<Li> Tony Award for Best Musical </Li> <P> The Phantom of the Opera is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart . Richard Stilgoe and Lloyd Webber wrote the musical's book together . Stilgoe also provided additional lyrics . Based on the eponymous French novel by Gaston Leroux, its central plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Paris Opéra House . </P> <P> The musical opened in London's West End in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988 . It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Michael Crawford (in the title role) won the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical . It is the longest running show in Broadway history by a wide margin, and celebrated its 10,000 th Broadway performance on 11 February 2012, the first production ever to do so . It is the second longest - running West End musical, after Les Misérables, and the third longest - running West End show overall, after The Mousetrap . </P> <P> With total estimated worldwide gross receipts of over $5.6 billion and total Broadway gross of $845 million, Phantom was the most financially successful entertainment event until The Lion King surpassed it in 2014 . By 2011, it had been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities across 27 countries, and continues to play in London and New York . </P>

Who played the first phantom of the opera in the west end