“Phantom of the Opera” isn’t just a Broadway icon – it’s a cultural behemoth.
There’s Andrew Lloyd Webber’s organ-heavy score, sumptuous sets and elaborate costumes. There’s a melodramatic love triangle between the beautiful soprano, her hunky beau and a misunderstood sewer dweller, composer and voice teacher. Then there’s the chandelier, of course. There are few moments in musical theater more thrilling than the one before the massive light fixture roars back to life.
After 35 years and nearly 14,000 performances, “Phantom of the Opera” takes its final bow Sunday on Broadway. Soon, posters advertising the show with nothing but the iconic Phantom mask and a single rose will be scrubbed from Times Square, and the Majestic Theater will sit empty for the first time since “Phantom” opened in 1988.
