Phantom Celebrates 25 Years on Broadway

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. It is considered by many to be the most successful musical of all time and is also the longest running show in Broadway history.

The music is composed by Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Charles Hart. Additional lyrics are by Richard Stilgoe. The book was written by Lloyd Webber and Stilgoe. The central plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius.

The Phantom of the Opera opened in London's West End in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Michael Crawford (in the title role) won the 1986 Olivier and 1988 Tony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical.  It is the longest-running Broadway show by a wide margin (celebrating its 10,000th performance on Broadway on 11 February 2012), the second longest-running West End musical, and the third longest-running West End show overall.

With total worldwide box office receipts of over $5.1 billion (£3.5 billion), including a record-setting Broadway gross of US $845 million, Phantom is the highest-grossing entertainment event of all time and the most financially successful theatrical show in history.  It had been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities in 27 countries by 2011.