"The Phantom of the Opera," the longest-running show in Broadway history, performed its final show on Sunday after an impressive run of almost 14,000 performances.
Since opening in January 1988, Andrew Lloyd Webber's megahit musical has wowed New Yorkers and tourists, symbolizing the famous theater district.
The melodrama about a disfigured genius who haunts the Paris Opera House and whose heart aches for the young soprano Christine has been seen by 20 million people and grossed over $1.4 billion in ticket sales.
The show, adapted from Gaston Leroux's French novel of the same name, won seven 1988 Tony Awards, including best musical, and became the longest-running show in Broadway history on Jan. 9, 2006.
The production estimates it has employed 6,500 people, including 450 actors, over the years.
Sunday's show in front of a sold-out crowd at the Majestic Theatre off Times Square was performance number 13,981.
The 1,600-strong audience stood and applauded wildly as Lloyd Webber joined original and current cast members on the stage for the final curtain call.
British producer Cameron Mackintosh told The New York Times in September last year that the production began incurring losses due to the slow return of international visitors to the Big Apple after the pandemic.
Rising production costs were also a factor, which was at $950,000 net a week.
It takes about 125 actors, musicians and technicians to put on the musical, which sees a chandelier crash to the stage during one of its most notable acts.
"There comes the point, with any show, where there is a tipping point, where the number of good weeks has declined sufficiently that it's outweighed by the number of losing weeks, and at that point, there's only one sensible decision to make," Mackintosh said.
The announcement that "Phantom" would end its run boosted ticket demand so much that the closing date was pushed back from February to April.
In the run-up to the final performance this week, the last tickets were selling for more than $500 on booking sites.
Extensive renovations are now due to begin at the Majestic Theater.
The accolade for the longest-running musical on Broadway now belongs to "Chicago," which premiered in 1996, ahead of "The Lion King," which opened the following year.
The 41 Broadway theaters near Times Square that make up New York's cultural and touristic heart average between 200,000 and 300,000 spectators every week, bringing in more than $30 million in weekly revenue.
"The Phantom of the Opera" premiered in 1986 in London, where it continues to be performed.
