A sequel of Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically acclaimed opera "The Phantom of the Opera" is scheduled to make a simultaneous debut next year across three continents, Webber confirmed the exciting news in a statement posted on his website.

Announcing his decision to greenlight the production, Webber said the musical, called "Phantom: Love Never Dies" will open on Broadway, in London and an Asian city, possibly Shanghai, at the same time somewhere in the fall of 2009. 

"I don't think you could do this if it wasn't the sequel to Phantom ... We've been into the feasibility of rehearsing three companies at once and opening very fast in the three territories. The one which really interests me [in the Far East] would be China ... I think to open Love Never Dies in Shanghai would be an enormous thing," Webber told the Times of London in an interview.

Since it opened twenty-two years ago with Michael Crawford in the lead alongside Sarah Brightman, the original play, based on Gaston Leroux’s novel, has made more than $7 billion after being watched by more than 80 million theatergoers across the world.

The sequel would be set in a 19th-centuryBrooklyn, New York where the Phantom would be reunited with Christine, the "Swedish soprano."

"It was the place," Webber said. "Even Freud went because it was so extraordinary ... people who were freaks and oddities were drawn towards it because it was a place where they could be themselves."

While the cast for the production is yet to be announced, Webber revealed he already has his mind set on someone. Potential contenders include Gerard Butler, who played the part in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation, and Hugh Jackman, the star of Baz Luhrmann's film "Australia," whose stage credits include "Sunset Boulevard," "Oklahoma!" and "The Boy from Oz," for which he won Best Actor in a musical Tony Award.

The musical will be directed by Jack O'Brien, known for his successful "The Full Monty" and "Hairspray," while the sets will be designed by Bob Crowley, who has won five Tony awards and whose credits include Sir Cameron Mackintosh's "Mary Poppins."