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Andrew Lloyd Webber was “sad” to see ‘The Phantom of the Opera' end its Broadway run after 35 years.
The 75-year-old legendary composer has reflected on his long running musical coming to an end over the weekend with one last show at the Majestic Theatre on Sunday. (16.04.23)
The next night, he told ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon': “Well, it was strange really, because, you know, one of the funny things that's happened with ‘Phantom' is that over the last few years… well, few months really, a young audience found it.
“And it's, I don't know, it was sad last night because I just felt it could run on. But there you go.”
The musical theatre icon admitted it is “very unusual” for all the stars to align perfectly for a production.
He added: “Like the production, the whole thing meshes, it's just one of those moments.
“I mean, it happened with ‘The Lion King', it's happened with ‘Hamilton', it's happened with me with ‘Phantom'. It doesn't happen very often.”
While speaking to Andrew, chat show host Jimmy noted the play's 13,981 performances make it the longest running show in Broadway history, and it has also been the largest generator of jobs in come for both Broadway and US theatres as a whole.
Meanwhile, the composer had dedicated the final performance to his late son Nicholas, who died of gastric cancer last month aged 43.
Amid a standing ovation, he said: “I hope you won't mind if I dedicate this performance to my son, Nick.”
Turning to the musical's original star, his ex-wife Sarah Brightman, he continued: “When Nick was a little boy, he heard some of this music.”
Sarah agreed: “Yes, he did. When Andrew was writing it, he was right there. So his soul is with us. Nick, we love you very much.”
After the show, Andrew teased it is possible the music could return to Broadway one day in the future, particularly after its recent box office boom.
He said: “Thank you to absolutely everyone who has made this extraordinary run possible… It is just amazing really what has happened, and in the last few months I don't think any of us thought that ‘Phantom' would go out quite with the bang it has.
“So it may come back, you never know.”
