“Phantom Of The Opera” Takes Its Final Bow On Broadway; Andrew Lloyd Webber dedicates the show to his late son

After 35 years Andrew Lloyd Webber The skim of the opera Sunday night found its final curtain call at the Majestic Theater in New York. It was show #13,981 in the longest running show in Broadway history and was dedicated by Lloyd Webber to his son Nicholas, who died last month after battling stomach cancer.

To a standing ovation, Webber said, “I hope you don’t mind me dedicating this performance to my son, Nick.” Turn to the original ghost Star, Sarah Brightman, the composer remembers: “Nick heard about this music when he was a little boy.”

Brightman said: “Yes, he did. Andrew was there when he wrote it. So his soul is with us. Nick, we love you very much.”

Also Sunday night, Brightman sang the musical’s most famous song, “The Music of the Night,” with current cast, former cast and crew members, according to the Daily mail.

After the show, Lloyd Webber said: “Thank you to absolutely everyone who has made this extraordinary run possible… It’s just incredible what has happened and over the past few months none of us would have thought of it. ghost would all go out with the bang it has.

This was probably an indication of the phenomenal sale ghost has been making it lately, topping the box office again in the week before Easter with more than $3.6 million.

Lloyd Webber joked: “So it might come back, you never know.” He added: “What I’m saying is, if it went down with a bang, it couldn’t have gone down with a better show.”

Producers announced last September that the show was originally set to close in February, but with a two-month extension until yesterday. The average ticket price in September was about $83; Before Easter it was $279.37.

With music by Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart and a libretto by Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group, ghost opened in London’s West End in 1986 and two years later on Broadway, directed by Harold Prince. The musical starred, or at least enhanced, the theatrical legacy of Michael Crawford as Phantom and Webber’s then-wife Brightman as Christine. One of the records the musical has set over the years is being the first Broadway production to run 10,000 performances (in 2012). Reported gross profit estimates for Broadway productions over the years exceed $1 billion.