The Phantom of the Opera, Broadway’s longest-running show, is scheduled to close in February 2023. The musical – a fixture on Broadway since 1988, (1) _____ recessions, war and cultural shifts – will play its final performance on Broadway on 18 February, a spokesperson said on Friday. The closure will come less than a month after its 35th anniversary. It will conclude with an (2) _____ 13,925 performances. Box office grosses have fluctuated since the show reopened after the pandemic – going as high as over $1m a week but also dropping to about $850,000. Based on a novel by Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a (3) _____ composer who haunts the Paris opera house and falls (4) _____ in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine.

“As a producer you dream that a show will run for ever. (5) _____, my production of Andrew’s Cats proudly declared for decades ‘Now and Forever.’ Yet ‘Phantom’ has (6) _____ that show’s extraordinary Broadway (7) _____. But all shows do finally close,” producer Cameron Mackintosh said. On Broadway (8) _____, the musical has played more than 13,500 performances. The closing of Phantom would mean the longest running show (9) _____ would go to Chicago, which started in 1996. The Lion King is next, (10) _____ performances in 1997.