Lloyd Webber plans ‘Phantom’ sequel

Twenty-two years after launching the music of the night, Andrew Lloyd Webber is preparing a sequel to “The Phantom of the Opera,” the musical that has amassed more than $5 billion at box offices around the world.

The composer tells the Times of London that he expects “Phantom: Love Never Dies” to premiere at the end of next year -- and not merely in one city but possibly three.

“I don’t think you could do this if it wasn’t the sequel to ‘Phantom’. . . ,” he told the British newspaper. “We’ve been into the feasibility of rehearsing three companies at once and opening very fast in the three territories” -- probably London, New York and an Asian city.

The sequel will be set at Coney Island in Brooklyn, about 10 years after the first one.