Andrew Lloyd Webber teases a bigger and better return of Phantom
Posted on 17 August 2020
The creator of Cats and the upcoming new Cinderella musical has teased the West End return of The Phantom of the Opera. This comes after it was announced the show would be permanently closed indefinitely before eventually being uncancelled and later confirmed to return as soon as possible in its "original version."
ALW: "Phantom will be back up there and even better"
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has declared that "Phantom will be back up there and even better than before. We're going to have the original production and it will be fantastic."
ALW has notably been working overtime during the pandemic to bring theatre performances back with social distancing and was even among the first volunteers to take part in Oxford's new COVID vaccine trial.
Will The Phantom of the Opera return in 2021?
There's no doubt Phantom will grace the boards again soon, but whether it will do so next year remains to be seen and is largely dependent on how quickly the theatre can be renovated.
One thing's for certain, producers of the musical have stated that Her Majesty's Theatre will see "a brand-new physical production" of the original design. This means the work of Maria Bjornson, Hal Prince, and Gillian Lynne will all be honoured and presented once Phantom returns to London's West End following the venue's urgent repairs: a much-needed project given the fact that many of Her Majesty's infrastructure and sets have not been refurbished in decades.
To provide further evidence of the venue owners' commitment to reviving The Phantom of the Opera from the dead, a new 50-year lease extension has been signed and Loyd Webber Theatres have also claimed that they will "do everything in their power to re-launch, better than ever, once the work is completed."
Now, all we have to do is sit and wait.
By Nicholas Ephram Ryan Daniels
Ephram is a jack of all trades and enjoys attending theatre, classical music concerts and the opera.