# How is it that Phantom of the Opera is the most financially successful entertainment event ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** theater-stage-dance\ **Created:** [February 6, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663 "2014-02-06T15:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/41 "2014-02-24T03:01:41Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > :D:D:D:D I’m going to break 20 viewings! (maybe. at least 18 and 19, I’ll probably see it twice) > > is it really better than the original version? we don’t get to see the chandelier go up, right? I can’t tell you if the cast will move with the show, but I’m fairly confident you won’t be disappointed. Don’t worry about the chandelier. It’s still fun. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/42 "2014-02-24T04:30:05Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > I have a question - when they say it’s the most successful entertainment event ever, how do they define “entertainment”? I interpreted it at first as including all of the arts - literature, music, drama, visual art - which is pretty mind blowing. But they might mean only musicals, which would make more sense (although it’s still a huge achievement, of course). They are including, at the least, film and theatre, as no film has made anywhere close to $5.6 Billion. I don’t know much about music sales but I can’t imagine anything in music getting near that number either, so yeah “most successful entertainment event” does seem to encompass all of the arts. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/43 "2014-02-24T16:09:40Z")
Remember–stage shows play in multiple venues, sometimes for years at a time. Or, in the case of Phantom, decades. While the show is very expensive to produce, the audience makes it worthwhile. By 2011 The Phantom of the Opera had been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities in 27 countries. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/44 "2014-02-24T16:17:07Z")
I forget how many times I’ve seen Phantom. I know it’s over 20 but I lost track around 16. I’ve seen many of the milestone Broadway performances (the day it became the longest running show, the 10,000th show, the 25th Anniversary, etc.) ([Myself with Hal Prince](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/t1/166342_488754568518_6823826_n.jpg) after the 23rd Anniversary.) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/45 "2014-02-24T16:55:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Remember–stage shows play in multiple venues, sometimes for years at a time. Or, in the case of Phantom, decades. While the show is very expensive to produce, the audience makes it worthwhile. By 2011 The Phantom of the Opera had been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities in 27 countries. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I forget how many times I’ve seen Phantom. I know it’s over 20 but I lost track around 16. I’ve seen many of the milestone Broadway performances (the day it became the longest running show, the 10,000th show, the 25th Anniversary, etc.) > > ([Myself with Hal Prince](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/t1/166342_488754568518_6823826_n.jpg) after the 23rd Anniversary.) 😉 129,999,979…and Eyebrows of Doom. 😉 Seriously, there’s some of the answer. I know of no other show that garners so many rabid repeat fans. That’s got to push the numbers up. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/46 "2014-02-24T17:06:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > 129,999,979] I know of no other show that garners so many rabid repeat fans. That’s got to push the numbers up. That’s “Phans,” darling. Yes, that’s how POTO fanatics refer to themselves in print: Phantom Phans. And Starlight Express fanatics are “StEx trainvesites.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/47 "2014-02-24T19:07:29Z")
It’s easy to see why it beat out _Cats_, at least. _Cats_ has only the barest semblance of a story, so anyone interested in that will stay away. Cat-haters will avoid it because they’ll assume that the characters are cats, and cat-lovers will avoid it because they’ll learn that they aren’t (Eliot understood cats, but Weber clearly understood neither cats nor Eliot). Pretty much all that’s left is the big singing spectacular, and it is good for that, but… Well, every Broadway show has that. _Phantom_ has the spectacle, but it also has a story (yes, a simple one, but still far more than _Cats_), and thrills, and visual effects, and romance: There’s something for everyone there. Plus, the music is (I think) better than any of Weber’s other works. Versus _Les Miserables_, I think it could really go either way, since it also has all of those things. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/48 "2014-02-24T19:54:41Z")
Most successful entertainment event would include any single video game, work of art, movie, TV Show etc. However, calling it a single “event” is a bit silly in my estimation. So if we include any recurring entertainment event, then, how do you compare it against something like Seinfeld original run + syndication? Surely that would be in the billions too, eh? It’s hard to judge how much money a TV show pulls in because you don’t sell individual tickets to TV shows for every time they are viewed and often times the details of the syndication deals and commercial sales are kept private. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/49 "2014-02-24T20:17:38Z")
Does ot “deserve” its success??!! If this was a play showing in the old Soviet Union or in China, and attending it and paying the ticket rate was seen as a demonstration of party loyalty, then there might be an argument that it doesn’t deserve it. Otherwise, yes. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/50 "2014-02-24T21:34:27Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Before the fall, when the Phantom yells, “She’s singing to bring down the chandelier!” (which is NOT when the chandelier falls, and never was), the chandelier starts to sway, and then it settles down to stillness again (leading newbies to believe that was the end of that). Several minutes later, it does indeed plunge to the audience, although it stops, I dunno, maybe 15 feet up. Being right underneath it, though, I admit I did cringe, even though I knew it would stop in time. I saw it in Chicago last week. When the chandelier drops, it also shoots out pieces of fake glass (some sort of gelatin). My girlfriend got smacked in the face by one piece. Not painful in any way but certainly surprising. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/51 "2014-03-21T00:36:15Z")
some news that may interest my fellow fans (i don’t use “phans”, It’s kinda lame imo):[the broadway show is going to have Norm Lewis playing the phantom starting in may.](http://m.playbill.com//news/article/189032-Norm-Lewis-and-Sierra-Boggess-Will-Join-Broadway-Cast-of-The-Phantom-of-the-Opera) it’ll be the first time the title role is played by a black actor in the broadway production. i love Norm Lewis so i’m happy to hear this. i’m most familiar with him as Javert from Les Mis. i’ve never seen him in a live show though. i have got to get up to new york to see this at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/52 "2014-03-21T01:52:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > And Starlight Express fanatics are “StEx trainvesites.” All six of them? I kid. I love Starlight. Saw it in Vegas and they had cut U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/53 "2014-03-21T02:12:36Z")
(heh, I’m standing in the lobby of the Majestic hearing the performance going on inside the house as I write this.) Norm Lewis!!! When I read that bit of news this morning I was so thrilled!! I have wanted to see Norm as the Phantom for years!! I’d also love to see Hugh Panaro (the current Phantom Norm is taking over from) in another role as he is amazing and has been in Phantom for quite a while now. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/54 "2022-09-19T04:24:43Z")
Well it’s finally closing February, 18, 2023 > **['Phantom of the Opera,' Broadway's longest-running show, announces final...](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/entertainment/phanton-of-the-opera/index.html)** > > Broadway's longest-running show, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," will play its final five months before closing its doors for good, a spokesperson for the show told CNN Friday. > **[‘The World Has Changed’: Cameron Mackintosh on Closing ‘Phantom’](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/theater/phantom-broadway-cameron-mackintosh.html)** > > In an interview, the storied British producer said that weakening box office and rising production costs led to the decision to end the longest run in Broadway history. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/55 "2023-02-20T16:48:34Z")
[Airbnb is celebrating ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ with a one-night stay at Palais Garnier | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/the-phantom-of-the-opera-airbnb-trnd/index.html) one night of your life for 37 euros. really has some great things lined up for that night. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/56 "2023-04-17T18:01:53Z")
Closed yesterday. Had tickets to see it last month, about 50 hrs after her mom died. Luckily they gave me my money back when I called (the morning before she passed) but wasn’t able to find another time, at a reasonable cost, to go. Box office was selling them at over $500 a piece at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/57 "2023-04-22T00:19:05Z")
I’ve never seen it, but I have a question: When the mask comes off in the musical, does she reel with horror? It’s a pretty small mask, so the disfigurement wouldn’t be that severe, I wouldn’t think. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/58 "2023-04-22T01:01:00Z")
It’s a bit over the top gross so that it reads to the audience. Exposed skull and deformed lips. [![](https://pm1.narvii.com/7717/4281472258ef486c026f3088c07dbdb33dc9a950r1-667-671v2_uhq.jpg) ](https://pm1.narvii.com/7717/4281472258ef486c026f3088c07dbdb33dc9a950r1-667-671v2_uhq.jpg) Here’s Michael Crawford’s and Dave Willetts’ original makeup. [![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/33d58e9d214059b8e0e60d3143fa7c0b/65ea1d5c1167cbbc-18/s1280x1920/ccbc38c5bb025c6565b2562bff08452af4d156c1.png) ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/33d58e9d214059b8e0e60d3143fa7c0b/65ea1d5c1167cbbc-18/s1280x1920/ccbc38c5bb025c6565b2562bff08452af4d156c1.png) Here’s the unmasking scene. [Unmasking scene](https://youtu.be/4HjvXH4GjqI) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663/59 "2023-04-22T01:12:49Z")
So, it’s not this musical, any more, is it? Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most profitable pieces of entertainment media now, isn’t it? It’s been out a decade and is still a massive source of income for the company that made it. So much, no sequel has been released in those 10 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-phantom-of-the-opera-is-the-most-financially-successful-entertainment-event-ever/680663.md?page=2)