THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Will Launch New Tour in November

Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group announced today that their new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA will launch a North American tour beginning this November in Providence, R.I at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

With "newly reinvented staging and stunning scenic design," this new version of PHANTOM, the most successful musical of all-time, will play more than 20 multi-week engagements through next year, including Cincinnati, OH and Minneapolis, MN. A complete tour schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.

First unveiled in March, 2012 in Plymouth, England, this reinvented PHANTOM has been an enormous box-office and critical hit throughout the U.K.

Andrew Lloyd Webber said, "It's wonderful to have a new production of PHANTOM touring America in the same year that the show celebrates 25 years on Broadway. Director Laurence Connor has done an amazing job and this production has received huge critical acclaim in the UK."

Cameron Mackintosh said, 'After a glorious celebration last month of 25 phenomenal years on Broadway with no end in sight, I'm delighted to be able to bring this dazzling new production of PHANTOM -- which has been phenomenally well-received by both audiences and critics in the U.K this past year -- to America. With an exciting new design and staging, retaining Maria Björnson's amazing costumes, I am confident American audiences will fall in love with the PHANTOM in his new guise -- for the first time or all over again."

This new production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is directed by Laurence Connor (the 25th Anniversary LES MISERABLES now on tour and headed for Broadway, Jesus Christ Superstar) with choreography by Scott Ambler, set design by Paul Brown, Tony Award-winning original costume design by Maria Björnson, lighting design by Paule Constable, sound design by Mick Potter and musical supervision by John Rigby. The production is overseen by Matthew Bourne and Cameron Mackintosh. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber; lyrics are by Charles Hart (with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe) and the book is by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Orchestrations are by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA continues its record-breaking runs in London and on Broadway. There are currently five productions around the world: the flagship London production (26 Years and counting), New York (25 years and counting - PHANTOM celebrated its 25th Anniversary on Broadway on January 26 of this year), Budapest (Hungary), Kyoto (Japan), and Seoul (Korea).

Since its debut, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has grossed over $890 million on Broadway. Even now, it is consistently among Broadway's highest-grossing shows and remains a box office champ. Earlier this year, the production shattered the house record at The Majestic by having its best weekly gross in its entire 25-year history. Total attendance is now over 15 million and it continues to play with no end in sight.

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