ABC Developing Musical Drama Based on THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Original Novel; FIRST DATE Scribes to Pen Script

The Phantom could soon be heading to the small screen.

According to Variety, ABC and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES' Marc Cherry are reuniting to develop a television adaptation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. The project however, will not be based upon Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical, but instead, Cherry and ABC are turning to Gaston Leroux's original 1909 novel.

Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, who most recently penned the Broadway musical FIRST DATE, will take on the script and executive produce alongside Cherry.

The modern take on the material will center "around the cutthroat world of the music biz and will incorporate musical moments into story lines in the same vein as the ABC drama 'Nashville.'"

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA tells the story of a masked figure who lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House, exercising a reign of terror over all who inhabit it. He falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine, and devotes himself to creating a new star by nurturing her extraordinary talents and by employing all of the devious methods at his command.