Thanksgiving week — traditionally 1 of the biggest of the twelvemonth for Broadway — saw a humble uptick successful grosses from past year. The 33 shows moving this twelvemonth grossed $37.5 cardinal past week, up from the $32.5 cardinal that the 33 shows moving past twelvemonth earned during the aforesaid period. But Broadway has yet to instrumentality to prepandemic levels: successful 2019 determination were 35 shows running, and they grossed $41.7 million.

Those driving the surge successful “Phantom” income see radical who person seen the amusement earlier but privation to drawback it again earlier the closing, arsenic good arsenic those who person ne'er seen it and recognize it’s now(ish) oregon never.

“The crushed it is sold retired is due to the fact that it’s coming off, absolutely,” Mackintosh said. “We cognize that 1 of the reasons that it’s doing it is due to the fact that this is your past accidental to spot the large show.”

Among the caller patrons: Lucas Perez, a 37-year-old fume store idiosyncratic from Manalapan, N.J., who bought a brace of tickets arsenic soon arsenic the closing was announced. He had seen the amusement doubly earlier — erstwhile arsenic an simple schoolhouse student, and erstwhile arsenic an big — but wanted to bring his mother, who had ne'er been. They went successful mid-October.

“It felt similar I was saying goodbye to an aged friend, to idiosyncratic I’ll ne'er spot again,” Perez said. “I was precise nostalgic the full time. There’s thing astir the acquisition of ‘Phantom’ that different shows don’t have.”

Featuring soaring music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Phantom” is simply a Gothic melodrama astir a masked euphony person who haunts the Paris Opera House and becomes fixated connected a young soprano. The Broadway production, directed by Hal Prince, is simply a large-scale spectacle, with a 27-person orchestra and a famously crashing chandelier, emblematic of an earlier epoch of hyper-romantic philharmonic theater. In 1988, the twelvemonth the amusement opened, it won 7 Tony Awards, including the 1 for champion musical.

Christina DiCillo, a 31-year-old Queens nonmigratory who works successful the advertizing section astatine the website TheaterMania, is simply a “Phan” — what the show’s superfans telephone themselves — who has seen the amusement 46 times truthful far, and hopes to deed 50 earlier it closes. She and her duplicate sister saw a touring accumulation of the amusement erstwhile they were increasing up successful Buffalo; present they person each seen it repeatedly successful aggregate locations. (Christina has seen it successful London, Las Vegas and South Korea, among different places.)

“I consciousness atrocious for radical that are conscionable discovering it now,” she said. “The euphony ever gets me, and erstwhile I’m determination I’m transported. I support thinking, ‘Maybe this clip is the clip it won’t consciousness arsenic magical,’ but each clip the chandelier rises you get the chills down your spine. I spot a batch of Broadway shows for fun, and immoderate of them are amended and immoderate of them are worse, but that’s 1 I cognize I’m going to emotion each time.”

The Broadway tally has been seen by 19.9 cardinal radical and has grossed $1.3 billion; astatine the clip of its closing it volition person had 13,981 performances. According to the production, it has employed astir 6,500 people, including 400 actors.

Mackintosh said determination would beryllium nary further extensions. Following the show’s closing, helium said, the Shubert Organization is readying a renovation of the Majestic Theater, wherever “Phantom” has tally since its opening. The amusement volition people the extremity of its Broadway tally with an April 14 payment show to rise wealth for charities, and a last show with an assemblage including alumni and friends of the show.

“Phantom” had a lengthy North American touring life, playing 14,500 performances successful 77 cities, and productions are presently onstage successful London (where moving costs were lowered by reducing the orchestra size) and successful Melbourne, Australia. A mentation successful Mandarin is scheduled to unfastened successful China adjacent year, and the histrion Antonio Banderas is moving connected a caller Spanish-language production.

“It’s not similar the amusement is going anyplace — the amusement volition beryllium done and is being done each implicit the world, and I’m definite it volition travel backmost to America and we’ll bash a circuit successful the future,” Mackintosh said.

And volition it instrumentality to Broadway? “I’m definite astatine immoderate constituent it will,” helium said. “It’s a large show, and the large classics bash travel back.”