Andrew Lloyd Webber reflects on ‘Phantom of the Opera’ after 35-year run

Andrew Lloyd Webber reflected on the legacy of “Phantom of the Opera” as it nears an end on Broadway.

“It’s such a wonderful production. I shall be sad that night, but we’ve had fantastic innings,” he said Tuesday during a visit to TODAY. “I don’t think we’ll ever see anything quite like that again, or at least I probably won’t.”

Lloyd Webber composed the score for the iconic musical, which opened in London in 1986 and came to Broadway in 1988.

The musical theater icon, 74, said he thinks the musical was legendary director Hal Prince’s “masterpiece as a production.”

“It’s got a 28-piece orchestra,” he said. “It’s a huge, great show to run.”

“Phantom of the Opera” will have its final performance in Broadway’s Majestic Theatre on Feb. 18, 2023.

Though it has been a Broadway mainstay for decades, audience numbers dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like other Broadway musicals, the show shut down entirely near the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 and did not reopen until October 2021.

And even after reopening, reduced ticket sales could not keep up with the costs of running the expensive production, the New York Times reported.

Other productions of “Phantom of the Opera,” including one on London’s West End, will continue running.

While this is the end of an era for “Phantom” on Broadway, Lloyd Webber is already gearing up for his new show, “Bad Cinderella” to open in March at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre.

During his visit to TODAY this week, Lloyd Webber and the show's star, Linedy Genao, treated fans to a sneak preview of the show's title song, “Bad Cinderella."

He also noted that his Broadway days are anything but over, joking, “Oh, I’m not going away yet, until I’m thrown out."

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This article was originally published on TODAY.com