Inside Broadways Emotional Closing Night of The Phantom of the Opera

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After 35 years — and a string of $3 million weeks at the box office fueled by the last-minute frenzy of “phans” — the 13,981th and final Broadway performance of “The Phantom of the Opera” was for phamily.

The famous chandelier fell one last time over the heads of an invitation-only crowd at the Majestic Theatre, where the show’s composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer Cameron Mackintosh were joined not only by famous friends and well-wishers, including Glenn Close and Lin-Manuel Miranda, but also former Phantoms, like Hugh Panaro and Howard McGillin, and former Christines, including Sarah Brightman (the 1988 original) and Sierra Boggess. They were surrounded by a host of past cast, crew and industry workers who had been affiliated with the show and its creatives over the course of its record-breaking run, the longest in Broadway history. There were even a few attendees in full Phantom attire, both the elaborate, skeleton-faced masquerade outfit and the iconic half-mask-and-cape ensemble.

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“Phantom of the Opera,” which has grossed more than $1.3 billion since opening in January of 1988, went out on a high note: Its finale was pushed back when the initial closing announcement drove people back to the theater and sent ticket sales skyrocketing. But the musical that had become a Broadway institution, with its lavish sets and large cast and crew, was expensive to keep up every week, and it eventually succumbed to waning enthusiasm and the lingering effects of the pandemic, including a slowdown in tourism. Lloyd Webber felt the Broadway run got a proper sendoff: “I don’t think any of us thought it would go out with the bang it has,” he said.

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Predictably, the Sunday evening show ran long — blame a late start and an intermission extended to accommodate all the socializing and free-flowing champagne — and the crowd cheered for every beloved music cue and set-piece from chandelier to staircase. Inside the theater, where the dress code was “black tie or glamorous,” attendees got comfortable as the evening, which normally runs two hours and 30 minutes, stretched to nearly three hours for its final performance.

Gayle King brought a blanket from home to keep warm in the chilly theater and kicked off her heels by Act II. “I’ve seen the show nine times,” she said before curtain call. Miranda dutifully took selfies with theatergoers during intermission, while Close posed for photos through tears after the cast and crew took their final bows. Close wasn’t the only misty-eyed spectator. One of the original cast members — who said he hadn’t returned to seen the show in years — admitted he was surprised by the emotional wallop of the evening.

In a show-must-go-on surprise, the actor who usually played the Phantom, Ben Crawford, was unable to perform, so Laird Mackintosh ably stepped in to join Emilie Kouatchou as Christine and John Riddle as Raoul in the final performance. It’s hard to imagine a more receptive room, and sure enough, Kouatchou received a lengthy standing O in the middle of Act II for her rendition of “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again.”

In a curtain speech, emotions ran high as Mackintosh paid tribute to the members of the original creative team who had died over the years, particularly director Harold Prince, choreographer Gillian Lynne and set designer Maria Björnson. He also brought out original cast members and the Majestic Theatre’s backstage crew for a bow before handing the mic over to Lloyd Webber, who offered a heartfelt tribute to his late son, Nicholas Lloyd Webber, who died March 25.

“I hope you won’t mind if I dedicate this performance to my son,” he said. “As Sarah knows, when he was a little boy, he heard some of this music.”

“Yes, he did,” agreed Brightman, standing beside him onstage. “When Andrew was writing it, he was right there. So his soul is with us. Nick, we love you very much.”

After the gold confetti (some of which may still be hanging from that iconic chandelier) and final bows, and with many members of the cast and crew still hugging, passing around flutes of champagne and taking selfies on stage, the masses moved on to the closing party at the Metropolitan Club, the ornate East Side venue that matched the gilded opulence of the “Phantom” set. Guests, including Sara Bareilles and Danny Burstein, were able to use coat check for their Playbill, decorated with a sticker to commemorate closing night.

Among the attendees was Jason Robert Brown, the Tony-winning composer whose musical “Parade” is now playing not far from “Phantom” in a critically hailed revival. “Parade” was originally directed by Prince, and Brown reminisced about seeing “Phantom” for the first time in 1996 when he’d begun to work with the director on his own musical.

“It’s very powerful being here,” Brown said during intermission. “I don’t feel very sad, because it feels like 35 years is something you shouldn’t be super sad about. But it’s definitely the end of an era in so many ways, and it feels like such a potent marker of that.”

And just because the Majestic’s marquee has dimmed on this production of “Phantom of the Opera” doesn’t mean the Angel of Music has forever left the Great White Way.

“The one question I keep getting asked again and again — will the Phantom return?” Mackintosh said from the stage of the Majestic. “Having been a producer for over 55 years, I’ve seen all the great musicals return, and ‘Phantom’ is one of the greatest. So it’s only a matter of time.”

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