John Legend will produce a musical about “The Phantom of the Opera” set in present-day New Orleans.

Think about The Phantom of the Opera is equivalent to remembering the musical of Andrew Lloyd Webber, which was the longest running hit in the history of Broadway. The adaptations of the novel that Gaston Leroux published in 1910 was also one of the first successes of Universal, which in 1925 turned it into a silent film with the star of Lon chaney. Now the same studio announced a new adaptation.

The singer John legend will be in charge of production, along with Harvey Mason Jr Y Mike jackson, from a script by John fusco, also author of hits like Crossroads (Crossroads, 1986) e gentleman (2004). The new film will be a musical set in the present and in New Orleans, where Fusco was working with Kevin Costner Y Woody harrelson in the filming of Ambush final (The Highwaymen, 2019) when he conceived the idea. The name of the new production will be Phantom.

The story of the mysterious musician who hides his deformed face behind a mask, and who terrorizes the Paris Opera causing accidents and deaths, with a love story parallel to the Gothic plot, is now the main project of Get Lifted Film Co. , Legend and Jackson’s company, and will be executive produced by Ty stiklorius, part of the same team.

Get Lifted’s most recent works include documentaries The Legend of the Underground (Hbo), which premiered at the last Tribeca Film Festival, 40 Years a Prisoner (HBO) and A Crime on the Bayou (Hulu). The production company also made the award-winning docuseries Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children (HBO Max).

Mason, CEO of the organization behind the Grammy awards, Recording Academy, will bring his talents as a music producer that he has proven in films such as Sing, Sing 2, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Straight Outta Compton and the biopic of Aretha franklin, Respect.

“For a long time I have wanted to explore The Phantom of the Opera in a new, contemporary way, set in the French Quarter of New Orleans, ”Fusco told The Hollywood Reporter. “Not only is it known as America’s most haunted city, but its music, Creole culture, voodoo mystique, and Mardi Gras festivities inspire a natural adaptation of the original setting in Paris”.

Fusco was in New Orleans working on the Costner and Harrelson film when he began to frequent the musical environment of the city, the world of jazz, soul, funk. The particularities of the city seemed optimal for “a story that has revenge, unrequited love and mystery”, as he described The Phantom of the Opera.

In 2017 Universal announced that it would recreate its Dark Universe, its collection of classic monsters from literature that include Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Werewolf Y The monster of the Black Lagoon, in addition to the adaptation of the novel by Leroux. But with the public and critical failure of the first remake, The Mummy (The mummy), the project was frozen.

The realization of The Phantom of the Opera could indicate that the study is trying again, since at the same time a version of The werewolf with the actor Ryan gosling and the director Derek Cianfrance.

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