Love Never Dies Announced Worldwide on 7 May???

Set your stopwatches, musical fans. Word is that Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s eagerly awaited sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, will be officially announced in just over three weeks – on Thursday 7 May 2009, shortly after which tickets will go on sale. And, according to the Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye, the global launch plan may be even bigger than previously anticipated (See News, 27 Mar 2009) – with four rather than three casts being readied for near-simultaneous openings in London (where it’s expected to start performances at the West End’s Adelphi Theatre in October), Toronto and Shanghai as well as on Broadway. Earlier speculation was that there would be just one North American launch production, opening first in Toronto before transferring to New York.

Love Never Dies is set ten years after the conclusion of the original story. The Phantom has escaped to New York with Madame and Meg Giry and found success in Coney Island as a magician and entertainer. When he builds a new opera house, he persuades his old ingenue Christine Daae, now a huge star and married to her old flame Raoul, to sing for him once more…

The parts of the Phantom and Christine have been developed in extensive workshops by Ramin Karimloo, currently playing the title role in the original production of The Phantom of the Opera at the West End’s Her Majesty’s Theatre, and American actress Sierra Boggess. Love Never Dies has a book by Ben Elton and lyrics by Glenn Slater. It’s directed by Jack O’Brien and designed by Bob Crowley.