9, 2006, Phantom surpassed Webber’s previous smash Cats as the longest–running show in Broadway history.

After its Broadway debut in 1988, Phantom went on to win seven Tony awards (including beating the Sondheim classic Into the Woods for Best Musical) and only continued to grow its global fanbase. Although critics didn’t think Phantom was the most well–written musical to ever grace the Broadway stage, it was an undeniable sensation from its first performance. Originally an import from London, the musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber was an instant smash hit. For every performance of Phantom, there are 130 cast, crew, and orchestra members involved, which is necessary to manage the show’s 230 costumes, 14 dressers, 120 automated cues, 22 scene changes, 281 candles, 250 kg of dry ice, and ten fog and smoke machines.

The show includes hits such as “Think of Me,” “All I Ask of You,” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” and is set in the opera world, complete with elaborate costumes, set designs, and a huge ensemble. Phantom centers around the titular “Phantom of the Opera” and his tumultuous romance and obsession with the Soprano prodigy Christine Daaé. Presidents, fourteen iterations of the iPhone, and 20 seasons of Keeping up with the Kardashians that have come and gone since 1988, one thing in American culture has stayed constant: Phantom of the Opera being on Broadway. Same–sex marriage has become legal, the Chicago Cubs finally won their first World Series since 1908, and the iPhone was invented. In the years since 1988, the United States has seen an insurmountable amount of change.

Phantom of the opera broadway posters