Phantom, the longest running show on Broadway since . . .

April 10th, 2008 by Tim Heitman

Check this out. On December 2, 1979, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (July 14-19, 2009) lost its title as the longest running show in Broadway history. It fell to the perennial favorite GREASE. GREASE (March 3-8, 2009) was the longest running show on Broadway till it was knocked out of the top spot by A CHORUS LINE (August 12-17, 2008) When CATS (June 3-8, 2008) hit 6138 performances, it overtook A CHORUS LINE as the longest running show in Broadway history–and on January 9, 2006, PHANTOM (July 16 – August 10 2008) became the undisputed king of Broadway, and it’s still running today.

In the next calendar year and a half, Broadway/San Diego and the San Diego Civic Theatre will house the top 5 record breaking Broadway shows of all time. So what makes PHANTOM so great? Romance, mystery, drama, and the aura of higher art ‘Opera’ are typical responses. Of course the great music is always the first and foremost reason. But then there’s that amazing set that transforms time and again, just when you think you’ve seen it all it does one more amazing thing. And the costumes? It’s a great period piece and the production takes full advantage of that fact – the costume designers put ALL the money on the stage. And what about the lighting? Or the props? Or the . . .

Because PHANTOM has such universal appeal, it has become somewhat of an entry experience to the theatre. Many people when asked “what was your first show” will reply “PHANTOM”. The show has been responsible for so many people getting ‘hooked’ on theatre. The numbers on this show in terms of attendance, dollars earned, performances worldwide et cetera are staggering. Its just such a phenomenon and I’m really looking forward to the return of the show to San Diego.


Oh and by the way, before FIDDLER it was HELLO DOLLY, and there’s no production of that on the horizon. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

And also by the way, there have been other shows that ran longer than those that I’ve mentioned above but they didn’t break previously set records. They ran or are running while another show was or is the title holder.

Click this link: Playbill for the list of longest runs in Broadway history as listed in Playbill. See where YOUR favorites fit in.