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The Phantom of the Opera is the longest-running show on Broadway, and it is the second longest-running show in the West End. The musical opened in London’s West End in 1986 and on Broadway in 1988.

Because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the West End and Broadway productions of The Phantom of the Opera stopped. In a recent announcement, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh announced the West End production in London will resume in June 2021.

Phantom of the Opera
Will Barratt, Stephen John Davis, and Sofia Escobar attend the 10,000th performance of the West End production of ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ | Dave M. Benett/Getty Images

The West End ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ production closed

In March 2020, West End and Broadway shows went on an indefinite hiatus. Broadway continued to extend the hiatus until finally announcing shows would remain closed until “at least June 2021” according to Playbill.

As for the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera, it was announced that Her Majesty’s Theatre would undergo needed refurbishments while the show was on hiatus until 2021.

Mackintosh published an article in the London Evening Standard in July 2020. In the article, he expressed his frustrations about the effects the coronavirus has had on theater.

He also announced that The Phantom of the Opera production in London would close “permanently,” writing:

“So as by far the largest independent employer in the West End it is not surprising that as both theatre owner and producer, with no outside investors, I’ve taken a huge financial hit. On top of this, Andrew and I have had to sadly permanently shut down our London and UK touring productions of The Phantom of the Opera, but are determined to bring it back to London in the future.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber vowed to keep ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ open

While Mackintosh, the show’s producer, told fans that the show was permanently closed, the musical’s composer Lloyd Webber had a contradicting message.

The composer posted a video on Twitter of himself playing music from The Phantom of the Opera. He then assured fans that the musical will be back.

“Now let that be a dire warning to anybody who says we won’t get Phantom back up there even better than it was before I hope. We’re going to have the original production and it will be fantastic,” he said in the video.

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The musical will return

On Dec. 4, 2020, Lloyd Webber and Mackintosh announced that The Phantom of the Opera will return to London’s West End in June 2021. A new teaser trailer for the musical was released that showed the Phantom walking through the darkened theater.

Playbill confirmed the show’s opening goal on Dec. 7, 2020, writing:

“The Phantom of the Opera is currently planning to resume performances at Her Majesty’s Theatre in June 2021, assuming that government audience restrictions have been lifted by that time. When the musical reopens, two-time Olivier Award nominee Killian Donnelly will star as The Phantom.”

Fans of the show can begin purchasing tickets, and the soonest available performance is June 5, 2021.

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