STAGE

Across the Irish Sea, in London, a fire in the basement of Her Majesty’s Theatre halted a sellout performance last week of the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Phantom of the Opera” and forced the evacuation of 1,500 theatergoers. No one was injured. The London Fire Brigade said the fire apparently started in a pile of trash in the basement and may have been caused by a discarded cigarette. Michael Crawford, who plays the Phantom, left the theater still wearing his costume and mask. “When I came out into the street dressed in my costume, people were taken a little aback,” he said.