Phantom Closing Night questions?

Theatrefanboy1 said: "I had some questions that I'm hoping people could share about Phantom's Closing:

1) Is there any plan to have alum (ie. Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, Sierra Boggess, Hugh Panaro, Howard McGillan, Ramin Karimloo , Norm Lewis, Sara Jean Ford...) attend the 16th closing show... or would they be more likely to attend the 15th?

2) Is the 16th closing show that's "closed to public" a common thing for shows?

3) What time would the 16th show start?

4) Has there been any word on restocking of show programs and window cards apparently online they are sold out... are they still available at the theatre?



Thanks"

I'm still not convinced the 16th is the closing night. But as for #2 - I don't ever remember Closing Night being closed to the public. I was at the last performance of Sunset Blvd on Broadway and tickets were on sale to the very end.

Rarely has a shows closing notice resulted in a run of tickets like we've seen here with POTO. Then again, what would you expect from the first show to run for 35 years?

They definitely had windowcards last night-I saw someone with one

“ But as for #2 - I don't ever remember Closing Night being closed to the public.”

Beauty and the Beast had a final public performance and a private/invite-only closing performance. There’s at least two other shows that have done it, but the names are escaping me.

Phantour said: "Take it with a grain of salt, but I overheard an usher tell a patron she heard a rumor they may extend one more time. I'm not holding my breath though.

As for the final week leading to the closure, here's an piece of an interview from Broadway Direct:

"What can you tell me about the evening of the 35th anniversary and the final [Broadway] performance?

Ben Crawford: I don’t know a lot, to be honest. I do know there will be some events on certain evenings for the final weekend that we will announce around the 35th anniversary, certain performances that they’ve decided to make a little special.""



I can tell you for a fact they will not be extending past the current date.

Could they extend again? Grosses are amazing and the do not have another show rushing to get into the theatre.

Voter said: "I can tell you for a fact they will not be extending past the current date."

I think that's likely true, but on what are you basing such an absolute statement?

If I was a producer, I would aim to do either a Springsteen type of concert piece or a mega-star driven revival along the lines of Midler/Dolly or Jackman/Music Man. Basically something with a definite end date so you don’t have that pressure of creating another long-running hit to live up to.