Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera' will set a record tomorrow as the longest running Broadway musical in history. The previous record holder, 'Cats', was also a Webber creation. 'Phantom' started its run in January, 1988, two years after opening in London, where it is also still playing.
The Broadway production, which won seven 1988 Tony Awards including best musical, has been seen by almost 11 million people and grossed nearly $600 million, another record on the Great White Way.
The musical, which opened in London in 1986 and is still playing there, has been an international phenomenon. It has been seen by more than 80 million people worldwide and generated mind-boggling gross receipts in excess of $3.2 billion, according to the show's publicists.
"It shows no signs of weakening. It's cropping up in all sorts of places," Webber said. "It's most extraordinary."
There are currently seven productions around the world -- in London; New York; Budapest, Hungary; Tokyo; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Essen, Germany; and the U.S. national tour.
A new production is scheduled for Taipei, Taiwan, this month, and plans are in place to launch an open-ended "Phantom" run in Las Vegas.
I've seen 'Phantom' several times, and it is indeed, in my opinion, a great show. Actually, "seen" isn't quite the right word - I should say "experienced." It is a very entertaining show. My family has always enjoyed live stage performances; my brother was a musical theater performer, and that draw to the stage extends to even the much less talented members, such as me.
I'm reminded, however, of Joe Queenan's panning of 'Cats' in chapter 1 of his book Red Lobster, White Trash and The Blue Lagoon.
Cats was very, very, very bad. Cats was a lot worse than I'd expected. I'd seen Phantom years ago, and knew all I needed to know about Starlight Express and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, so I was not a complete stranger to the fiendishly vapid world of Andrew Lloyd Webber. But nothing I'd ever read or heard about the show could have prepared me for the epic suckiness of Cats. Put it this way: Phantom sucked. But Cats really sucked.
[...]
Sure, Cats is allegedly based upon the works of T. S. Eliot, but from what I could tell, the show had about as much to do with the author of "The Waste Land" as those old Steve Reeves movies had to do with Euripides. Cats is what Grease would look like if all the cast members dressed up like KISS. To give you an idea of how bad Cats is, think of a musical where you're actually glad to hear "Memory" reprised a third time because all the other songs are so awful.
Well, to each his own. There are, clearly, worse things than a shattered chandelier.
Linked to Wizbang's COTT XLV.
