Ben Elton To Team Up With Lloyd Webber On Phantom Sequel

 According to The Stage News, writer Ben Elton will be teaming up with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the upcoming sequel to Phantom of the Opera. Elton teamed up with Webber in 2000 to write the book and lyrics for The Beautiful Game. He has recently worked as book writer for the musicals We Will Rock You and Tonight's The Night.

For this upcoming sequel Ben Elton will write the book alone. Glen Slater (lyricist, The Little Mermaid) will write the lyrics and Andrew Lloyd Webber will be writing the music. Jack O'Brien (Hairspray) will direct. A spokesperson confirmed this, stating, "Yes, Ben Elton is the book writer. He has done the synopsis for the story. However, Glen Slater will be writing the lyrics."

Andrew Lloyd Webber's original The Phantom of the Opera, was directed by theater legend Harold Prince and produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Company, Inc., is the most successful stage musical of all time, with worldwide ticket sales exceeding $3.2 billion (far surpassing the highest-grossing film of all time, Titanic, which has grossed $1.2 billion worldwide).  Phantom is also the longest-running show in Broadway history.  On January 9, 2006, it played performance #7,486, surpassing the then-record run of Cats.  It has since surpassed that milestone by over two years.

The winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the New York production has been seen by over 12.5 million people and grossed over $675 million.  On April 4, 2007, it became the first show in Broadway history to reach 8,000 performances (it has since played over 8,300), and earlier this year, on January 26, 2008, it became the first show in Broadway history to celebrate 20 years.

Dates for the sequel have yet to be announced.