Phantom to haunt Coney Island in new musical

Last update: October 8, 2009 - 11:20 PM

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 announced Thursday a 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," Lloyd Weber 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 actress Sierra Boggess. The new musical will be called "Love Never Dies." It is due to open in London in March. It will be staged in New York beginning in November 2010. 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. Lloyd Weber 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," Lloyd Weber 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." ASSOCIATED PRESS

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