Haunting the metropolis once again

Forty years after The Phantom of the Opera first raised its chandelier in London, Andrew Lloyd Webber has come to Shanghai to bid farewell — and announce a return to the city.

The 78-year-old composer arrived in the city for the musical's 40th-anniversary farewell season, which opened at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on Sept 29 and will stage 104 performances until Dec 27, its longest single-city run ever on the Chinese mainland.

The production stars Ramin Karimloo, the internationally acclaimed musical theater star whose portrayal in the show's 25th-anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall has become a benchmark for fans worldwide of the Phantom. Rising American actress Bebe Moss plays Christine Daae and British actor Ralph Watts plays Raoul, her fiance.

Produced by Shanghai Media Group and its performing arts arm, SMG Live, as part of this year's "See You In Shanghai" campaign, and operated by the Shanghai Musical Art Center, the 104 performances are expected to draw more than 150,000 theatergoers, nearly 40 percent from outside the city.

During his visit, Lloyd Webber also made an announcement, delivered in character: the Phantom, he says, is already in Shanghai.

"I know that the Phantom has been here in Shanghai, because a note was left for me yesterday in his long copperplate writing, saying that he had found a space for his Masquerade to be presented here, and that he wished me to inform the people of Shanghai that you will be instructed to come to his show when it opens — in about 18 months," Lloyd Webber told the media on Sept 28.

Masquerade is an immersive-theater reimagining of Phantom, now running in New York. Ma Chencheng, president of SMG Live, confirms the project is landing in Huangpu district, though the venue has yet to be announced.

Those who have seen the New York version will know that a single performance may feature more than one Phantom and more than one Christine, roughly doubling the production workload. "For audiences, it's a treat — you'd probably need to see it five, six, seven, or eight times to take in the whole work," Ma tells China Daily, describing the challenges of producing Masquerade.

SMG Live brings a decade of relevant experience: its immersive hit Sleep No More Shanghai ran for 2,670 performances over 10 years before closing this summer. "We will push everything we learned over those 10 years to the limit on this production," Ma says.

One of the most iconic musicals in live entertainment, The Phantom of the Opera has toured 229 cities worldwide and been seen by 160 million people. In China, "for many people, it was their first experience with the musical", Ma says. Today, he adds, Shanghai has become by far one of the best musical markets in the country.

The show made its Chinese mainland debut in 2004-05 season, with 100 performances at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Lloyd Webber made his first visit to Shanghai around that time. Since then, his shows — Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and School of Rock — have toured the country, and Lloyd Webber has witnessed the dramatic development of China's musical industry.

"Everything I read and see suggests there is a very exciting new batch of young writers and new shows here — shows that have originated in Shanghai and in China," he says.

He also wishes to return when he is not bringing his own production, to hear local work: "I really want to know what's happening. From what I can see, it's very, very exciting."

Globally, "I think the big change is that people now really want to embrace live theater", Lloyd Webber says. He adds that a young audience really wants to discover theater.

Pop spectacles are absorbing theater rather than the reverse — Lady Gaga's recent tour, he notes, was "almost based on The Phantom of the Opera", with the star arriving on a boat inside an opera house.

Meanwhile, it has become very expensive to produce shows on Broadway, "so not a lot of original new work is happening in the way it was when I started 50 years ago. I find that to be a shame", he says.

To aspiring musical creators in China, Lloyd Webber suggests: "Get your work performed somewhere, somehow. It doesn't have to be in the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Just get it performed, because everybody is looking for the next big thing, and it will get discovered."

His first show was staged at a school. "It happened to capture the attention of a critic who wrote about it, and that set my partner and me in those days, Tim Rice, on our career (path). It couldn't have been further away from a great big show in a great big theater."

His second example is Six, which had 64 performances in Shanghai last year. "It started as a small piece in a university, then went to the Edinburgh Festival. I'm sure when they started, they never thought Six would play in China."