Thomas Schumacher, Disney Theatrical Group “It is really their template that so many of us have followed.” The show also was among the first to give the Thursday matinee a try, and continues to benefit from offering vacationing theatergoers a different time option. Most of Broadway is dark on Mondays - but not “Phantom,” which has played that night for its whole run. But reviews referring back to the original show, plus a big-budget Hollywood marketing campaign that echoed the musical’s, propelled audiences to start returning to “Phantom.” The 2004 movie adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera” got a critical thumbs-down and had mixed fortunes at the global box office. The confidence helped the show become a global brand - just as similarly iconic images of a lion’s head and secret-sharing witches did for “Lion King” and “ Wicked,” and a silhouetted star is doing for “ Hamilton.”
Broadway marketers leaned into it, and the show began to take out print ads with just the mask, or just the broken-glass word “Phantom,” sans full title. “It is really their template that so many of us have followed,” said Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Group (“Lion King,” “Aladdin” and the upcoming “Frozen”).Īfter its world premiere in London in 1986, “Phantom” arrived in New York with the bold, simple advertising image of the mask and the shattered-glass typeface. It’s a hugely complicated process that can encompass freight costs, visas and a degree of production flexibility to be able to play markets that don’t yet have state-of-the-art opera houses. It’s a precedent-setting standard of maintenance.Īlong with fellow Mackintosh- produced musicals “Cats” (also by Lloyd Webber) and “Les Misérables” “Phantom” was among the first to go big around the world with replica productions that aimed to hit the same quality standards as shows on Broadway and the West End.
Casting is still rigorous producers replaced the theater’s sound system in 2008 and according to general manager Aaron Lustbader, new principal cast members get unusually robust rehearsal support with orchestra calls and full costumes. Here’s what “Phantom” taught Broadway.Īs both the “Phantom” team and industry colleagues note, Mackintosh, Lloyd Webber and director Harold Prince pay a lot of attention to making sure what’s onstage looks and sounds as good as it did when the show opened in 1988. The show got there by being the first to do a lot of the things that are now standard operating procedure for its fellow long-running musicals.
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