The Phantom of the Opera: Goodbye Broadway

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How did the musical manage to run for a record breaking 35 years? And why is it closing?

As the curtain comes down on the Phantom in New York's famous Broadway theatre district, we look at what this means for the theatre industry.

The Phantom of the Opera has played to more than 140 million people around the world, it’s sold 20 million tickets, and been performed in 33 countries. But whilst the global tours will keep going, this weekend the show is closing in New York.

Actor Jonathan Roxmouth played the Phantom on a world tour, and tells us about the shows impact across the globe.

Matt Rousu is a professor of economics and runs the website ‘Broadway Economics’ - he talks through the fine margins that shows like Phantom operate within.

And Kizzy Cox reports from Broadway where she meets fans, speaks to veteran theatre critic Ben Brantley, and talks to Jan Mullen, an orchestra musician who has been with The Phantom of the Opera since it opened in 1986.

Presenter/ producer: Izzy Greenfield

(Image: Jonathan Roxmouth plays 'The Phantom' and Meghan Picerno plays 'Christine Daae' in The Phantom Of The Opera, 2019 in Singapore. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	abnormal transactions.
0:03.0	Some kind of cyber attack on a bank.
0:05.1	Tens of millions of dollars.
0:06.9	Something I don't think anybody has seen before.
0:09.1	It's a cyber criminal group.
0:10.7	From the BBC World Service.
0:12.5	The Lazarus Heist is back for season two.
0:14.7	It was really like in the movies.
0:16.2	Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:19.4	The Phantom of the Opera is there.
0:25.9	There today, gone tomorrow.
0:28.3	The curtain is finally closing on The Phantom.
0:33.6	Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, The Phantom of the Opera, has played to over 140 million people across the world.
0:40.6	It sold 20 million tickets, been performed in 33 countries and grossed an estimated 6 billion US dollars.
0:47.7	But now, after 35 years, one of the longest running plays in Broadway history is finally coming to an end.
0:55.9	In today's Business Daily, we'll find out what the Phantom's legacy in theatre is.
1:01.1	We'll look at the relationship between musicals and money,
1:04.1	and we'll find out what closing such a huge performance says about the future of Broadway,
1:09.5	New York's famous Theatre District.
1:11.9	That's on Business Daily with me, Izzy Greenfield, from the BBC.
1:19.6	If you're not familiar with the Phantom of the Opera, or Phantom, as it's called,
1:23.7	who better to bring you up to speed than a man who played the Phantom himself in a world tour of the production.
	...

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