Phantom of the Opera 2: Ben Elton to write libretto

It is now known that Ben Elton is to write the Libretto for Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel, Phantom of the Opera 2.

It was earlier reported that Ben Elton, who worked with Lloyd Webber on the musical 'The Beautiful Game' had worked on the sequels book, but not to the satisfaction of the composer, who asked the author Frederick Forsythe to work with the musical's director O'Brien. Howver, Lloyd Webber has once again asked Elton to work on the project.

One of the reasons for the change may be because Lloyd Webber, who has never been completely satisfied with Elton's libretto for 'The Beautiful Game,' which is about football loving teenagers growing up in sectarian Northen Ireland, is also working with Elton to revise that musical. Since Lloyd Webber has himself been working on the book for Phantom of the Opera 2, this will allow him to develop his ideas for the libretto of both musicals, aided by Elton.

Ben Elton is a comedian, author, playwright and librettist. He has written the libretto's for "My Beautiful Game," "We Will Rock You" and "Tonight's the Night." His plays include "Gasping," "Silly Cow," "Popcorn" and "Blast from the Past". He is the author of 11 novels, his latest novel being "Blind Faith." He has written a number of piopular TV shows, the most popular being "Black Adder" which played on BBC, and starred Rowan Atkinson.

As previously reported Glenn Slater, lyricist for the Disney musical The Little Mermaid currently playing on Broadway, is to writing the lyrics for the musical, which will be directed by Jack O'Brien and designed by Bob Crowley.

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 is believed the sequel will be called'Phantom in Manhattan' and the book will be a re-working of the plot that Forsythe originally wrote a decade ago.

In an earlier report in London's Daily Mail, columnist Baz Bamigboye reported "From what I understand, the story would be set 15 years after the events of the first show, which is still running in London. The Phantom has slipped away to New York and has set up a fairground world on Coney Island, along with Madame Giry and her daughter, Meg. He organises a concert in Manhattan .

There are still no dates as to when the musical will be staged, though rumours suggest it will be in 2009.

Broadway's longest running musical, The Phantom of the Opera, turned 20 years old on 26 Jan 2008. The musical opened at the Majastic Theatre on 26 Jan 1988, and is currently booking to 13 Sep 2008.

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