One of the hottest tickets on Broadway happens to be the longest running show on Broadway.

That's because after 35 years, time has run out to say goodbye to the phantom of the opera,

leaving mixed emotions for the man who composed it.

I sat down with Andrew Lloyd Webber to talk about phantoms farewell to Broadway and more.

We're here to talk about the closing, but let me go back to 1988, the opening night on

Broadway.

What do you remember?

Well, I remember it was a very, very special night because there was a huge anticipation

of it coming to New York and I was married to Sarah Brightman, who was playing Christine.

And of course, I was quite nervous for her to put it mildly.

So it was a sort of double, double nervous, if you know what I mean.

One obviously, an excitement about it opening on Broadway, but very much hoping that it

all worked for her.

And it's very special, actually, that she's back in New York, you know, for the final show.

Were you able to recognise at the time what a hit phantom would become?

I don't think when it opened in London that I knew it was going to be what it became.

In fact, how could one?

But by the time it came here, it had become such a phenomenon back in London and so many

people from America have come over specifically to see it, that I had a suspicion that it

would have to go horribly wrong here for it not to work.

But nobody, I mean, when you sit down to write a musical, you don't say I'm going to try

and write a massive blockbuster, what you do is you write what you want to write.

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