Andrew Lloyd Webber said Broadway’s current longest-running show The Phantom Of The Opera “probably” cost £800,000 a week to stage ahead of its last curtain call this weekend.
The musical – a fixture on Broadway since 1988 – will play its final performance on Sunday at the Majestic Theatre in New York.
What an enormous honour to be presented with the key to New York City by @NYCMayor yesterday, accompanied by leading ladies from past and present, @SarahBrightman and Linedy Genao. pic.twitter.com/3t35FGxpfN
— Andrew Lloyd Webber (@OfficialALW) April 15, 2023
Lord Lloyd-Webber told NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt that the long-running musical had costs of 952,000 to one million dollars (£766,320 to £804,960) a week to stage the show.
Featuring a large cast and orchestra, the production also has elaborate sets and costumes which added to the staging costs.
According to news agency Associated Press, Box office grosses have fluctuated since the show reopened after the pandemic — going as high as more than one million dollars (£698,701) a week.
They then dropped to 867,997 dollars (£698,700) a week before the show was slated for cancellation in September.
Talking about ticket sales rising following the announcement, Lord Lloyd-Webber said: “I think that it’s been discovered through social media, and a whole new audience has come to it.”
The musical, based on the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, tells the story of a deformed composer who haunts the Paris Opera House and falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine.
When asked about whether he will be emotional at the weekend, Lord Lloyd-Webber said: “Well, I tend to just be concerned about what The Phantom is going to think about this because you know, The Phantom doesn’t like his legend not to be told.”
The 75-year-old Oscar-winning composer, who also wrote the music for hit shows such as Cats and Jesus Christ Superstar, also said he “doesn’t know” if the Phantom will return as he is “only the composer”.
He added: “The one thing I do know is he’s very, very fond of New York.”
Since its first production in London in 1986 with Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, the show has been seen by more than 145 million people in 183 cities – and a 2004 film adaption starring Gerard Butler and Minnie Driver.
The Phantom Of The Opera, which has played more than 13,500 performances on Broadway, is continuing its run at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London.
Lord Lloyd-Webber said on Friday he was accompanied by his current and former musical stars Brightman and Linedy Genao when he was presented with the key to New York by the city’s mayor Eric Adams.
Last month, he also had the opening night of his new show Bad Cinderella, a retooled version of his London West End musical which is named after the folk tale of the same name, in the US city.
The composer missed the first show starring Genao as his eldest son was moved to a hospice after “battling” gastric cancer.
Lord Lloyd-Webber then announced in March that 43-year-old Nicholas, who was also a composer and won a Grammy along with his father and David Zippel for Cinderella, had died.