Van Outen Hints at Phantom & More School Musicals???

Denise Van Outen is reportedly in talks to star as Christine in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, which is tipped for a premiere towards the end of 2009 (See The Goss, 9 Jun 2008). An “inside source” told the London Lite newspaper that Van Outen – who has worked with Lloyd Webber on projects including Tell Me on a Sunday in 2003 and the TV casting programmes Any Dream Will Do and I’d Do Anything – sees the role as the “chance of a lifetime”.*

The project, which has the working title Phantom: Once Upon Another Time, has long been in the pipeline with a creative team led by Ben Elton (book), Glenn Slater (lyrics), Jack O’Brien (director) and Bob Crowley (designer) (See The Goss, 11 Apr 2008). Names that have been bandied about for the title role have included Van Outen’s fellow TV judge John Barrowman and X-Factor runner-up Rhydian Jones.

Van Outen and boyfriend Lee Mead, who she met while presenting Lloyd Webber’s casting show Any Dream Will Do, were spotted on Sunday night at the West End’s Lyric theatre, attending filming the grand finale of Sky One’s Hairspray: The School Musical series, which she is presenting (See News, 29 Aug 2008). While there, Van Outen hinted that it could be the first of many series using the School Musical formula, in which an ordinary high school are tasked with performing on a West End stage. She told the Guardian: “Hopefully if Hairspray goes well, we’ll be able to do this again … it would be great if Andrew were to let us do Joseph”.

NOTE: A spokesperson for Lloyd Webber has told Whatsonstage.com that Van Outen is in fact not in talks for a role in the Phantom sequel. Too bad for any Denise fans!