Phantom of the Opera to close in West End after 34 years in devastating blow to UK theatre

Musical first opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1986

The Phantom of the Opera is to “permanently” close in the West End after 34 years, in what will come as a devastating blow to the UK theatre industry.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-running musical, which first opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1986, will no longer run in London due to the financial impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on theatre.

Touring productions of the show will also not go ahead.

The news was announced by producer Cameron Mackintosh, who had already announced in June that Phantom would not be reopening in 2021 along with his other shows Hamilton, Les Misérables, and Mary Poppins.

Writing in the Evening Standard, Mackintosh described trying to apply social distancing measures to mainstream theatre as a “disaster”, writing that he was “determined to bring [Phantom] back to London in the future.”

He wrote: “I’m still hopeful that by Easter next year most of my productions and some of our theatres can reopen, so I can start re-employing most of the staff I’ve had to let go. But we’d need to reopen our box offices in November.

“If the Government is unable to support this, we’re likely to have to push back our reopening to next summer, causing further devastating losses to both the theatre industry and London’s economy.”

West End performer John Owen-Jones, who played the titular Phantom on the show’s UK tour and during 25th anniversary celebrations, tweeted: “This show changed my life and has been hugely important for me. So this is very sad news. However, I think it’s likely to be a temporary situation as Cameron and Andrew will help Phantom bounce back fresh, leaner and better than ever.”

The Phantom of the Opera is based on Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel of the same name and tells the story Christine Daaé, a soprano singer who becomes the obsession of a masked figure living beneath the Paris Opera House.

On 5 July, the government announced that they would be offering a £1.5bn “lifeline” to save the arts industry after venues were forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic.