OK, I figured it out. Go with me on this:
I was thinking this morning about my new job, and how I will consider myself lucky if it even opens. This is not because I think it’s going to be a bad show or anything, it’s just the way my career has always gone. Some people have problems where their shows never run long. My problem is that whenever I get an open-ended run, it doesn’t just flop, it goes catastrophically bad from the moment I get the job. There was my first open-ended Off-Broadway contract where the show cut down to a 3-shows-per-week schedule on the week my contract started, and was closed nine performances later. Then there was the Broadway-bound play that was canceled before it even started rehearsal. If Frankenstein makes it through the first week of rehearsal, it will be the most successful open run I’ve ever had.
That’s just the background. So how does this relate to Phantom‘s run? I was saying to myself today, “Why can’t anything I do have a decent run?” Then of course I had to admit, “Well, except Phantom.” That’s when it hit me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “Man, every show that so-and-so does flops! Well, except Phantom.”
No one can explain why Phantom keeps running, in fact running so well that it’s keeping pace with every show except Wicked and Jersey Boys. They were talking privately about closing it just a few years ago, and here we are. Where does it get such good fortune? Obviously it’s leeching off all the good show karma of everyone who works on it, and when they go elsewhere there’s none left for their future endeavors.
I’m far from the only person whose career exhibits these symptoms, although my case does seem to be extreme. I do feel better knowing that my good show karma is somewhere, benefiting my friends and a show I love, which occasionally provides me some income, too. And if you’ve ever wondered how it’s possible for a show to run 25+ years, this is how it will be done. You heard it here first.
