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Phantom of the Opera Attendance
Andrew Lloyd Webber, playwright of “Phantom of the Opera”, “The Daily Telegraph” (June 27, 2009) (archived)
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 interested in the piece. He saw it several times and used to come backstage, often without the entourage that followed him around in later life.
The story got to him. I think he had a connection with the lonely, tortured musician. He found the idea of somebody working through music and having a girl as a muse very intriguing – and he loved that there was illusion in the show.
Michael became interested in playing The Phantom himself, in a movie version of the show. We talked about it a lot, but we'd only just opened and, at the time, I felt that it was too early for it to become a film. I felt his interest in Phantom was because he was interested in doing something theatrical himself.
He was a highly theatrical animal. I remember him saying to me that he'd seen Cats and how happy he was that dance was making a comeback in the theatre. He certainly talked about theatre a lot, and when he was last in London, he went to see Oliver!. Of course, he was a great showman himself, but he found the whole stagecraft of musicals extraordinary.
Rolling Stone: On the subject of big stars, there's a picture of Michael Jackson backstage at Starlight Express in the book, but there's no story about it. Did you meet him?
Webber: Yes. 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. 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. But we weren't ready to do a movie at that time.
RS: Did he want to be the Phantom?
Webber: Oh, yes. It would have been incredible, but we weren't ready. Phantom was only in its first year on Broadway.
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. He had a great love of that music. So I knew him a little bit, but I never saw him again.
Chris Cadman, author, “Michael Jackson the Maestro”
Michael had gone to see Phantom Of The Opera several times on Broadway. He spent a lot of time backstage, notably without his bodyguards, chatting to Lloyd Webber and the show’s star Michael Crawford. Michael felt he could identify with the character and thought it would have been the perfect vehicle to launch him on the big screen, having previously been well received by the critics in The Wiz.