Today we celebrate 27th birthday of the longest-running show in Broadway history, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.
I Only Wish I Knew Your Secret 27 years. It is staggering to consider the myriad of attributes that have made Andrew Lloyd Webber's unforgettable gothic musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA the most successful entertainment of all time, now in its 27th year onstage on the Great White Way this week as of January 26, where it is the reigning longest running production of all time. Then again, the gargantuan excitement generated by and the subsequent enthusiastic reception enjoyed by the mega-musical for audiences worldwide since its inception decades ago was and is simply unprecedented. It is a hit like no other - and a fiercely idiosyncratic musical with a unique history all its own, as well. Even the most sage observer or theatrical enthusiast would have never assumed that the strange, operatic and intentionally campy musical project being created by world renowned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber in the mid-1980s would turn out to be the most successful entertainment of all time - honestly, it would have been difficult to find anybody at all who would have rightly evaluated its hit potential at the time, even given its familiar and famous source material. Although the swirling, ingratiating melodies along with the absorbingly romantic and dramatic thematic allure evident in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA as it now exists in its final finished form were quite evident way back in the very first iteration of the show when presented by Lloyd Webber at his Sydmonton estate in workshop form, those who were first exposed to the property through the promo radio single of the title song performed by well-coiffed British rocker Steve Harley and Lloyd Webber's muse and wife Sarah Brightman may not have assumed the score would possess the magic, majesty and grandiosity that it amply displays just judging from that strange first foray. To the contrary.
Photo Credit: Dewynters
Videos