The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The musical opened in London's West End in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Michael Crawford (in the title role) won the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical. It is the longest running show in Broadway history by a wide margin, and celebrated its 10,000th Broadway performance on 11 February 2012, the first production ever to do so. It is the second longest-running West End musical, after "Les Misérables", and the third longest-running West End show overall, after "The Mousetrap".
Phantom (musical)
The Yeston/Kopit musical was finally produced by Theater Under the Stars in 1991 under the official title "Phantom". The piece has since received over 1,000 productions around the world. Yeston refers to "Phantom" as "the greatest hit never to be produced on Broadway." Yeston and Kopit's "Phantom" is more operetta-like in style than Lloyd Webber's, seeking to reflect the 1890s period, and seeks to project a French atmosphere to reflect its Parisian setting. Its story hews more closely to the Leroux novel and offers a deeper exploration of the phantom's past and his relationship with Gérard Carrière, the head of the Opera House. The character Raoul does not feature at all in the story.