III .Reading Comprehension. ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ rewrites Broadway history after 18 Years STEVE EMBER : Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember. FAITH LAPIDUS : And I'm Faith Lapidus. Today we hear music fro m The Phantom of the Opera . That show sets a record (破纪录) this week. (Music) STEVE EMBER : A mysterious man who covers his deformed face with a mask. A beautiful young singer who falls under the man’s control. Her lover, who does not believe that this phantom exists. The story has made The Phantom of the Opera the longest-running show ever performed on Broadway. Its success is told in numbers : as of Monday night, seven thousand four hundred eighty-six performances in New York City alone. There have been tens of thousands of performances around the world. ‘Phantom’ has brought in more than three thousand million dollars in ticket sales. FAITH ADIDUS : Until now, the longest-run ning show on Broadway was Cats . Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber who wrote the music for ‘Phantom’ was also responsible for ‘Cats.’ That show closed in New Year in two thousand . The Phantom of the Opera was first seen at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London in 1986. The show opened in New York on 26th January, 1988. It has won many top awards in Britain and the United States. The Phantom of the Opera is based on a book by Gaston Leroux. The Phantom lives in a strange world under the Paris Opera House. Listen as Christine and Raoul - Sarah Brightman and Steve Barton-sing ‘ Think of Me.’