The Phantom of the Opera Plans a Four-Day Shutdown

The Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera will close down for four performances in August in order to install a $750,000 state-of-the-art Digital Sound System at the Majestic Theatre. The final performance before the change-over will be Saturday, August 23, and the new system's debut performance will be on Thursday, August 28.

The Broadway shut-down follows the successful installation of the same Digital Sound System into the London production in May. "The most recent productions of The Phantom of the Opera around the world from Vegas to China have had the most fantastic sound systems," composer Andrew Lloyd Webber said in a statement. "Installing a new system in the London production earlier this year brilliantly brought the flagship production into the 21st century. New York will now follow, getting the newest and best of them all to ensure state-of-the-art sound for our audiences and enhance one of the biggest orchestras on Broadway."

Although closing a musical for technical reasons is highly unusual, it's not unprecedented: Rent upgraded its sound system in 2005, closing the show at the Nederlander Theatre for about a week.

Now in its 21st year on Broadway, Harold Prince's production of The Phantom of the Opera recently played its 8,500th performance and shows no signs of slowing down. For the week ending July 13, the show filled the 1,617-seat Majestic Theatre to 96.61% of capacity.

The Broadway production of Phantom currently stars John Cudia in the title role with Jennifer Hope Wills as Christine and Tim Martin Gleason as Raoul. On July 28, Howard McGillin, who has played the Phantom of Broadway more than any other actor at 2,000+ performances, will return to the title role.