It’s Official: ‘Phantom’ Isn’t a Neverending Story : Stage: The record-setting production will close Aug. 29 to make way for a long-delayed $13-million reconfiguration of the Ahmanson.

“The Phantom of the Opera” will close at the Ahmanson Theatre on Aug. 29, ending the West Coast’s most commercially successful theatrical presentation ever.

Despite continued high grosses, the show will close so Center Theatre Group officials can proceed with their long-delayed reconfiguration of the Ahmanson, said “Phantom” producer Cameron Mackintosh.

The $13-million reconfiguration will provide increased flexibility in seating capacity--varying from 1,250 to 2,000--in an attempt to make the hall more hospitable to spoken drama. But the project will keep the Ahmanson out of commission for at least a year.

Mackintosh added that he also wants his production “to go out with all guns blazing (at the box office) rather than trickling down.” There have been “a few dips” in business, he acknowledged, but last week’s reported box-office gross was $730,638 out of a potential $774,532--still a high figure for a show that’s been playing more than three years. Grosses are expected to increase for the rest of the run as word spreads of the show’s imminent departure.

The cumulative take from the Los Angeles box office was $132,509,621 as of Tuesday.

The L.A. engagement opened on May 31, 1989, with a record $15.3 million in advance sales. Subsequent feeding frenzies at the box office accompanied the announcements of the April 1990 departure of original star Michael Crawford, his return after Robert Guillaume did the role for seven months, and then Crawford’s second exit. At that point--in April 1991--the current Phantom, Davis Gaines, joined the cast; he will remain in the role until the show closes, after its 1,772nd performance here.

Following the production’s second birthday, Mackintosh and Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson producing director Gordon Davidson began discussing potential closing dates.

“From (Davidson’s) point of view,” said Mackintosh, the (Ahmanson) can’t be out of the Los Angeles theater loop indefinitely.”

As “the pressure was mounting,” said Mackintosh, “we felt that we couldn’t ignore our responsibility” to cooperate with the CTG plan, as Ahmanson officials had been “marvelous to us.” He said the negotiations were “entirely amicable.”

The decision to close the show was “100%” Mackintosh’s decision, said CTG president Lawrence Ramer.

“We didn’t try to influence them (Mackintosh and “Phantom” creator Andrew Lloyd Webber),” added Davidson. “But it’s helpful to be able to say to our subscribers (who have been re-routed to the Doolittle Theatre in Hollywood, while “Phantom” occupied the Ahmanson) that we’re coming back.” He has received letters from subscribers who prefer the Ahmanson to the Doolittle.

The CTG and Mackintosh plan to do business again--Mackintosh wants to bring his production of “Miss Saigon” to the Ahmanson following the renovation. However, he said it won’t arrive for “an open-ended run,” as did “Phantom.” “Saigon” will stop in Los Angeles as part of the touring production that opened in Chicago last fall, because it’s too expensive “for us to do a (‘Saigon’) just for L.A.” At the moment, the tour is booked in other cities through the autumn of 1994.

Mackintosh said he has not considered any other L.A. sites for “Miss Saigon,” but “if there is any delay in the refurbishing (of the Ahmanson), obviously I’d have to think of going to another theater,” because otherwise “Saigon” would arrive here “too late.”

Will there be such a delay? Financing plans for the renovation are being finalized, said Davidson, based on “a combination” of public and private funds. Details will be announced shortly, he said. The project will lower the ceiling, move the stage closer to the audience, construct boxes on both sides of the hall and add electronic walls that can change the seating capacity with a flick of a switch.

At least some of the $13-million cost of the project is expected to come from proceeds from “The Phantom” itself. The “Phantom” company has subleased the theater from the CTG during its stay. The Times reported last May that CTG received an average of $38,000 a week from the arrangement, and CTG managing director Charles Dillingham said the organization’s reserve funds had grown $7.6 million from “Phantom” revenues. CTG has committed $2 million of the reserve fund to the reconfiguration.

So the CTG will gain time and space but lose steady money after Aug. 29. “All good things must come to an end,” remarked CTG president Ramer.

Meanwhile, Mackintosh said “Phantom” will surely return to Los Angeles some day, in some form, but probably not to the Ahmanson. Nothing special has yet been planned for the final performance at the Ahmanson, “but I’m sure masks will be strewn on the streets.”