The show “The Phantom of the Opera” (“Phantom of the Opera”)the longest-running show in Broadway history and an icon of musical theater, closed after nearly 14,000 performances and a record attendance.

THE Andrew Lloyd Webber he took the stage last in a black suit and black tie and dedicated the final performance to his son, Nick, who died last month after a long battle with cancer. He was only 43 years old.

The outbreak of the pandemic and repeated lockdowns created many financial problems in the production, with reduced receipts. In the past year, since Broadway returned from its damaging pandemic shutdown, theater audiences haven’t fully recovered, and “Phantom of the Opera,” though it made a strong comeback last fall, failed to generate the expected revenue. to cover its high weekly running costs.

“When he was a little kid, he heard some of that music,” Lloyd Webber said. Brightman, holding his hand, agreed: “When Andrew was writing it, it was right there. So his son is with us. Nick, we love you so much.”

Producer Cameron Mackintosh gave some in the crowd hope that they will see “Phantom of the Opera” again, and maybe sooner than they think. “The one question I get asked over and over again: is the Phantom coming back? “Being a producer for over 55 years, I’ve seen all the great musicals come back and ‘Ghost’ is one of the greatest,” he said. “So it’s only a matter of time,” he added.

“The Phantom of the Opera” is a novel by Gaston Leroux first published from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910 in the French daily “Le Gaulois”. It was published in volume form at the end of March 1910 by Pierre Lafitte.

The novel is – in part – inspired by the historical events of the Paris Opera during the 19th century as well as a fictional story about the use of the skeleton of a former ballet student in Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz , in 1841. The book has been successfully adapted to theater and film several times, most notably the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney and the 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

Broadway took a hit during the pandemic, with all theaters closed for more than 18 months. Some of the most popular shows — “Hamilton,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked” — rebounded well, but other shows struggled.