Broadway’s longest-running musical, The Phantom of the Opera, closed on Sunday night.
The Phantom of the Opera had run for 35 years, playing 13,981 shows and grossing more than $1.3bn (£1bn/€1.1bn) while on Broadway.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical first debuted on January 26, 1988 at New York’s Majestic Theatre, and it stayed there for over three decades. The composer appeared on stage at the final performance and dedicated it to his son Nick, who died in March.
The musical’s closure was announced in September last year.
Lloyd Webber revealed that the show had cost up to $1m to run each week, hampered by post-pandemic cost increases and a decrease in tourists to New York, which help with ticket sales.
The last show was initially set in February, but a late surge in demand saw ticket sales bring in over $3m each week, according to the BBC.
Broadway’s Majestic Theatre will now undergo renovations that had been delayed to accommodate for the continuous performances of The Phantom of the Opera.
A reworked version of the musical, which first opened in 1986, is still featured on London’s West End. It returned last year with changes after ending its original run in 2020.