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NEW YORK - Behind the mask, the Phantom is smiling. On Monday, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" becomes the longest-running show in Broadway history - getting in the last laugh at the critics who welcomed it with mixed reviews 18 years ago.
With its 7,486th performance, the ghoul-meets-girl love story will dethrone the feline extravaganza "Cats," also a Lloyd Webber musical (sorry, Grizabella).
It's a big deal, not just for Lloyd Webber and the show, but for New York as well. Stars by the dozens are expected to twinkle to the record-setting performance, and afterward to party at the Waldorf-Astoria at - what else? - a masked ball, aping the lavish masquerade that opens Act II.
In a contemplative mood recently, Lloyd Webber says he views the milestone with a mixture of pride and surprise.
"You could never predict something like this," he says. "It's extraordinary, really. It's absolutely fantastic from Phantom's' point of view. FromCats' point of view, well, I'm very glad that `Phantom' is the one that passed it by."
The composer of "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Evita," "Starlight Express," "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and, currently, "The Woman in White" says it's impossible to pick a favorite work. "They're all my children in a way," Lloyd Webber says. But he acknowledges that "Phantom" was exceptional from the start.
"It did feel a bit special all along," says Lloyd Webber, whose body of work earned him a peerage from Queen Elizabeth in 1997. "I think it's got some of my best melodies in it. It's the only one of my musicals which never changed from its first preview to its opening night."
It did, however, mark a change in him.
"I had never let my romantic side fly before `Phantom,'" he says. "I was ready to do that. I was married to Sarah Brightman at the time ... and there you go."
Brightman, who is now divorced from Lloyd Webber, starred as the young soprano Christine whom the Phantom falls for - to the point of killing to keep her.
Audiences fell just as hard for the show.
"Phantom" opened at the Majestic Theater on Jan. 26, 1988 - with a huge $8 million price tag, an even more impressive $18 million advance and a crashing chandelier. It won seven Tony Awards, including best musical and best actor (Michael Crawford) and together with "Cats" and, later, "Les Miserables" and "Miss Saigon," it stoked the invasion of Big British Blockbusters to Broadway.
But "Phantom" was more than just a hit. It was a phenomenon. Everybody wanted to see it - from average Joes to U.S. Presidents. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, both Bushes and Bill Clinton have seen it, along with 11 million others, on Broadway where alone it has grossed $600 million.
"People would come to New York and they'd tell me, We have to see the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty andPhantom,'" says Luciana Lenihan, an usher at the show since 1988.
Lloyd Webber offers a reason why it made such an impact. "'Phantom' is one of those musicals that never leaves you high and dry. Once you're on the roller coaster, you're on it for good."
Director Hal Prince, who still returns to the Majestic four times a year to fine-tune the production, never thought "Phantom" would last as long as it has.
"Oh, God, no!" says Prince. "You never really know. Even though it had opened very well in London (before Broadway), I didn't immediately discern this would happen.
"But there was a momentum that built, and we were lucky enough that people came back to see it more than once. As the run got longer, a new phenomenon was that a new generation (started) showing up."
Now, nearly 18 years old, the show is still doing brisk business. For the week ending Dec. 31, it took in $1.266 million at the box office, its highest-grossing week ever and a house record for the Majestic Theatre.
"Phantom" even inspires other writers - consider the "Music of the Night" spoof in Broadway's current smash, "Monty Python's Spamalot."
"The parody in `Spamalot' isn't actually very stylistically like me," Lloyd Webber says with a chuckle. "I think that's a shame. I could have done it better."
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How many performances of "Phantom" does it take to kick "Cats" to the curb? Precisely 7,486, the number the show will hit when its curtain goes up on Monday. Here are Broadway's other longest-running shows:
"CATS" - 7,485 shows
"LES MISERABLES" - 6,680
"A CHORUS LINE" - 6,137
"OH! CALCUTTA!" (revival) - 5,959
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THE ULTIMATE COSTUME PARTY
THE EVENT: Masked Ball in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria.
WHEN: Jan. 9, after the historic performance of the show.
GUEST LIST: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Crawford and Cameron Mackintosh are expected to attend. Sarah Brightman is not.
WHAT THEY'LL WEAR: Dress is "black-tie" or "glamorous." Guests can wear their own masks, but the production will supply them for anyone who doesn't have their own.
THE ENTERTAINMENT: A 15-piece orchestra will play throughout the evening. Expect the players to be well-versed in "Phantom" fare, like "Music of the Night."
THE FOOD: The meal will be fine French cuisine, in the style of and from the setting and period in which the show takes place - namely, 1880s Paris.
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PHAN-TASTIC FIGURES
476: Number of miles the show's one-ton chandelier has traveled. (It has never been replaced.)
11: Actors who have played the title role: Michael Crawford, Timothy Nolen, Cris Groenendaal, Steve Barton, Kevin Gray, Mark Jacoby, Marcus Lovett, Davis Gaines, Thomas James O'Leary, Hugh Panaro and Howard McGillin.
82,355: Makeup wedges used to transform these actors into the Phantom
1,519: Tons of dry ice used for dramatic smoke.
1,424,250: Gallons of shot powder used for special effects.
455,760: AAA batteries used.
429: Gallons of deck paint used to maintain the set.
68,350: Electric matches lit to ignite the Phantom's skull staff.
53,166: Flashbulbs placed in chandelier
14,972: Journeys made by the Phantom's boat to the Lair.
7,700: Yards of fabric for the moving drapes
281: Candles lit at each performance.
150: Trapdoors.
14,972: Gunshots fired at the Phantom.
1,293: Pounds of body fat burned by conductors.
230: Costumes in the show
111: Wigs
7,486: Sets of foam latex used to create the Phantom's deformed face.
43,105: Miles of Playbill pages (they would go nearly twice around the world).
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(c) 2006, New York Daily News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
