Webber's Longevity: The "Phantom" PR Machine

“Hit Me Baby, One More Time,” sings Britney Spears on her 1999 debut single “One More Time” from the album of the same name. When it comes to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, the more appropriately named title track would be “Watch Me Baby, One More Time.” A musical that debuted at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London on 9 October 1986, is still selling out performances worldwide, and just became the longest-running Broadway musical ever is now part of any theatre-attendee’s common vernacular (Her Majesty’s). And to sustain such a long run, it can be asserted that many people filling the seats are repeat viewers. But the true cause of this success is arguable: is it the art of its compositions that has catapulted its popularity, or has publicity, marketing dollars and a gigantic production budget maintained its longevity and superstardom? Marketing hype, combined with the publicity garnered from Lloyd Webber’s prior prestige is responsible for the majority of the longevity of Phantom of the Opera.



On the walk to see Phantom

As stated in the program from Her Majesty’s Theatre, in January 1986, nine months before the London opening of the show, the title track was released as a single to gain publicity and speculate interest. This is a technique not fully embraced by American pop artists until many years later, and one that is still being expanded today through the use of various types of media releases in a digital world. Utilizing a technique like pre-releasing a physical product many months before the show’s debut is pure publicity, and the stunt utilized Lloyd Webber’s name as the “brand leader” to market the new category: a grand scale, operatic and romantic night out. Take a publicity move, cast a few star actors, and the producers are left with a winning combination to fill seats for the opening – and apparently for twenty years thereafter. Successful marketing consultants Al and Laura Ries maintain that “leadership alone is one of the primary objectives of any marketing program” (Fall 202). They continue, “It’s why you want to create a new category (so you can start the brand from day one as the leader),” and this is the technique first utilized in 1986 and still driven home today with Phantom (Fall 202). Essentially, there has been no production to follow Phantom that contains the same formula, mainly because for a show to supersede Phantom, it would have to be written in a different style so it too can be a market leader. Simply copying the magical formula of Phantom would result in a number of difficulties, from securing enough funding to produce a similar show in quality to gaining attention while not being remembered simply as Phantom’s successor.



New Year's Eve, Just after curtain call

The show is a high-budget dazzling spectacle that cannot be equaled by smaller stages which creates further demand to see the big production on the grand stage. Conversely, a show like Les Miserables could be performed effectively utilizing a unit setting or limited hand props and fourth-wall convention. It would be extremely difficult to portray a crashing chandelier on a community theater budget. Thus, Phantom has created a niche in the market, such a large production value complete with intricate effects unable to be replicated without the properly funded production to implement them, let alone a staff trained to handle such complexities. Even a cast filled with talented actors and vocalists would come across as performing a bare rendition of Webber’s score, which brings forth the interesting argument that without the million dollar budget and intense spectacle, the show would not stand on music alone. Further, the music is so accessible in the package that it is presented, that it can only be presented as a large-scale performance at prestigious theaters; otherwise the romantic appeal is lost on the audience.
In a 1998 article for WeeklyWire.com, Dalt Wonk echoes the need for the spectacle to accompany the content of the show, claiming that it is the production that enchants the audience:

I can't help thinking of the character "Chorus" in Shakespeare's Henry V, standing alone in the Globe Theater, asking the audience to use their imaginations to fill out "this unworthy scaffold ... this wooden o" -- the empty stage on which the play would unfold. Lloyd Webber and company have taken the exact opposite approach. Their promise is that no imagination will be required. The audience will be swept up in a seamless miracle of stagecraft, a total illusion. Phantom sets out to incarnate in three dimensions the magic one has come to expect in films. It is a phenomenal challenge. And to a remarkable degree, Phantom reaches its goal (Wonk).

And, so, the audience is swept up in magic. Not an incredible score or life-changing dialogue, but, rather, the magic of seeing a show that many have seen before. The magic of marketing hype, publicity, word of mouth advertisement and the magic of millions of dollars in costumes, lighting and scenic design. Arguably, this is the same magic that millions of teenage concert goers witness when they attend a Britney Spears concert. Spears' material is definitely not art, and definitely not suited for a jazz club filled with a discerning audience. Yet, Spears material has become “Pop Art,” and so has Lloyd Webber’s – work recognized as art due to its popularity. The popularity of Lloyd Webber’s Phantom was propelled thanks to clever publicity, marketing a new “category” of theatre and incredible word of mouth promotion from novice theatre goers that were wooed by the production value. Evidence of the lack of art in the show is magnified by the soon to be introduced 90-minute Las Vegas Casino format. Phantom is about spending marketing dollars to make more on the return, as any good business should be concerned with, but an artistic production would fight any push to condense material to simply make money, which is clearly not the case with the content of Phantom. Within five years, one should expect to see a discontinuation of Phantom and an underground publicity campaign that reestablishes the show as the “greatest spectacle of the Twentieth Century,” which will spawn another twenty year run promoted by millions of dollars and performed with the help of millions of dollars.