(The Phantom of the Opera has) never gotten boring to me. And I think that's because its underpinnings are psychologically valid and dangerous. It's an entertainment, and yet what it says is universal: Do not assume because someone is grotesque that they're threatening. We all shy away from a visual. You can be shying away from someone with a heart of gold and a giant intellect.

From the first day of rehearsal, [maintaining a sense of menace throughout the show] was the first thing I addressed with the whole company. We were in a rehearsal hall in Lambeth, across the Thames, and I said, "This whole play is designed to keep the audience always, always on the alert, and you must contribute to that." There is not a single scene in the show that does not have a surprise in it. It was designed that way, in terms of the book and the score, and if you look carefully at it, there's always a surprise in each scene. Sometimes it's fire that you don't know is going to be there, sometimes it's a voice, sometimes it's a piano playing by itself, but there's always something, and sometimes it's a piece of scenery almost falling on a diva. It's always there, and it's very important. I thought we must not have a single scene that doesn't have that.

It's amazing how such a childish, cringeworthy show has pleased so many people for 25 years...

... but, then, the great, unwashed thousands don't have your finer sensibilities.

... but, then, the great, unwashed thousands don't have your finer sensibilities.

And they are the poorer for it.

... but, then, the great, unwashed thousands don't have your finer sensibilities.

And they are the poorer for it.

Rail as you like, the show continues to bring pleasure to its audiences. It must be very annoying.