Just when we thought it was safe to enter the Palais Garnier, our old masked friend returns. After nearly 14,000 performances and just two years since its Broadway closing, a new iteration of The Phantom of the Opera returns. But this won’t be your classic Michael Crawford-Sarah Brightman variety.
According to Page Six, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 80s mega-musical will return with a makeover, taking over the former Lee’s Art Shop on West 57th Street in Manhattan. The building has its own storied past. The building, designed by architect Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz in the French Renaissance Revival, opened in 1897 as a gathering spot for the American Society of Civil Engineers, so it’s got the bones (perhaps literally) for Webber’s grand musicalization of Gaston Leroux’s novel.
The teaser promises an “immersive” production, which seems on trend for Webber’s canon, which includes current revivals of Starlight Express with its cast zipping around in rollerskates circa 1987, and the video-heavy Sunset Boulevard, featuring its leading man traipsing through Times Square followed by a camera crew. We’re also waiting with bated cat breath for a possible transfer of last season’s Cats: “The Jellicle Ball,” which wowed audiences Off-Broadway with its ballroom retelling of T.S. Eliot’s feline poetry collection.
As for Phantom 2.0, a cryptic website has launched to gather emails (why didn’t we think of that?) and an Instagram account teasing what may come, including one photo that has us wondering producers are courting Orville Peck for the title role.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has reportedly been lurking around, but his team released a statement, saying, “All I ask of you is that you keep your distance and forget about this strange affair. For now.”
Don’t have to ask us twice. But we’ve got our eyes on you, ALW.
