With all the excitement (LOL excitement :lol: ) surrounding "The Phantom Of Manhattan" I thought I would start a topic about musical sequels. What do you think of them?

"Phantom" isn't the first to attempt this onstage. The first major musical sequel was "Bring Back Birdie" (don't quote me on that) which continued from "Bye Bye Birdie". It lasted 4 performances at the Martin Beck Theatre before vanishing completely. Then in 1989, "Annie II: Miss Hannigan's Revenge" premiered in Washington D.C. You can read details about the production at this link:

This fell apart and the show was revised as "Annie Warbucks" Off-Broadway at the Variety Arts Theatre, 1993. It, too, was a flop but you can purchase the cast album at this link:

"The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" was a hit musical that played from 1978-1982. It's still widely performed to this day (or so I'm told). In 1994, a sequel "The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public" lasted 12 performances on Broadway. It, too, was a stinker.

In 1998, Richard O'Brien announced he was writing a sequel to his "The Rocky Horror Show", an enormous cult success on stage / screen. This would be called "Rocky Horror: The Second Coming" following the resurrection of Frank and the search for the father of Janet's baby lol. This is based off a late 70s outline "Rocky Horror Shows His Heels", which O'Brien submitted to Fox for the original sequel. They turned it down and "Shock Treatment" was born. I love "Shock Treatment" btw.

O'Brien attempted another film sequel in 1989, "Revenge Of The Old Queen", following the wrath of Frank's mother on the moon drenched shores of Transexual Transylvania. LOL. It never happened. You can read the screenplay here

Steve Margoshes (famous orchestrator) composed "Fame: The Musical" in the 1990s. There are now plans to mount "Fame Forever" at the King's Theatre, Glasgow, this year. Will it succeed?

Of course, ALW first announced "The Phantom Of Manhattan" in 1998. Nearly 10 years later, he's back writing it and who KNOWS if it will fail. Based on this track record, he's in for the challenge of his career.

<_< Interesting...... As stated in another thread I enjoyed reading the "Phantom in Manhattan", and if done right, I think it would be good.

I didn't know there were attempts at sequels but apparently there has been from your post.

Usually the sequent in movies, etc aren't as good as the first one, however, in the movies most of enjoyable.

I think if Andrew Lloyd Webber works hard, thinks everything through, the sequel to "Phantom" would be great. Probably not as good the as original, but hopefully people will enjoy it. :D

Anything's possible, really. I will give anything a chance, or attempt to, so I'm keeping an open mind. I'm excited to see what comes from it. If it fails, it will probably consume Lloyd Webber's reputation. If it succeeds, well...

As for the sequels.

I've never seen "Bring Back Birdie", only heard the music, but from what I can gather it sounds like the same "Bye Bye Birdie" all over again. I think that in order for a sequel to work it has to break the mold. "Bring Back Birdie", from what I heard, failed to do this.

"Annie II: Miss Hannigan's Revenge". I always thought "Annie" onstage was much more than just a "Little Orphan Annie" comic. But a sequel about Miss Hannigan's Revenge? It sounds "comic". Read the outline in the link, it's a disaster.

I've heard "Annie Warbucks" and the music is nice but, apparently, no one wanted to see it. "The Best Whorehouse Goes Public" was a flop. "Rocky Horror" fans booed at the late-night premiere of "Shock Treatment". It's taken (nearly) 30 years for that film to be appreciated.

I didn't like "Fame", so I don't care about the sequel. But most of these shows (let's forget about the movies for now) failed because they repeated themselves.

A LOT of people don't like "The Phantom Of Manhattan", the book by Frederick Forsyth. I'm not a fan of it either but there's potential. It isn't taking place in Paris, the location has moved to early 1900s New York. NY is the home of American musical theatre, giving us Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II and more. It was these men who lead Andrew Lloyd Webber to pursue theatre. He did, composing his biggest hit "The Phantom Of The Opera". Opera was the rage of Paris, musical theatre was (and still is) the rage of New York.

I think the background ALONE for "The Phantom Of Manhattan" could be interesting. Picture the set of the carnivals, the early rides, the toystores, the hall of mirrors, the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan etc. Picture the costumes and how the cast will look. This is NO Parisian crowd, it's ethnic culture, immigrants from all over the world making a new start.

I think it's way more fascinating than another story in Paris. There's also that interesting parallel between Andrew & Sarah / Phantom & Christine. Phantom is a millionaire in the sequel, Christine is the greatest selling soprano. Andrew is a millionaire, LOL, and Sarah was (recently) voted greatest selling female opera artist. Andrew wrote "Phantom" for Sarah and made her into a star. "The Phantom Of Manhattan", like "Phantom", shows the continuation of this parallel. I admit, to an EXTENT.

The book is bad, it's like a rough draft to me. They need a strong writer to develop this. They need an influential writer, someone who knows the city, someone who's had a lot of experience in theatre, SOMEONE LIKE SONDHEIM. Is there anyone else? A playwright perhaps?

But if they get a strong script out of this, it could be sensational. Done right, I think it could break the sequel curse. So, yeah, I'm excited. I'm curious if it fails because it will be a MONUMENTAL FAILURE.

These things usually happen every 10/20 years.

But yeah, that's my 20 dollars worth (LOL 2 cents indeed :D )