Charles Hart, a young and then-relatively unknown lyricist, later rewrote many of the lyrics, along with original lyrics for "Think of Me". Richard Stilgoe, the lyricist for Starlight Express, wrote most of the original lyrics for the production. Alan Jay Lerner was then recruited, but he became seriously ill after joining the project and was forced to withdraw none of his contributions (mostly involving the song "Masquerade") are credited in the show. Lloyd Webber first approached Jim Steinman to write the lyrics because of his "dark obsessive side", but he declined in order to fulfill his commitments on a Bonnie Tyler album. Then with the Phantom, it was there!" Lyricists Later, in New York, Lloyd Webber found a second-hand copy of the original, long-out-of-print Leroux novel, which supplied the necessary inspiration to develop a musical: "I was actually writing something else at the time, and I realised that the reason I was hung up was because I was trying to write a major romantic story, and I had been trying to do that ever since I started my career. They screened both the 1925 Lon Chaney and the 1943 Claude Rains motion picture versions, but neither saw any effective way to make the leap from film to stage. He was aiming for a romantic piece, and suggested Gaston Leroux's book The Phantom of the Opera as a basis. In 1984, Lloyd Webber contacted Cameron Mackintosh, the co-producer of Cats and Song and Dance, to propose a new musical. 7.1.3 Highlights From The Phantom of the Opera.1.4 Design, direction, and choreography.By 2011, it had been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities across 27 countries. With total estimated worldwide gross receipts of over $6 billion and total Broadway gross of over $1 billion, Phantom was the most financially successful entertainment event until The Lion King surpassed it in 2014. A film adaptation directed by Joel Schumacher was released in 2004. It is the second longest-running West End musical, after Les Misérables, and the third longest-running West End show overall, after The Mousetrap. It is currently the longest running show in Broadway history, and celebrated its 10,000th Broadway performance on 11 February 2012, the first production ever to do so. 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. The musical opened in London's West End in 1986 and on Broadway in 1988. The plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, masked musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Paris Opéra House. It is based on the 1910 eponymous French novel by Gaston Leroux. The Phantom of the Opera is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (who co-wrote the libretto alongside Richard Stilgoe) and lyrics by Charles Hart. 1988 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Broadway Musical.1986 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best New Musical.1986 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.