The Phantom of the Operawill end its 35-year Broadway run on April 16.
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In 1988,New Yorkmagazineran a cover story about the arrival of a new Broadway show.
(Plans to release a flock of live pigeons had been scrapped before the London premiere.)
Lloyd Webber himself missed the premiere to be with his son, whodied over the weekendof gastric cancer.)
Why did anyone ever like this?
ThroughPhantom,Lloyd Webber presented an argument for the destiny of musical theater itself.
His contemporaryStephen Sondheimwas a studied modernist who brought dramatic heft to musical theater in the 1970s.
What he offered was something different: an experience of sheer musical transcendence.
Lloyd Webberwas born in postwar London to a family of music lovers.
Let no one say he didnt try.
Hit me with the experience.
Still, Lloyd Webber longed to be thought of as a serious composer.
Yet there was something labored and prosaic about Lloyd Webbers music.
Critics noticed this sort of thing a lot.
Lloyd Webbers longtime orchestrator would defend him on the grounds that there simply arent that many notes.
In truth, Lloyd Webber was borrowing more than music.
It was calledThe Phantom of the Opera.
But Lloyd Webber saw something else: a man in love with a voice.
The Phantom of the Operaopened on the West End in 1986.
But the true star ofPhantomwas music itself; there was simply so much of it.
There was a touch of history in this.
wondered its playwright and lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein II.
In the American musical-theater tradition, this tension would be borne out by Rodgerss own career as a composer.
(The former duo produced classic songs; only the latter produced classicmusicals.)
In one telling, Hammersteins vision won out.
The Phantom was not a musical genius but an aficionado.
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams!
he urged the audience, pontificating on the virtues of music appreciation.
This conveniently obviated the need for music that was actuallygood, as far as the critics were concerned.
You cannot win her love by making her your prisoner!
Christines aristocratic lover cried out to the Phantom.
Yet this had always been Lloyd Webbers strategy as a composer: not to persuade but to overwhelm.
He wasnt entirely wrong.
The past decade has seen an even stranger heir toPhantom: the message musical.
Today, it is clear thatPhantomsucceeded in remaking the musical in its own image.
Perhaps this is why we love it.
Yet Lloyd Webber himself has rarely brought a hit to Broadway since.
It is not a train wreck, just a train.
There is something pitiful about this.
It could use a little opera.
*A previous version of this piece stated that the originalPhantomBroadway run sold $17 million in advance tickets.
In fact, it was $18 million.
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