The Majestic Theater

The Majesic Theater is one of the premier musical houses which has the distinction of housing Broadway’s longest running musical. Ever. Phantom of the Opera opened on Jan 26th 1988 and is still going strong, 30 years later. It was a part of the mega musical trend of British and French imports that infiltrated Broadway during the 1980s and 1990s. High in spectacle and special effects, these musicals tended to have soap opera plots and a pop/rock/opera sound. Audiences ate them up. The three most successful were Cats, Les Miz and Phantom. They changed the expectation of audiences and the goals of the producers. Prior to these shows, a Broadway show was considered successful if it ultimately ran on a profit, produced a couple of successful tours and ran for four or five years. Cats ran an astounding nineteen years. Les Miz ran 16 years and has already had two revivals. It is no accident that the majority of the longest running musicals have opened since the 1980s. Rent, Mama Mia, Beauty and the Beast, Wicked, the revival of Chicago, Miss Saigon. It just keeps going. But all records are broken and someday, there will be a show that runs longer than Phantom. Who knows…maybe Hamilton?