25 PHacts about Phantom of the Opera!

This is it! It's the 25th Anniversary week of Phantom of the Opera on Broadway!

Luckily to the relief of many phans, The Majestic Theatre released some tickets for sale for the legendary performance yesterday afternoon sometime. I was among one of the lucky Phans to find out the news and buy a ticket in record time! So I'm going to the anniversary performance I'll be able to blog about it first hand! Let me calm down before I start writing an excitement rant!!!

In honor of the 25th anniversary here are 25 facts about the show (and many pretty pictures too)!

PHact # 1 - The Phantom of the Opera began previews on January 9, 1988 and officially opened on Broadway on January 26, 1988. 

PHact # 2 - Michael Crawford was the original phantom of the opera on Broadway and in London. He told a story on his DVD Michael Crawford in concert where he explained that he thought he was going to play Raoul and learned that he was asked to play the phantom! 

PHact # 3 - Sarah Brightman was the original Christine on Broadway and in London. She was Andrew Lloyd Webber's second wife at the time and even though I think he might have auditioned other Christines he wrote the part for her. 

PHact # 4 - Just last year during the winter on February 11, 2012 The Phantom of the Opera celebrated 10,000 performances after the 2 PM matinee. 

PHact # 5 - Phantom of the Opera officially became the longest running show on Broadway on January 6, 2006. 

PHact # 6 - The chandelier has traveled 757 miles while going up and down for each performance. 

PHact # 7 Sandra Joseph is Broadway's longest running Christine with 1260 performances.

PHact #8 Howard McGillin is Broadway's longest running phantom with 2,544 performances. 

PHact #9 - The Phantom's mask is custom created for each actor, molding specifically to their face. 

PHact # 10 - It takes 2 hours and 30 minutes to put on the phantom's make up. 

PHact # 11 - Sylvia Bailey is the longest usher working at the Majestic, she's worked as an usher since the show opened. 

PHact # 12 - Enough playbills have been read by audiences to span the length of 54,600 miles, apparently enough to circle the globe twice. 

PHact # 13 - George Lee Andrews made it into the Guiness book of world records for an actor performing longest in a Broadway show he played one of the managers for 9,382 performances. 

PHact # 14 - 230 costumes are worn in each show, along with 111 wigs. 

PHact # 15 - The Phantom of the Opera won 7 tony awards when it opened, including best musical! 

PHact # 16 - The Broadway show has grossed over $887 million dollars. 

PHact # 17 - The Phantom of the Opera has had over 15 million audience members at the Majestic

PHact # 18 - Pre-recorded tracks are used for the Phantom's off stage voice overs and occasionally for Christine's high notes. 

PHact # 19 - On January 26, 1988 The phantom performed for 10 years on Broadway! (Phantom's PHirst milestone anniversary)

PHact # 20 - Christine sings 1 high E note during the show. 

PHact # 21 - Jennifer Hope Willis saw the show for the first time and then 17 years later she got to be Christine. 

PHact # 22 - The bread in the back of the elephant that the actors have is actually real bread and not a prop. 

PHact # 23 - The tallest candelabra on the stage is 14 ft. 

PHact # 24 - There are 281 candles in the whole show.

PHact # 25 - 550 lbs of dry ice is used for every show.