PHANTOM extends through April 16
PHANTOM extends through April 16
jacobsnchz14
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/06
#1PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:07am
The longest-running show in Broadway history will run a little bit longer: The Phantom of the Opera will now end its run on Sunday, April 16, according to the New York Times. It was previously scheduled to close on February 18, but ticket demand has been extraordinarily high.
https://www.theatermania.com/broadway/news/broadway-phantom-of-the-opera-extends_94597.html
Paulson/NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/29/theater/phantom-opera-broadway-closing.html
#2PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:11am
Saw this coming.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
#3PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:12am
A friend told me Feb 18 made sense since Bad Cinderella’s first preview was Feb 17 (thus continuing having at least one ALW musical on Broadway)
Kudos to Phantom! Hopefully the same cast remains. I’m guessing a good number of them already started auditioning for other roles come spring.
Do you think it would further extend to the summer season?
jacobsnchz14
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/06
#5PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:14am
FROM NYT:
Mackintosh said there would be no further extensions. Following the show’s closing, he said, the Shubert Organization is planning a renovation of the Majestic Theater, where “Phantom” has run since its opening. The show will mark the end of its Broadway run with an April 14 benefit performance to raise money for charities, and a final performance with an audience including alumni and friends of the show.
“Phantom” had a lengthy North American touring life, playing 14,500 performances in 77 cities, and productions are currently onstage in London (where running costs were lowered by reducing the orchestra size) and in Melbourne, Australia. A version in Mandarin is scheduled to open in China next year, and the actor Antonio Banderas is working on a new Spanish-language production.
“It’s not like the show is going anywhere — the show will be done and is being done all over the world, and I’m sure it will come back to America and we’ll do a tour in the future,” Mackintosh said.
And will it return to Broadway? “I’m sure at some point it will,” he said. “It’s a great show, and the great classics do come back.”
ElephantLoveMedley
Broadway Star Joined: 10/14/21
#6PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:18am
Thrilled to be able to see the Brilliant Original a couple more times! It was smart of them to not release the mid-February tickets, since they were able to make this move and avoid pissing off hundreds of people who would've purchased tickets for February 18 and then been livid to find out it wasn't really closing day.
Do we think there's any possibility it also just... doesn't close in April? The demand since closing has been absolutely insane and I hope it might've shown the producers that there is indeed still future life for the production.
#7PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:22am
I'm sure they could keep extending it, however, the renovations for the Majestic will likely take a year. Whatever is planned to reopen the Majestic probably doesn't want to wait any longer.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
#8PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:24am
The Majestic does need a renovation but if they were really serious about it they could have renovated the theater during the pandemic when theaters were closed (construction workers went back to work in nyc in summer 2020.)
Sounds like the last performance will be invite only.
hearthemsing22
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/14/20
#9PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:49am
Wick3 said: "A friend told me Feb 18 made sense since Bad Cinderella’s first preview was Feb 17 (thus continuing having at least one ALW musical on Broadway)
Kudos to Phantom! Hopefully the same cast remains. I’m guessing a good number of them already started auditioning for other roles come spring.
Do you think it would further extend to the summer season?"
I truly hope Ben and Emilie stay-they're amazing
#10PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:50am
Which is almost exactly what I predicted would happen (I had said it would extend until Memorial Day). No one should be surprised at this 'news.'
"What- and quit show business?" - the guy shoveling elephant shit at the circus.
hearthemsing22
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/14/20
#11PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:01pm
Wick3 said: "The Majestic does need a renovation but if they were really serious about it they could have renovated the theater during the pandemic when theaters were closed (construction workers went back to work in nyc in summer 2020.)
Sounds like the last performance will be invite only."
I truly have no problem with the final performance potentially not being open to the public. It's a landmark show, and so many people have come through that I would completely understand if no tickets were available to the public. I'm focusing on one of the last performances instead of getting my hopes up for that one.
#12PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:03pm
I’m not surprised but I will be getting tickets this time as soon as they go on sale!
The idea is to work and to experiment. Some things will be creatively successful, some things will succeed at the box office, and some things will only - which is the biggest only - teach you things that see the future. And they're probably as valuable as any of your successes. -Harold Prince
#13PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:04pm
Great news!
The final block of tickets will go on sale tomorrow morning at 10 AM.
Life is the most precious gift in the world... embrace every moment
#14PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:05pm
This really p!sses me off:
"The show will mark the end of its Broadway run with...a final performance with an audience including alumni and friends of the show" 
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
#15PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:10pm
…why on earth would that piss you off? Why shouldn’t the final performance have an audience of people who have been involved with the production?
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#16PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:12pm
My guess at this point is they will might do a few more of these short extensions based on demand with the final extension being until the end of Summer so August/September. I also wonder if Bad Cinderella is not a hit out the gate if ALW might cut personal checks to keep Phantom open so his record of being the composer with the longest run of works continuously playing on Broadway is ongoing. As while 43.5 years while a massive record and will likely not be beaten anytime soon it, if there is one thing you can always count on ALW for its his pride.
#17PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:18pm
Other shows have done a ‘final public performance’ and a ‘invite-only closing performance’. You can still get tickets for the last publicly attended performance of Phantom on Broadway, if you try.
I am big. It’s the REVIVALS that got small.
#18PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:25pm
bdn223 said: "My guess at this point is they will might do a few more of these short extensions based on demand with the final extension being until the end of Summer so August/September. I also wonder if Bad Cinderella is not a hit out the gate if ALW might cut personal checks to keepPhantomopen so his record of being the composer with the longest run of works continuously playing on Broadway is ongoing. As while 43.5 years while a massive record and will likely not be beaten anytime soon it, if there is one thing you can always count on ALW for its his pride."
I disagree. Once tickets go on sale tomorrow, that'll be it, in my opinion.
#19PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:39pm
"THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Delays Final Broadway Performance" is one hell of a way to put this announcement, BroadwayWorld.
hearthemsing22
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/14/20
#20PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 12:49pm
Kad said: "…why on earth would that piss you off? Why shouldn’t the final performance have an audience of people who have been involved with the production?"
I totally agree with you. "But fans keep the show running, they should have first dibs". yeah, okay. But what about the people working their butts off for 35 years to keep the show running?? Please. So demanding (not you, people who think they're...owed? entitled? to tickets to the final performance).
#21PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 1:00pm
The NYT article quotes the closing performance as April 16, but then says:
"The show will mark the end of its Broadway run with an April 14 benefit performance to raise money for charities, and a final performance with an audience including alumni and friends of the show."
If the Friday, April 14 benefit performance "marks the end of the Broadway run" and Sunday, April 16 will be an invitation-only performance for "alumni/friends", will it be dark on Saturday, April 15?
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
ElephantLoveMedley
Broadway Star Joined: 10/14/21
#22PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 1:01pm
jkcohen626 said: ""THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Delays Final Broadway Performance" is one hell of a way to put this announcement, BroadwayWorld."
Wait, what's improper about this?
Fosse76
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/05
#23PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 1:14pm
bdn223 said: "My guess at this point is they will might do a few more of these short extensions based on demand with the final extension being until the end of Summer so August/September. I also wonder if Bad Cinderella is not a hit out the gate if ALW might cut personal checks to keepPhantomopen so his record of being the composer with the longest run of works continuously playing on Broadway is ongoing. As while 43.5 years while a massive record and will likely not be beaten anytime soon it, if there is one thing you can always count on ALW for its his pride."
From what I was told, an announced closing is basically the equivalent of legally terminating a lease, with the announced closing date being the termination date. Any extension would have to be approved by the landlord. If the Shuberts already have a tenant lined up post-renovation, then this would definitely be it.
Cameron Macintosh is the lead producer, and has demonstrated that he can do whatever he wants, without Andrew Lloyd Webber's input. He would only keep the show running (notwithstanding the closing notice) if it made him money. Webber propping up the show with his own money wouldn't earn him a dime.
Sutton Ross
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#24PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 1:20pm
This will extend...........for years. 
SouthernCakes
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/19
#25PHANTOM extends through April 16
Posted: 11/29/22 at 1:20pm
Wick3 said: "The Majestic does need a renovation but if they were really serious about it they could have renovated the theater during the pandemic when theaters were closed (construction workers went back to work in nyc in summer 2020.)
Sounds like the last performance will be invite only."
No one could have fathomed the shutdowns would have taken as long as they did hence why no renovations were done.
