The chandelier will drop (again) in Sacramento and other ‘Phantom’ facts

The new production of Cameron Mackintosh’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” which comes to Sacramento on Wednesday, May 17, has been touring since 2013.

“Phantom” is quite simply one the biggest musicals of all time. “How big?” you ask. Judge by the numbers and facts.

‘Phantom’ in Sacramento

• 4: National touring productions to come to town (1997, 2002, 2008 and 2017)

• 88: Performances in Sacramento

Broadway timeline

It is now the longest-running show in Broadway history

• Jan. 26, 1988: Opens on Broadway at the Majestic Theater

• Feb. 11, 2012: Becomes the first Broadway musical to surpass 10,000 performances

• Jan. 26, 2013: Marks its 25th anniversary with its 10,400th performance

These aren’t phantom $$

Cast recordings have been made of the London, Austrian, Dutch, German, Japanese, Swedish, Korean, Hungarian, Mexican, Polish, Russian and Canadian productions.

• $1.08 billion: Gross receipts (as of November 2016), second only to “The Lion King” as highest of any show on Broadway

• $5 billion: Global gross earnings, the highest of any musical in history

Behind the scenes

• 75: Local stagehands hired in each city to load the production into the theatre

• 35: Local stagehands used for each performance

• 20: Trucks used to move the production city to city

The Costumes

• 1,200: Costume pieces used during the show

• 2-3: Weeks a pair of women’s ballet shoes lasts per dancer

• 120: Wigs that travel with the production

• 50: Wigs used in each performance, all but 5 made of human hair

• 50: Moustaches on hand

Sound and effects

• 200: Speakers in the auditorium

• 50: Speakers used to create the surround-sound effects

• 85: Moving lights in the design

• 4: Haze/smoke effects

The Chandelier

This new chandelier was designed by Howard Eaton, who also designed the Olympic rings for the London ceremonies.

• 6,000: Beads are on the chandelier

• 632: Beads per strand

• 1 ton: Weight of the chandelier

Scenery

• 10 tons: Weight of the main scenic wall, which rotates around the stage

• 2: Number of opera boxes on the set. (They fill one transport truck.)

The Phantom (himself)

Some of the actors who have been the Phantom in Sacramento:

• Brad Little: 1997 and 2002

• Stephen Tewksbury: 2008

• Derrick Davis: 2017, the third actor of color to be the Man Behind The Mask (with Robert Guillaume and Norm Lewis)

This story was originally published May 17, 2017 at 8:00 AM.