Metro

‘Opera’ sequel to be set in Coney Island

LONDON — The Phantom of the Opera is coming back — but this time, he’ll be haunting the amusement park at New York’s Coney Island.

Star composer Andrew Lloyd Webber on Thursday announced a long-awaited sequel to his massively successful “The Phantom of the Opera,” one of the world’s best loved and longest running musicals.

“There’s unfinished business,” Webber told journalists assembled for a teaser — a new song featuring the titular Phantom, played by Ramin Karimloo, and his love interest Christine, played by American Sierra Boggess.

“I don’t regard this as a sequel; it’s a standalone piece,” Webber said.

The new production will be called “Love Never Dies.” It is due to open in London in March. The musical also will be staged in New York beginning November 2010 and will open in Australia in 2011.

The musical picks up a decade after the original’s conclusion, and has the Phantom trading his customary hideout beneath the Paris opera house for Coney Island, the iconic Brooklyn amusement park known for its roller coasters and “Nathan’s Famous” hot dogs.

Webber said he wanted to produce a sequel because the original’s ending, which sees Christine leave the brooding Phantom for his rival Raoul, was unsatisfactory.

“Christine goes off with this boring guy, the Phantom disappears,” Webber said. He said he wanted to set the piece at Coney Island because, at its turn-of-the-century heyday, it was “the eighth wonder of the world.”

Webber sketched out a broad outline of the plot, saying that the Phantom made his way to Coney Island after loosing Christine. The Phantom rises from one of the attractions at a freak show to control the entire complex, without ever losing his love for Christine.

Other characters from the original also reprise their roles.

The original hit musical, a longtime fixture on the London and New York stages, featured elaborate staging and songs such as “The Music of the Night,” and “All I Ask of You.”

Based on the eponymous French novel by Gaston Leroux, the play is the longest-running show on Broadway, beating Webber’s other masterpiece, “Cats,” in 2006, and reaching an unprecedented 9,000 performances on the night of Sept. 17. Producers say it has been seen by more than 100 million people worldwide and has been translated into 15 languages and staged in 25 countries, including Brazil, China and Poland.

The album of the show has sold more than 40 million copies.

But musical sequels on Broadway have tended to flop.

“Annie,” which opened in 1977, was one of Broadway’s biggest hits, but “Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge” closed during its 1989 out of town tryout in Washington. The sequel to “Bye Bye Birdie,” a Tony-winning hit in 1960, died on Broadway in 1981 after only four performances.

But Webber said he was satisfied with the story, and steered clear of trying predict the sequel’s success.

“I’m very happy with the piece and that’s enough for me,” he said.

Tickets for the London shows at the Adelphi Theatre were placed on sale Thursday, and fans also were told they could pre-order the album of the show’s tunes.