'Phantom of the Opera' superfans on LI say goodbye to Broadway's longest-running musical

It’s the last call for “The Music of the Night” — and the last fall for a showstopping chandelier. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical phenomenon “The Phantom of the Opera” ends its historic 35-year run at the Majestic Theatre on Sunday. With its final bow, it will have played nearly 14,000 performances, more than any other show in Broadway history.

Passionate Long Island fans of the musical count themselves lucky to have been in the audience for many of those performances. They’ve got ticket stubs and Playbills, music boxes and masks, T-shirts and posters to show for it. Even more significantly, they’ve collected indelible memories and points of personal connection that will endure long after the final notes fade.

Here are some of those fans who shared their cherished memories.

LISA BERTRAND BRATHWAITE, 48, Baldwin

Brathwaite, an assistant director of admissions at Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law, has been a fan since she saw "Phantom" in 1988 with the original stars, Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, who was married at the time to Lloyd Webber.

“I’ve seen it at least eight more times, not including Broadway HD,” said Brathwaite, who divides her time between Baldwin and Scarsdale. “I’m a big fan.”

She belts a snippet of “Masquerade” — a jubilant group number that opens the second act — as if to prove it. In the run-up to the last performance, Brathwaite was ready to shell out big bucks (“in the thousands, for sure,” she said) to be in the house for the last hurrah. As of April 6, she was still looking.

In addition to “loving everything about the show — the music, the costumes and the story,” Brathwaite said, “there’s one particular song that really hits home.” That would be the melancholy “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," which Christine, the heroine, sings at her father’s grave. “After my father passed away, I kept on playing the song on repeat over and over again,” Brathwaite said. “My husband will attest to that.”

That’s just one example of the impact the Broadway show has had since it opened on Jan. 26, 1988, two years after it had established itself as a hot ticket in London. Newsday’s review applauded the production for being such a “gloriously theatrical” adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s 1911 novel, “Le Fantôme de L'Opéra.” 

Lloyd Webber composed the music and co-wrote the book with Richard Stilgoe, who’s credited for additional lyrics with lyricist Charles Hart. Harold Prince directed the show. Long story short: The masked Phantom lurks in the sewers beneath the Paris Opera House in the late 19th century. A music teacher, he becomes fixated on Christine, a young soprano who’s in love with Raoul. It’s romantic, it’s spooky, and it’s packed with special effects.

ALAN STENTIFORD, 30, Dix Hills

Stentiford has seen the Phantom in action on Broadway “at least 20 times” – most recently on the show’s 35th anniversary on Jan. 26. 

“I’m definitely a Lloyd Webber fan. I love ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ but ‘Phantom’ is next level,” said Stentiford, a student teacher at Southwest Elementary School in Bay Shore who’s pursuing a master’s degree in education at Hofstra University. “For me, it’s always been about the character. It’s a show about rejection and being an outsider — and just wanting acceptance so much.”

Who can’t relate? Stentiford, who has acted Off-Broadway and regionally, credits the Broadway musical for inspiring a deeper dive into the story, from the novel to the 1925 Lon Chaney film to the 1943 remake starring Claude Rains. “The version by Lloyd Webber definitely takes the cake,” he said. “New York isn’t going to be the same without it.”

ANDREW DEFRIN, 18, Roslyn

Defrin, like Stentiford, can't imagine Broadway without "Phantom," calling the musical “iconic, like the Empire State Building. Nothing is going to run for 35 years for a very long time.” (The revival of the musical “Chicago,” Broadway’s second longest-running show, opened in 1996.)

Defrin’s mother introduced him to Broadway’s “Phantom” when he was in first grade. Since then, he said, he has “lived it, breathed it, and talked about it constantly.” Fellow students at Fordham University in New York, where he’s studying theater directing, would back him up. 

It’s a show that totally adds up, he said. “It’s the perfect summation of all the elements working together — the music, the lighting, the set, the characters, the chandelier.” He has introduced more than a dozen people to the musical, including his father and paternal grandmother.

Defrin’s 20th visit to “The Phantom of the Opera” will be on Saturday. He’s sitting in the nosebleeds and going solo but will bring Kleenex. “I’ve loved the show since I was 6 years old,” he said. “I’ll probably cry a lot.”

CALVIN ZANETTI, 20, Mineola

Zanetti has seen the show a handful of occasions, four of them on Broadway. In 2018, he was living in Florida and was introduced to the show through a tour production. At the time, he knew nothing about the musical. The show had him from hello — well, the overture. 

“With just the first few chords, I was enthralled,” said Zanetti, who is in his final semester at Nassau Community College, where he’s studying acting. “I felt like this was going to be an important part of my life.” Zanetti acknowledges being “very upset” when the show posted a closing notice. On one hand, he relates to the story of an outsider. On the other hand, it means he can't try out for the Broadway production, which has been one of his dreams. “I wanted to be a part of that lineage,” he said. 

Like other super-"Phans," he takes solace from reports that the show may return to New York following what Lloyd Webber described to MarketWatch as some time “to rest a little bit.” (The show shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic for 19 months.) “It’s time for it to renovate and modernize,” said Zanetti.

ERIK WEGNER, 42, Mastic

Wegner, 42, an independent producer and filmmaker, has been a longtime fan of the Broadway record-setter since he first saw it in the early 1990s. Since then has seen it on “three or four more occasions.” Each time it has spoken to him on both a personal and professional level. 

“It’s one of my most significant inspirations for my films,” he said. “It has had a huge significance in my personal life.” The musical’s themes of alienation and love consistently resonate for him. “Being an outsider and looking into a world that you can’t be part of and looking for an idea of love that you can't have carries over into everything I do,” said Wegner. 

JARED GOERKE, 24, Plainview

For Goerke, who works as a political consultant, Lloyd Webber’s megahit led to a more avid appreciation of theater.

“I saw ‘Phantom of the Opera’ for the first time when I was in high school,” he said. “It just completely ignited this whole new level of love for Broadway.” He considered a career in arts management but eventually turned to politics.

Goerke has seen the show seven times on Broadway, most recently in February. He has binders with Playbills from each performance. For Goerke, who loves theatrical illusions and sleight of hand, the show presses all the right buttons. “I just love all the magic sequences in the show,” he said. “That’s really what has always appealed to me, plus the score is so classic.”

He said he’ll take “Phantom” over “Hamilton” any day, and his collectibles tell a similar tale. No Founding Father statuettes are in sight, but he has a number of masks and music boxes including one shaped like a monkey, as seen in the show, another one that’s a snow globe, and a figurine that plays “Music of the Night.”

FRANK AND JULIA RADICE, 30 and 31, Franklin Square

April 16 is a dark day for the Radices, who both work in medical offices. Frank's phone calendar says as much: The date is marked “Phantom last day” next to a sad face. 

On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the most ardent “Phantom” fan, Frank, 30, cops to “being a 20.” He has seen the Broadway show 13 times, while Julia has seen it four times.  The couple met while sharing a stage in a 2013 community theater run of “Les Miserables” in Queens.

In photos of the couple’s 10 years together, the Phantom looms large. “It’s definitely a big part of our lives,” Julia said. Frank proposed to Julia in 2019 in New York at the Madame Tussaud’s Broadway exhibit devoted to “Phantom.” Their combined bachelor and bachelorette party was a group trip to the show at the Majestic. Masks and the song “Masquerade” were woven into their wedding celebration last year. Halloween? You know what they’re wearing.

Frank also has a collection of "Phantom" ornaments, music boxes and books. Frank was 8 in 2000 when he first saw the show. “It made me want to be an actor,” he said. Playing the Phantom on Broadway is still a dream.

Julia rolled her eyes when she read the closing notice, partly because the show was set to close in February and then was extended. “I didn’t believe it was closing,” she said, adding that they suspected it was a marketing ploy to sell tickets. 

“It worked,” she said. “We spent our tax return on the show.” On March 22, they watched the musical they both love for the last time.

“It was bittersweet,” she said. “It was our way of saying goodbye.”

'PHANTOM' BY THE NUMBERS

“The Phantom of the Opera” has forged its place in the theater record books. These numbers give some context to what it means to be the longest-running Broadway show in history.