Yahoo News ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ Hits Record High Gross in Final Week on Broadway
The Phantom of the Opera went out on a high in its final week of performances on Broadway, bringing in an all-time record of $3.7 million.
The musical, which had been running on Broadway for 35 years, played its final performance on April 16, in an evening of celebration and spectacle with a red carpet, appearances by original cast members, Lloyd Webber and producer Cameron Mackintosh and an after party. In its final week, the show played to a capacity of 101.46 percent, with its average ticket price hitting $287.07.
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These numbers were reached even as the tickets to the final performance were all given away for free. The proceeds from the show’s April 13 performance were donated to four New York City Arts organizations.
The musical had been playing the Majestic Theatre since January 1988, and was the longest running show in Broadway history. After first announcing that the Broadway production would end its run on Feb. 18, the run was later extended by eight weeks due to demand.
Attendance and ticket prices surged after the closing announcement. In the week ended March 19, the musical broke its all-time gross record for eight performances, bringing in just over $3 million. It continued to break that record every subsequent week and was the top grossing show in the industry for its final 13 weeks. Across its 35-year run, the musical has grossed more than $1.5 billion.
While the musical is gone for now, Mackintosh and Lloyd Webber have continued to hint that it may return to New York in some form soon.
Elsewhere on Broadway, the one-woman play Prima Facie, starring Jodie Comer, played its first seven performances and brought in a strong $889,666, playing to a capacity of 98.4 percent. The play opens April 23.
Several shows including, the Mischief Theatre comedy Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Thanksgiving Play, starring D’Arcy Carden, Good Night, Oscar, starring Sean Hayes, Summer, 1976, starring Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht, and the new John Kander and Lin-Manuel Miranda musical New York, New York are scheduled to open in the coming days before the Tony Awards eligibility cut-off date of April 27.
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