A trip to New York City is not complete if you haven’t seen a Broadway show. The most famous theater district in the world is Broadway, a 13-mile street in Manhattan where the lights shine brightly and everything is steeped in culture and theatrical magic. The most popular shows on Broadway are musicals, to the point that the word “Broadway” itself has become synonymous with the American style of musicals. There is no such thing as show business, but what many don’t realize is that show business can be very big business.
Broadway
Here’s a list of the highest-grossing, longest-running and most significant Broadway shows currently running. We’ve only mentioned the shows that are still on stage. Unfortunately, the musical Mamma Mia ended its run in 2015, so it’s not on this list. Nevertheless, it is the most popular musical of all time (a musical with popular music). If you want to see the longest-running Broadway shows to date, check out the full list on the Playbill website.
Here are 4 shows that embody the spirit of Broadway and also collect huge box office receipts to date:
“Wicked”
There aren’t many new Broadway shows that have made it to the list of longest running and most amazing musicals. “Wicked” is not only an exception to that rule; the box office receipts for this musical have been staggering. The musical debuted in 2003. It is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West’s friendship with Glinda, the Good Witch, and how she became one of our culture’s most famous villains, grossing over a billion dollars. Since the musical is still going, it will soon overtake Mamma Mia and become the eighth-longest-running Broadway musical of all time. Right now, the musical “Wicked” ranks ninth in that ranking.
“Chicago”/”Chicago”
The only show on this list that was based on a movie that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The revival of the 1975 version has been going on ever since it was first shown in 1996. This makes it the second longest-running Broadway musical of all time and the longest-running debut show on Broadway. Like many musicals, it was based on a non-musical play written by journalist Maureen Dallas Watkins about a pair of female killers. Star Welma Kelly and her rival, fame-hungry Roxie Hart, try to become famous while awaiting trial. The original show was directed and choreographed by the legendary Bob Foss, who portrayed this part of his life in the 1979 film “All That Jazz” (he also directed “Lenny,” based on the life of Lenny Bruce).
“The Phantom of the Opera”/”Phantom of the Opera.”
The story of “The Phantom of the Opera” is very mysterious. Gaston Leroux’s novel had already been adapted twice into a film starring Lon Chaney and Claude Rains, when Andrew Lloyd Webber created the definitive version of this story about a musically gifted recluse with a mutilated face, a possessed soprano who lives in the underground of the Opera Garnier. The Phantom musical is now synonymous with Broadway, and for good reason: it has been running since 1988, which means that today it is the longest-running musical in the entire world. In addition, “Phantom of the Opera” also became the most financially successful musical until it was surpassed in 2014 by …
“The Lion King”
“The Lion King” was a hurricane in the world of Broadway. It launched the career of Julie Taymor, the first female director to win a Tony Award for her work on the show. She also won a Tony for costumes and even helped with the script. “The Lion King” is based on the Disney blockbuster, which tells of the triumphant return of the rightful king of the jungle, Simba. “The Lion King” is only the third of the longest running Broadway shows, but it has grossed the highest box office. This is incredibly impressive, especially when you consider that its first run came nine years after the musical “Phantom of the Opera.”
With its innovative puppet work and Elton John’s music, The Lion King musical is very much like the cartoon of the same name. It is an inspiring example of what an appropriate setting can do.