It's been a long time since I've discussed the list of longest-running shows on Broadway. That's because it's been a long time since it changed but it just did. This is the list of the top thirteen as of last night. The ones in bold are still running.
- The Phantom of the Opera – 11,506 performances
- Chicago (1996 Revival) – 7830 performances
- Cats – 7485 performances
- The Lion King – 7412 performances
- Les Misérables – 6680 performances
- A Chorus Line – 6137 performances
- Oh! Calcutta! (1976 Revival) – 5959 performances
- Mamma Mia! – 5,773 performances
- Beauty and the Beast – 5461 performances
- Rent – 5123 performances
- Wicked – 4957 performances
- Jersey Boys – 4093 performances
- Miss Saigon – 4092 performances
As you can see, Jersey Boys just passed Miss Saigon to take over twelfth place and it won't be long before Wicked passes Rent and The Lion King passes Cats. Since there's no expectation that any of the currently-running shows listed above will be closing soon, when Lion King takes third, the all-time top three longest-running shows will all be shows that are currently-running.
The amazing thing of course is the continuing streak of The Phantom of the Opera. It opened in January of 1988 and last week was still filling 90% of its seats. Chicago and the Lion King were playing to fuller houses than that so it's not impossible that someday when Phantom closes, one of them could still be running.
So let's say Phantom finally closes and Chicago doesn't. How much longer would Chicago have to run in order to capture the top slot? You can do the math on this, figuring eight performances a week. I did it once and I think it's something like nine years. My guess is that none of us will live to see that day.