This will mark Stengel's Broadway debut, after playing the role over 4,500 times in several productions, playing across the U.S., Canada and Asia. Her first experience with the show was on the Canadian national tour, which she joined in 1994. That production took her across Canada, to Alaska and Hawaii and became the musical's first Asian Tour — going to Singapore and Hong Kong in 1995.

She joined the Toronto company in October 1995, playing the role for four years (including with Kiss rocker Paul Stanley in the title role). She joined the U.S. national tour in July 2002 and has played the role for nearly six years, up until earlier this month.

Stengel is the 12th actress to be cast in the role on Broadway, and replaces another history-maker, Patricia Phillips, who was the first person of African-American descent to play the role in the New York production. Phillips will play her final performance Saturday evening, March 22, and return May 19. Stengel's two-month stay with the Broadway cast will run through May 17.

Rebecca Judd, who originated the role of Madame Giry when the third national tour premiered in December 1992, assumed the role in New York on Feb. 20. She also played the role in the San Francisco company and previously played it on Broadway last summer (from June 25-July 28, 2007), filling in for longtime Broadway Madame Giry Marilyn Caskey, while she played the role of Electra in the City Center production of Gypsy. Judd's return to the Broadway cast again enables Caskey to play in Gypsy, this time as a Broadway revival across the street from The Majestic Theatre at The St. James. Caskey will return to the New York company at a later date to be determined.

Texas native Stengel's credits include London productions of The Gondoliers and Princess Ida. In New York she's appeared in productions of Carousel, Kismet, The Most Happy Fella, The New Moon, The Creation, Mass in C, War Requiem and Carmen. Nationally, she's been seen in The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, Camelot, The Music Man, Uncle Vanya, Agnes of God, Pygmalion, Death of a Salesman and The Elephant Man. Judd's other Broadway credits include the role of Claire in The Secret Garden and Sweeney Todd, where she was a standby for Mrs. Lovett. Internationally, she toured as Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls and Rizzo in Grease.

Also starrring in the Harold Prince-directed Broadway production are Howard McGillin (The Phantom), Jennifer Hope Wills (Christine), Tim Martin Gleason (Raoul), George Lee Andrews (Monsieur André), David Cryer (Monsieur Firmin), Rebecca Judd (Madame Giry), David Gaschen (Piangi), Heather McFadden (Meg Giry) and Elizabeth Loyacano (Christine at certain performances).

The performance schedule for The Phantom of the Opera is Monday evenings at 8 PM, Tuesday evenings at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 PM.

Ticket prices range from $26.50-$111.50. To order tickets visit telecharge.com or call (212) 239-6200.

For more information, visit www.thephantomoftheopera.com.