The musical opened at Her Majesty's Theatre on 9 October 1986 with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the leading roles and there have been dozens of productions worldwide since then.

The Phantom of the Opera is the jewel in the crown of the Really Useful Group's copyrights with estimated worldwide grosses to date of over US$5 billion.

Awards include the Laurence Olivier and Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and seven Tony Awards.

A movie version of The Phantom of the Opera was released in 2004, directed by Joel Schumacher.