Nations Of Magic

 

#OnThisDay March 26, 1988. #MichaelJackson attended along with Liza Minelli the musical show "Phantom of the Opera" in New York. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber, an English composer and impresario of musical theatre who have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway premiered The Phantom of the Opera at Majesty's Theatre in the West End in 1986, inspired by the 1911 Gaston Leroux novel. He wrote the part of Christine for his then-wife, Sarah Brightman, who played the role in the original London and Broadway productions alongside Michael Crawford as the Phantom.

" I first met Michael when he came to see Phantom Of The Opera in New York when we'd just opened in 1988. he was clearly interestedin the piece. He saw it several times ans used to come backstage, often without the entourage that followed him around in later life." stated Lloyd Webber.

Also according to Lloyd Webber, Michael Jackson was a fan of Phantom and expressed interest in getting involved with a filmed version of the show, perhaps attached to the title role: “It would have been incredible, but we weren't ready,” Lloyd Webber says in the interview. “Phantom was only in its first year on Broadway.”

Many famous theater actors like Ramin Karimloo and Michael Crawford have played the Phantom of the Opera on the stage. On the other hand, relatively few top 40 artists performed the role. Despite this, Lloyd Webber told Rolling Stone the King of Pop wanted to play Erik in the film adaptation of the musical.

“My book finishes with the opening of Phantom of the Opera, but Michael was very keen to be involved in a movie version of Phantom of the Opera,” Lloyd Webber recalled. “At the time, the show had just gone to Broadway, and he must have seen it three or four times at least. I was with him a couple of times.”

Lloyd Webber felt Jackson would have been great in the role. “It would have been incredible, but we weren’t ready,” he said. Lloyd Webber specified that he and his team weren’t ready to bring The Phantom of the Opera to the silver screen. “Phantom was only in its first year on Broadway,” he noted.

Lloyd Webber said he became acquainted with Michael Jackson because they enjoyed music by the same singer. “But I knew him a little bit later, because he shared my love of A.R. Rahman’s music, and we found ourselves some very obscure part of Long Island listening to a Bollywood concert where A.R. was playing,” Lloyd Webber remembered. “He had a great love of that music. So I knew him a little bit, but I never saw him again.”