January 26, 1988: “The Phantom of the Opera” Opens On Broadway

Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman

January 26, 1988: The Phantom of the Opera opens at the Majestic Theatre at 245 West 44th Street. It became the longest-running Broadway play ever.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of Gaston Leroux's 1909 novel debuted on London's West End on October 9, 1986, and, as of January 26, 2022, is still running. It is the 2nd-longest-running musical in West End history, behind Les Misérables, which debuted in 1985 and is still running.

For the West End, Michael Crawford played the Phantom, and Webber's then-wife, Sarah Brightman, played Christine Daaé, and they reprised their roles for the original Broadway run. It was the 1st Broadway show, musical or otherwise, to run for 8,000, 9,000, 10,000, 11,000, 12,000 and 13,000 performances. It was filmed in 2004, with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum.

UPDATE: The Broadway version of Phantom closed on April 16, 2023, after 13,981 performances. The 1996 revival of Chicago was then 3,000 performances behind it, and would have to keep running until the Summer of 2031 to surpass it.

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January 26, 1988 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in Super Bowl week, and the Washington Redskins would beat the Denver Broncos. There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the New Jersey Nets, 122-101 at Madison Square Garden. 

* The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Falcons, 102-97 at The Omni in Atlanta. Dominique Wilkins, "the Human Highlight Film," scored 38 points in defeat for the Hawks.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 128-111 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 124-104 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Chicago Bulls, 97-93 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Michael Jordan scored 34 points in defeat.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz, 111-100 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Seattle Supersonics beat the Sacramento Kings, 116-100 at the original ARCO Arena in Sacramento. Dale Ellis led all scorers on the night with 42 points.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 112-106 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-4 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-6 at the St. Louis Arena.