《歌剧魅影》成为演出场次最多音乐剧

（单词翻译）

1998年4月7日Andrwe Lloyd Webber五十岁生日时，在英国皇家艾伯特音乐厅(Royal Albert Hall)举办了一場音乐会。在这场音乐会上群星云集，演唱了Webber的新老作品，作为送给这位德高望重的音乐奇才的生日礼物。自然，在这样的场合，作为Webber的前妻，Sarah Brightman 是必然要放歌一首的,这次与她合作的是西班牙男演员Antonio Banderas，演唱了《歌剧魅影》中的一个片断。

John Keritch: With a burst of the confetti, balloons and streamers, plus the emotional appearance by the musical's original star, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom¹ of the Opera" set a theatrical² record Monday night, becoming the longest-running show in Broadway history. "The Phantom" opened at the Majestic³ Theater in 1988. Monday night's show marked the 7486th performance. Webber, who walked the red carpet with the original Phantom star Michael Crawford, devote the little known fact.

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Can I tell her the secret?
Michael Crawford: Unhem!!
Andrew Lloyd Webber: Michael has never seen it.
Interviewer: I don't know, are you going to change that this evening?
Michael Crawford: Yes, yeah, the first time.
Interviewer: So how are you feeling about that?
Michael Crawford: Um...I'm really, really looking forward to it. Yeah.
Interviewer: Well...Let me~why do you not see it before?
Michael Crawford: It's...it was too close to me. But the time is right now.

Music: Music shall caress⁴ you. Hear it. Feel it. Secretly possess you. Open up your mind. Let your fantasy unwind. In this darkness which you know you cannot find.

John Keritch: The show tells the tale of a disfigured musical genius who hides in the Paris Opera House; he falls in love with a young woman, who then becomes his protege. The musical is earning nearly 600 million dollars in its New York run. But in London, the show has surpassed three billion dollars and more.

John Keritch: In 2004, 'Phantom' reached the new audience with the movie version; Patrick Wilson who plays Raoul in the film attended the record-breaking event.

Patrick Wilson: Well, people are always interested in the love story, you know, it's good versus⁵ evil, it's beauty and beast, it's finding what true beauty is, beauty is only skin-deep love, you know, all those things that, ur, that people can't get rid of, and the music is pretty good too. Hehe...

Music: Let your soul take you where you long to be...

John Keritch: Still Lloyd Webber prefers the stage version.

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Well, the theatre, it's just a wonderful place to be, isn't it? Everything is always a live performance every night, it's always special, and this, then, now you get to the theater where the exhibit is gonna be exactly the same as it was before or will be the day after.

Music: In all your fantasies, you always know, that man and mystery, were both in you. And in this labyrinth⁶...

John Keritch: Lloyd Webber has written 14 musicals including the hits, "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita", the latter, of which he is reviving for the London stage.

John Keritch: John Keritch, Associated Press.

Note------------
confetti: small pieces of coloured paper that you throw into the air over people who have just got married or at events such as parties, parades etc; (旧时狂欢节或庆祝场合抛撒的)糖果, (婚礼、狂欢节中抛撒的)五彩纸屑.
protege: someone, especially a young person, who is taught and helped by someone who has influence, power, or more experience; 被保护人.
skin-deep: used to say that something may seem to be important or effective, but it really is not because it only affects the way things appear; 肤浅的, 表面的.