The Phantom of the Opera Strikes Back - sequel in development? — Page 2

"sequels in any art form are generally sub-par"

May I please cite yet AGAIN Beaumarchais' immortal trilogy and Shakespeare's return of Falstaff.

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ONE isn't Enough?

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Yeah, but I don't see Evil Dead 2 as a true sequel because it re-writes the plot of the original, which is kinda cheating, don't you think?

But I do think that Last Crusade is pretty awesome....almost better than Raiders, and certainly better than Temple of Doom, but boy would I like to see Temple of Doom made into a musical!

Just to hear the showstopper 'No time for love, Dr. Jones'
as written by the Ave Q guys.

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fair enough. Even the third beaumarchais plays strikes on as at the very least a downer, since it's a drama and the other two are very funny comedies.

But I would be really interested to see what he does with this, if only to see him at the height of his cirtuosic powers. Whatever it is has to be more lush, more fantastic, more sweepingly grand than the original, and as much as Im jaded with it now, just as I was a few weeks after I saw it a few weeks after it opened in New York in the late 80s, I still feel it's a big big show and very elegant in its way, and has obviously earned itself a place in musical theater history.

Just as a fantasy, imagine how good it could be! some of my favorite parts of the score to Phantom are its non hit parts: Notes, Twisted Every Way, the stuff with Joseph Buquet, Giry's music, his music for the operas within the operas, the Little Lotte music, Stranger than you Dreamt it, and even Past the Point of No Return. I'd love to see more of that kind of thing from him.

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Only the beginning of ED2 is a remake of the first one; from That Shot onwards, it's a bona-fide sequel.

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A big Broadway stage sequel, even if well done, with allways fail, IMO. Unlike a movie, you can't just go back and see the original if you haven't, which is the biggest drawback. It just doesn't make sense. People who haven't seen it will have no interest and many of those who have won't be interested. And theatergoers are too snooty and pretentious to think a SEQUEL would be worth their time.

Just as a fantasy, imagine how good it could be! some of my favorite parts of the score to Phantom are its non hit parts: Notes, Twisted Every Way, the stuff with Joseph Buquet, Giry's music, his music for the operas within the operas, the Little Lotte music, Stranger than you Dreamt it, and even Past the Point of No Return. I'd love to see more of that kind of thing from him.

Yeah...if there's any reason at all in my mind why I'd like to see a Phantom sequel, it would be to see ALW revisit and expand on that music you mentioned. The thought of a really dark, really operatic piece using some of the beautiful, lesser-known themes from Phantom is exciting to me. It's unlikely, though, that ALW would do that were he going to go through with a sequel--though I think he can be brilliant, he has a weakness for inserting big, generic "hit songs" into shows that make everyone forget his smarter, more successfully written musical scenes.

Still, though, his 2005 "Phantasia" suite offered a glimmer of hope...I thought his re-imagining of Phantom as a duet between violin and cello was fascinating and effective. I have to admit, it did sometimes sound like another Andrew Lloyd Webber "hit parade" (some of the title theme appearances, though fantastic in the show, felt inappropriate in a straight-up classical piece)...but he did play more with those darker "non hit" themes you mentioned, and did it very well I thought.

I've often wished that someone--hopefully the man himself--would write a complete version of Don Juan Triumphant based on Lloyd Webber's original music. It could be a terrific piece, whether or not it was written as a real opera meant to be produced. Since there is not yet an actual story to Don Juan Triumphant, it could even be written to vaguely mirror the story of the Phantom himself...almost becoming a prequel "by proxy". (I believe Leroux himself even suggests that the Phantom writes Don Juan Triumphant as an expression of his own belief in love triumphing over stuff like...a nasty facial disfigurement.) Could be a real interesting turn for Lloyd Webber, should he ever undertake something like that.

(It is obvious that I've thought about this numerous times?)

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nope, nope, nope. bad idea.

definitely not a winner. come up with something original andy buddy. and give lerner and lowe their music back!

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The only good musical sequel I can think of is Falsettoland which is a sequel to March of the Falsettos. Actually, come to think of it, that was a sequel to In Trousers - so they both could count as very good sequels.
Hopefully the sequel to Phantom will stay unwritten, one is bad enough.

"the contreversial subject was partially responsible for it not performing well."

Hardly. It's actually a pretty interesting plot, the musical just doesn't tell it well. Steinman's lyrics are pretty much laughable (and if Whistle wasn't enough proof, look up the demos to Batman to see why the man should pretty much never attempt writing ever again) and everything is structured odd. I saw it early in it's run in the West End and it seemed to be much more about a two story hydrolic set and a train that comes on stage than telling the story.

Even though I love TPOTO, I'm strongly opposed to the idea of a sequel. The ending of the musical is so perfectly tragic & a great way to end the story. Trying to continue from there would be completely unneccesary, IMO. Just leave this classic be, Lord Webber!

I saw Whistle in London and I really wanted to like it, but it didnt have a lot of drama going for it the way they told it. The good characters and bad alike were pretty two dimensional.

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