Phantom of the Opera - 2: Andrew Lloyd Webber will do a sequel

Musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber announced on his website on the 9 Mar 2007 that he had made a decision that day to write a sequel to his opera Phantom of the Opera. In a video message he said "I�ve made a decision today that I will do The Phantom of the Opera sequel.

Work on a sequel began almost a decade ago when the author Frederick Forsyth was asked to write a sequel to the story in the original Phantom of the Opera. In 1998, at a concert held at London's Royal Albert Hall to celebrate his 50th birthday, Lloyd Webber revealed the song "The Heart Is Slow to Learn," performed by opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa, written for the sequel.

The composer dropped the idea of a Phantom of the Opera sequal in 1999 to work on his musical 'The Beautiful Game'. Author Frederick Forsythe then published, in 1999, the story he had written for the musical as a novel named 'The Phantom of Manhattan.'

It had been rumoured that Lloyd Webber was once again considering writing the sequal to Phantom of the Opera, but his decision to go ahead was influenced by others, in the video announcement he says "I have met with a couple of people today who have persuaded me to do it, who I will not reveal."

It is not known if Forsyth's novel will provide the plot for the musical sequal, but Lloyd Wbber did say in the video announcement, "I can reveal that it will be set in New York."

Broadway's longest running musical, The Phantom of the Opera, turned 19 years old on 26 Jan 2007 and on that date will have played 7,923 performances. The musical opened at the Majastic Theatre on 26 Jan 1988, it is currently booking to 21 Jul 2007.

The musical became the longest running musical in Broadway history when it played its 7486 on the 9 Jan 2006, on the 21 Jan 2006 it became the only Broadway musical to play more then 7,500 performances.