New Phantom Will Remain a Phantom, At Least Until Next Spring

Fess up: Even if you haven’t seen the mega behemoth Broadway musical spectacle known as “Phantom of the Opera,” you can undoubtedly hum a note or two. Sadly, that’s all New Yorkers will be able to do for a while, at least in regards to the long anticipated Andrew Lloyd Webber sequel ”Love Never Dies.”
Although the London production of the sequel opened last month, the US version won't be coming to these shores in November, as originally planned. The musical’s producers now say that it will open in the spring of 2011 at the Neil Simon Theater in New York City.
Composer Andre Lloyd Webber is recovering from a battle with prostate cancer and won’t be up to the rigors of traveling this coming fall. Lloyd Webber is also the composer of “Evita,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Cats,” and “Starlight Express,” among other musicals.
The original “Phantom” opened in 1986, and is the longest-running snow in Broadway history.
The reviews for the London show were overwhelmingly, surprisingly positive.
The sequel picks up in 1907, 10 years after the original “Phantom” ended, with the Phantom now based (or rather, lurking) in New York’s Coney Island, and still pining for soprano Christine Daae. The soprano is invited to perform in Coney Island, and travels there with her husband and son. It will come as no surprise to fans that it was, of course, the Phantom who arranges for her appearance there.
Expect gothic gloom, dramatic revelations, violence, melodrama, and no conventional happy ending.
And somewhere, someone is humming “The Music of the Night…”

Jujamcyn Theaters Have New President

New York’s Jujamcyn Company, which owns and operates five Broadway theaters, has a new president. Broadway producer Jordan Roth is taking over as president of the theaters following the resignation of Rocco Landesman, who, after nearly 22 years in the job, will become chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts.
The 33-year-old Roth was formerly vice-president of the theater company, which, incidentally, was named for the three children of founder James Binger: Judith, James and Cynthia.
Roth helped bring the recent productions of “Spring Awakening" and “Hair” to the Broadway stage, as well as the not-so-successful Harvey Fierstein vehicle “A Catered Affair.” The Princeton-educated Roth clearly has great hopes for the company: he also purchased a share in it.
The theaters owned by the Jujamcyn Company currently house such shows as “Hair” (the Al Hirschfeld Theatre) and “Jersey Boys,” currently residing in the August Wilson Theatre.
In the upcoming season, revivals of "Finian's Rainbow” and Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” will be housed in Jujamcyn Theaters as well, as will the new musical “Fela,” a look at Nigerian Afrobeat star Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
Roth has said in interviews that he’s an admirer of the business strategy behind premium-priced tickets (read: higher-priced tickets) that are available to segments of the population willing to pay over-the-top prices; but he also claims that the company will continue to help theatergoers have easier access to tickets and information, as well as to have a top-of-the-line theater experience.
Theater is clearly in Roth’s DNA: His mother, Daryl Roth, produced six Pultizer-Prize winning plays.