The spirit of romance

Sequel to The Phantom of the Opera will see audiences once again thrilled by a haunting love story, Zhang Kun reports in Shanghai.

Love Never Dies, the sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's epic musical The Phantom of the Opera, will be the opening show at the new AIA Grand Theater in Shanghai on Sept 28.

Webber's most iconic musical creation, The Phantom of the Opera has enjoyed enduring popularity with audiences in China, especially Shanghai, where the original English production has toured multiple times.

The Chinese production of the classic, which premiered in May, had 40 shows at the Shanghai Grand Theatre that were watched by 65,000 people and generated box-office sales of 48.5 million yuan ($6.66 million).

As soon as the sequel's upcoming premiere in China was announced last month, thousands of enthusiastic fans flocked to the online box office system of the Poly Theatre Group and snapped up the tickets for the opening show at the AIA Grand Theater in Shanghai within an hour. Love Never Dies will be shown at the AIA Grand Theater for a month until Oct 29.

The production will then go on a tour of 18 cities.