Andrew Lloyd Webber honors late son

NEW YORK – It’s not each individual night time that you see a chandelier get a bow.

But at Sunday’s closing effectiveness of “The Phantom of the Opera,” the world’s most renowned light fixture produced a final, rousing descent for the duration of the show’s curtain phone, earning thunderous applause from the Majestic Theatre viewers.

“As the Phantom commands, we have to salute our luminous star!” producer Cameron Mackintosh proclaimed amid a touching tribute to the cast, crew and creatives who helped make the gothic musical a history-breaking phenomenon.

United states of america Currently was on the scene with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber as he bid adieu to Broadway’s longest-running exhibit after 35 decades and almost 14,000 performances.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber honors son during psychological curtain call

Stars came out in total force for the last performance of “Phantom,” which tells the tale of a masked composer who haunts a Paris opera household and falls in love with a youthful singer named Christine Daaé.

Glenn Close was spotted grabbing champagne for the duration of intermission, and Lin-Manuel Miranda snapped selfies and Sara Bareilles chatted with fellow theatergoers. Gayle King filmed the cast’s remaining bows on her smartphone, not extended ahead of Webber joined Sarah Brightman – his former partner and the show’s unique Christine – for a going curtain simply call speech.

Late past thirty day period, Webber’s eldest son, Nicholas, died at 43 soon after a fight with gastric most cancers. “I hope you is not going to brain if I devote this functionality to my son,” Webber reported onstage. “When he was a small boy, he heard some of this songs and he loved it.”

“Of course, he did,” Brightman mentioned. “When Andrew was crafting it, he was correct there, so his soul is with us. Nick, we like you pretty considerably.”

The performance alone was also highly psychological. Emilie Kouatchou, the initially Black actress to participate in Christine entire time on Broadway, smiled through tears as she obtained a midshow standing ovation for her attractive rendition of “Wishing You Were being Somehow Right here Again.” The show’s coronary heart-tugging very last moments were met with resounding sniffles from the viewers, even though legendary props this kind of as the Phantom’s boat and monkey audio box were greeted with whoops and cheers.

The chandelier has descended on ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ immediately after 35 decades on Broadway

‘The Phantom of the Opera’ is the ‘grandfather of Broadway’

On the red carpet just before the effectiveness, forged users earlier and present hailed “Phantom” for its astounding legacy. The clearly show arrived in New York in 1988 as section of the “British invasion” of Broadway, helping usher in a new age of megamusicals with impressive set parts and thumping pop-rock scores. Directed by Hal Prince, the creation received 7 Tony Awards, which include finest musical, and its tunes have been memorably covered by all people from Barbra Streisand to Josh Groban.

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“This is like the grandfather of Broadway,” claims John Riddle, who plays Christine’s suitor Raoul. “It is the standard for what the form of scale a present can be. It truly is the stop of an period.”

“It certainly did alter what a Broadway musical can be,” adds Laird Waterproof coat, who stepped in to participate in the Phantom for principal Ben Crawford, who was out unwell and on vocal relaxation. “It has a wow element and a magic and a theatricality that has not altered because the ’80s. It truly is nonetheless an exceptionally strong piece of theater.”

‘It’s only a make any difference of time’ right up until ‘Phantom’ returns to New York

As with quite a few other reveals, ticket revenue for “Phantom” lagged when Broadway reopened following COVID-19. But the musical got a enormous box-place of work boost when Mackintosh and Webber announced its closing, earning a file $3 million in a solitary 7 days past month and participating in to standing-area-only audiences.

“It really is just incredible what has occurred in the past few months,” Webber reported in the course of the confetti-stuffed curtain get in touch with. “I don’t think any of us considered the ‘Phantom’ would go out with fairly the bang that it has. Perhaps it’s going to arrive back – you under no circumstances know.”

Waterproof coat in the same way teased the show’s inevitable New York return, stating, “It’s only a make any difference of time.”

“The a single problem I preserve getting asked all over again and again – will the Phantom return?” Mackintosh said onstage. “Obtaining been a producer for around 55 a long time, I’ve witnessed all the excellent musicals return. And ‘Phantom’ is one particular of the biggest.”

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The tunes of the night is far more powerful than at any time, judging by the hundreds of fans in “Phantom” masks and T-shirts who waited for several hours outside the Majestic Theatre on Sunday. The present has even received level of popularity on TikTok, many thanks in component to Webber’s playful existence on the platform.

“I really don’t experience it’s the end,” Brightman mentioned on the red carpet. “It is become a basic, and you know this simply because you check out all the new generations coming up and they are definitely savoring it. The fact that so a lot of people from this technology want to see this, it suggests it’s heading to be again.”