Andrew Lloyd Webber dedicated the final performance of his record-breaking Broadway show Phantom of The Opera to his late son. A musician like his father, Nick Lloyd Webber died three weeks ago aged 43, after suffering gastric cancer.
And as the curtain fell on the last showing at New York’s Majestic Theatre, Lord Lloyd Webber movingly spoke of how his son grew up listening to the music
“I hope you won’t mind if I dedicate this performance to my son, Nick,” he told theatregoers.
Turning to soprano Sarah Brightman, his former wife and star of the first Phantom of The Opera production, he said: “When Nick was a little boy, he heard some of this music and he loved it.”
“Yes, he did,” Miss Brightman responded. “When Andrew was writing it, he was right there. So his soul is with us. Nick, we love you very much.”
The cast and crew, including the Oscar-winning composer, took their final bows on stage Sunday, to a series of standing ovations, champagne toasts and showers of gold and silver confetti.
It was show No. 13,981 at the Majestic Theatre and it ended with a reprise of ‘The Music of the Night’ performed by the current cast, previous actors in the show – including original star Sarah Brightman – and crew members.
Lord Lloyd Webber said he was closing the show after running costs hit £800,000 a week.
It has been a fixture on Broadway since 1988 with a large cast and orchestra alongside elaborate sets and costumes.
But Box office takings have fluctuated since the show reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some weeks it was as high as £806,000 a week, others saw takings drop to £698,700.
Lord Lloyd-Webber told America’s NBC Nightly News that it cost between £766,320 to £804,960 a week to stage the show.
The closing of ‘Phantom,’ originally scheduled for February, was pushed to mid-April after a flood of revived interest and rising ticket sales.
Lord Lloyd-Webber said: “I think that it’s been discovered through social media, and a whole new audience has come to it.”
The musical, based on the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, tells the story of a deformed composer who haunts the Paris Opera House and falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine.
Hit songs include ‘Masquerade,’ ‘Angel of Music’ and ‘All I Ask of You.’
The 75-year-old, who also wrote the music for hit shows such as Cats and Jesus Christ Superstar, also said he “doesn’t know” if the Phantom will return as he is “only the composer”.
He added: “The one thing I do know is he’s very, very fond of New York.”
Since its first production in London in 1986 with Miss Brightman and Michael Crawford, the show has been seen by more than 145m people in 183 cities – and a 2004 film adaptation starring Gerard Butler and Minnie Driver.
The Phantom Of The Opera is continuing its run at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London.
Lord Lloyd-Webber was accompanied by his current and former musical stars Miss Brightman and Linedy Genao when he was presented with the key to New York by the city’s mayor Eric Adams.
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