Andrew Lloyd Webber has announced on his personal blog that he is "considering writing a sequel" to his 20-year-old musical Phantom of the Opera.
The original opened at Her Majesty's Theatre on October 9 1986 with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the leading roles and has since spawned more than 20 productions worldwide. The show holds the record for the longest-running Broadway production and must therefore be counted amongst the most successful entertainment ventures of all time.
We're all painfully familiar with the film sequels that are speedily churned out after one success at the box office, but I think I am right in saying that until now our London stages have remained untainted by the fad.
Even shows with existing film sequels tend to avoid repeating the venture in the theatre. Grease is a guaranteed success on the stage, but I don't imagine the West End is considering bringing the screen version of Grease 2 to life anytime soon. Although I do quite like the thought of watching a live rendition of Cool Rider.
But if it goes ahead, Phantom II would not be the first sequel to a stage sensation. The portents, however, are not good. The original Broadway production of Annie opened in 1977 and ran for 2,377 performances. Similar success followed shortly afterwards in the West End. But all those bums on seats were not enough to get a 1989 sequel, entitled Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge, past first base. It opened to disastrous reviews and despite extensive reworking of the script and score was aborted before reaching Broadway.
In 1993, a second attempt with a completely different plot and score, entitled Annie Warbucks, opened off-Broadway. But it did little better, only making it to 200 performances.
Lloyd Webber's track record for knowing what the public want should not be underestimated, however. We may yet be surprised. So what's the verdict - will he be able to pull off a sequel to the Phantom of the Opera on stage?
