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.
The Phantom (play) successful in attendance, though the quality of the entertainment offered might reasonably be expected to call out an unusually large patronage". Before the show, there were short farces, following with Mrs. Boucicault portraying "One of the most charming characters in "Milly, the Maid with the Milking Pail," and with "Kerry," Mr. Boucicault's masterpeiece (as a writer and actor). The phantom "The most weird, thrilling, and intensely sensational of all Mr. Boucicault’s plays." Mrs. M. E. W. Sherwood's review in "The New York Times", 20 January 1875: "Then . . . comes a vision of Boucicault playing the 'Vampire,' a dreadful