Imports.

Musicals dominated Broadway in the 1990s as long-running British imports continued to draw audiences. In 1997 Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, which opened in 1982 and finally closed in 2000, became the longest running production in Broadway history, breaking the record set by A Chorus Line. Webber's Phantom of the Opera, which opened in 1988, continued to draw full houses, while his Les Miserables, which opened in 1987, closed down for a short time in 1997 for retuning and then reopened. Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's Miss Saigon opened in 1991 and was still running in 2000. These imports were all guided by the British whiz-kid producer Cameron Macintosh.

Touring Companies.

Musicals that became established as important Broadway "brand names" then toured nationwide. At one time in the 1990s there were at least three national companies of Cats, Les Miserables, and Phantom of the Opera. While Phantom of the Opera, for...