Phantom sequel set for November 2009 opening

Published Friday 30 May 2008 at 15:30 by Alistair Smith

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to the Phantom of the Opera is being lined up to open in November of next year, the composer has revealed.

Lloyd Webber has also confirmed the working title of the show - Phantom: Once Upon Another Time.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of this weekend’s final of TV talent search I’d Do Anything, the producer and West End theatre owner said: “I have got my own new show coming on next year, which is my sequel to the Phantom of the Opera, which I think is going to be called Phantom: Once Upon Another Time. But that will come on in November next year, probably, if everything goes well.”

He also said that he didn’t know whether he would be able to fit in another BBC talent search - his fourth following How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do and I’d Do Anything - before then.

He added: “I’m going to have to see whether I can fit another series in and indeed whether I do one in America perhaps and give Britain a year off. I don’t know. It’s been very nice to have been asked, and asked again. I also have to remember that it’s no good thinking of these shows in isolation. There has to be a show at the end of it. We are different to other shows because there is a real prize of a real job in the West End. If we haven’t got a show, we don’t have a television show.”