RISE & SHINE BROADWAY FANS, Can you believe we are only just 5 days away till Broadway’s biggest night of the year, the 71st Annual Tony Awards? We have more powerful and showstopping performances on our TOP 30 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN.

At # 5, we have a dark and haunting classic that is still playing to packed and sold out houses 8 times a week on Broadway. It follows the story of a mysterious masked man, his one true obsession, forbidden love, and a fallen chandelier. This is the story of course of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long running musical masterpiece The Phantom of the Opera. It was co-written by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe.

From the 1988 telecast, the show’s original stars Tony winner Michael Crawford as the title role and Sarah Brightman as “Christine Daae” perform the show’s iconic lair scene featuring the title song and the show’s signature song THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA originally captivated audiences in London’s West End in 1986 at its still running home at Her Majesty’s Theatre winning 4 Olivier Awards including Best New Musical. With the buzz in London, the show was brought over to it’s still running home at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre in 1988. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards that same year winning 7 including Best Musical. Phantom has no closing in sight in London’s West End (where it’s currently the 2nd Longest Running Show in West End History) or on Broadway (where is the first Longest running show in Broadway History surpassing the original Cats the Musical in 2006). The show have played so far over 12,000-13,000 performances in both places. Over the years, numerous actors and actresses went on to play the 2 most iconic roles in the show’s history.

The musical adaptation of PHANTOM has been captured on film twice. It all began in 2004 with the acclaimed film adaptation that starred Gerard Butler in the title role and Emmy Rossum as “Christine Daae”. It went on to be nominated for numerous Awards including the Golden Globes and Oscars for Best Original Song (for LEARN TO BE LONLEY which was only written for the end credits of the film by Webber).

Most recently, PHANTOM’s spectacular 25th Anniversary concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall was captured on film in 2011. It featured Tony and Olivier nominee Ramin Karimloo as the title role and Sierra Boggess Official as “Christine”. In addition, the concert featured Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman reuniting on stage at the curtain call. It featured 2 encore performances of the title song (performed by Brightman and a quintet of past and present actors who have played the title role) and The Music of the Night (performed by the Phantom Quintet and the full company). The PHANTOM Quintet featured Karimloo (West End production), Colm Wilkinson (Canadian production), Anthony Warlow (Australian production), John Owen Jones (West End production – THE LONGEST), and Peter J?back (West End, Broadway, and Sweden productions).

FUN FACT: New York Broadway Tours’ founder Amada Anderson’s friend Lynne Abeles Darwish is currently appearing in the Broadway production 8 times a week at the Majestic. She appeared in the Ensemble and also understudies the role of the snotty PRIMA-DONNA herself “Carlotta”.

Isn’t this show still timeless?

#ThePhantomOfTheOpera #TonyAwards #CountdownToTheTonys #NewYorkBroadwayTours #NYBTTop30TonysCountdown #NYBTTonysCountdown #BroadwaysGreatestHits

Angela Lansbury introduces Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford in The Phantom of the Opera on the 1988 Tony Awards.

Love our posts? Click here to follow us on Facebook!

NYBroadwayTours
Author: NYBroadwayTours