The Phantom Of The Opera Sequel Originally Scheduled To Open On Broadway In November, Is Now Postponed Until Next Spring Due To Health Concerns


"Phantom Of The Opera" Broadway Sequel Postponed Until 2011

Phantom of the Opera

Fess up: Even if you haven’t seen the mega-behemoth Broadway musical spectacle known as “Phantom of the Opera,” you can undoubtedly hum a note or two. Sadly, that’s all New Yorkers will be able to do for a while, at least in regards to the long-anticipated Andrew Lloyd Webber sequel ”Love Never Dies.”

Although the London production of the sequel opened last month, the US version won't be coming to these shores in November, as originally planned. The musical’s producers now say that it will open in the spring of 2011 at the Neil Simon Theater in New York City. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is recovering from a battle with prostate cancer and won’t be up to the rigors of traveling this coming fall.

Sequel To The Longest-Running Show In Broadway History

Lloyd Webber is also the composer of “Evita,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Cats,” and “Starlight Express,” among other musicals. The original “Phantom” opened in 1986, and is the longest-running show in Broadway history. The reviews for the London show were overwhelmingly, surprisingly positive. The sequel picks up in 1907, 10 years after the original “Phantom” ended, with the Phantom now based (or rather, lurking) in New York’s Coney Island, and still pining for soprano Christine Daae.

The soprano is invited to perform in Coney Island, and travels there with her husband and son. It will come as no surprise to fans that it was, of course, the Phantom who arranged for her appearance there. Expect gothic gloom, dramatic revelations, violence, melodrama, and no conventional happy ending. And somewhere, someone is humming “The Music of the Night…”