Picture this: You’re making your way down the plush corridors of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC), hoping to grab your seat before the iconic chandelier (we’ll get to that) takes its first dramatic plunge. You can’t help but feel the buzz—like Bollywood premiere night meets a Broadway red carpet event. On March 5th, The Phantom of the Opera (the legendary stage musical that has topped bucket lists the world over) finally swished its grand red velvet curtains for Indian audiences. It’s a moment that theatre fans have dreamt about for ages. And after nearly four weeks of immersing performances, the run has ended—leaving us to look back on what made it such a grand affair.
A London legend steps onto Indian soil
To say Phantom (we’re calling it this for the remainder) is beloved would be an understatement. Since its 1986 debut at London’s Her Majesty’s Theatre, the show has played to over 160 million people in 195 cities and 21 languages. To add to this, by the end of this year, seven separate theatrical productions of Phantom will be running worldwide—a figure that would make most musicals green with envy. And it was in January 2006 that Phantom officially became the longest-running show in Broadway history, toppling Cats with its 7,486th performance. (For the record, other long-running stage productions exist in London and beyond, but on Broadway, Phantom is the champion.)
NMACC: A stage fit for a Phantom
In some ways, the NMACC was the ideal setting for this high-drama musical. The Centre, a first-of-its-kind multidisciplinary cultural hub, boasts a jaw-droppingly modern Grand Theatre that seats 2,000. If you’re going to bring in a storied piece of theatre that features underground catacombs, epic chandeliers, and enough drama to fill every gossip column in town, you’d better have a venue equipped to handle it. Between the cutting-edge sound systems (necessary for those creepy organ blasts), the amazing LED lighting that almost all of us have posting on Instagram, and the meticulously designed stage setup (did someone say boat ride across a subterranean lake?), Phantom found a ready-made second home.
Opening night: A Masquerade to remember
Forget the clichéd red carpet—opening night on March 5th felt more like stepping into one of the musical’s signature masquerade balls. Attendees arrived dressed to the nines (Indian fashion flair meets West End elegance), perching in their seats with the kind of excitement usually reserved for blockbuster film releases. Mumbai’s who’s who from every socialite to the most current celebrities and influencers gathered at The Grand Theatre. Cue the hush, the lights going down, and the audience ready to be whisked away to the mysterious depths of the Paris Opera House!
Romance, chandeliers, and all that jazz
The heart of The Phantom of the Opera is, of course, its music. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score—particularly ‘The Music of the Night,’ ‘All I Ask of You,’ and the grand ‘Phantom of the Opera’ theme—didn’t just echo around the theatre; it practically seeped into everyone excitingly looking for that organs playing the theme song for every Instagram story. But the real jaw dropping moment has to be the chandelier scene—one of the musical theatre world’s most jaw-dropping visuals. Even if you’ve seen it before in London or on a world tour, experiencing it in a brand-new venue with a very enthusiastic crowd never gets old.
Why Mumbai? Why now?
The question on everyone’s mind: Why did it take so long for Phantom to come here—the unstoppable force of theatre that embarked on its International Tour expansion in 2019. Tours had already made stops in China, the Middle East, Singapore, Thailand… so India was high on the fan wish list. With the NMACC’s goal to bring the best of global performing arts to local audiences, the timing finally clicked. As Phantom continues its multi-year International Tour, the producers are clearly pushing the brand into new regions and platforms. India, famed for its love of grand musical storytelling (looking at you, Bollywood…), was an obvious must-have pin on Phantom’s ever-expanding map.
A rising trend—and a feather in NMACC’s cap
With the final performance wrapping on March 30th, the question is: What next for large-scale musicals in India? Early signs point to a rising trend. According to ticketing platform BookMyShow, the last two years have seen an upswing in demand for musicals across major metros—a pattern echoed by a 2020 FICCI-EY study that noted consistent growth in live-theatre attendance. Previous NMACC musicals like Mamma Mia! and The Sound of Music reportedly enjoyed near-full houses for much of their runs, suggesting Phantom isn’t just a dazzling one-off—it’s part of a broader momentum driving top-tier theatrical experiences deeper into India’s cultural hubs. For the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, hosting Phantom was also a statement of intent—here is a space determined to present world-class performing arts in a style befitting its cutting-edge venue. That vision was evident in earlier shows like The Sound of Music and Life of Pi, but welcoming one of Broadway’s longest-running musicals truly underscores how high the bar can be set. It further reflects a commitment to audience development: the bigger the blockbusters that arrive, the more local interest in theatre flourishes. Add an enthusiastic audience hungry for global content, and you have all the ingredients for a cultural renaissance.
Encore and final bow
If you missed Phantom this go-round, fret not: given the musical’s track record, there’s every chance it might return. In the meantime, the production continues enchanting audiences worldwide, gearing up for a Spanish tour and an upcoming US tour, among others. Still, it’s not as if the Grand Theatre at NMACC will suddenly go dark. Word on the grapevine is that more international spectacles are eyeing Mumbai’s cultural hotspot, and with the city’s rising appetite for musicals, even Indian homegrown shows might ride this new wave of interest. As the final notes of that mighty organ fade and the last roses land on stage, Phantom leaves a haunting afterglow—one that signals India’s theatre scene is evolving, embracing global hits and stoking renewed passion for the performing arts. The Phantom may have slipped away, but the reverberations linger in every note we can’t stop humming—and in the promise that, for theatre lovers in Mumbai, the best may still be on the horizon.