Phenomenal Phantom!

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats is about to be overtaken as the longest running show in Broadway history. That honour now falls to...Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera.

Lord Lloyd-Webber's musical has been playing to full houses in Her Majesty's Theatre in London since 1986 and the Majestic Theatre in New York since 1988 where it will celebrate racking up a record-breaking 7,486 performances on Monday, 9 January.

The Phantom Of the Opera has taken over $3.3 billion at the global box office, more than any film or stage production in history.

At a special gala performance, a cat will hand over to the phantom the mantle of New York's longest-running musical on stage. Afterwards there will be a masked ball at the Waldorf Astoria hotel hosted by the producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

The New York record ranks with Lord Lloyd-Webber's other remarkable achievements which include winning seven Tony Awards, six Olivier Awards and in 1990 having five musicals run in London and three on Broadway at the same time.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, he said: "It's marvellous, but for one of my shows to have been that successful it's quite difficult to come to terms with. Could anybody have thought that could happen? I can't even rationalise it."

What does he think is the secret of its success? "If I knew that I'd write another one," he said.

"But I think there is something in everybody which makes them want to look differently to the way they are. I remember being at one of Sir Elton John's bashes around 15 years ago and I was in the midst of some supermodels who said exactly that - there was a lot about their appearance they wanted to change.

"It's a love story with a bit of hokum. Audiences have always liked high romance."

At the gala performance he will see Sandra Joseph play Christine, the object of the phantom's affections. But he said his second wife Sarah Brightman, who split from the composer in 1990, and who starred in The Phantom of the Opera in London and New York, would remain his favourite in the role.

"I'd like her to be there. She has concerts but it would be lovely if she was able to make it. When Phantom opened I was so close to it but I was not able to be objective about it. I was more worried about Sarah and how she was going to be received than I was about the show.

"From the first preview we didn't even consider changing a thing. We knew we were going to be successful but nobody knew it was going to be a phenomenon."