Erik (The Phantom of the Opera) took roughly four hours per performance to put the prosthetics on in the original London productions. On Broadway, it was cut to roughly three, and over the years has been reduced to 45 minutes. More than one Phantom has described make-up disasters onstage. Michael Crawford recounts a story where he pulled away from the kiss at the end only to see that "[his] lower lip was now hanging off Sarah [Brightman]'s face!". To cover the flub, he pulled her back for another kiss and "took back the lips" and kept that side of his head turned away from the audience.
Phantom (musical) Phantom (musical) Phantom is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Arthur Kopit. Based on Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel "The Phantom of the Opera", the musical was first presented in Houston, Texas in 1991. Although it has never appeared on Broadway and has been overshadowed by the success of the 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Yeston and Kopit's "Phantom" has received over 1,000 productions. Yeston and Kopit had just finished the musical "Nine", winner of the Tony Award for "Best Musical" in 1982, when in 1983 they were approached by actor/director Geoffrey Holder to