John Legend Producing Phantom of the Opera Movie Musical Set in Modern-Day New Orleans: Reports
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The Phantom is back!
John Legend will take his talents to the movies with a modern reimagining of the classic musical The Phantom of the Opera, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.
Legend, 42, will be working alongside Grammy-nominated producer Harvey Mason Jr. as a producer. His co-producers are Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius, the outlet reported.
The upcoming movie musical will take place in New Orleans as written in a spec script by John Fusco (Young Guns, The Highwaymen).
While The Phantom of the Opera has long roots in the musical theatre community, the story itself began as the 1910 French novel by Gaston Leroux about a masked murderer who lives within the confines of a Parisian opera house only to tragically fall in love with a gifted understudy.
Terry O'Neill/Iconic Images/Getty Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera
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The story was later adapted into the 1986 musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is the longest-running show in Broadway history. A film adaptation of the musical was released in 2004 starring Gerard Butler as the Phantom and Emmy Rossum as the understudy, Christine.
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"I have long wanted to explore The Phantom of the Opera in a contemporary and new way and in a French Quarter setting," Fusco said in a statement obtained by THR.
Additionally, Fusco told Deadline, "This is set it in the sultry nightlife scene of modern day New Orleans, the world of jazz, R&B, neo-Soul and funk. The French Quarter, where New Orleans is not only known as America's most haunted city, but the music, French Creole culture, the voodoo mystique, masquerade pageantry of Mardi Gras, just lent itself to a natural adaptation of the Paris setting, and a story that has revenge, unrequited love and mystery."
