Michael Jackson, pop music superstar, passed away on June 25th, after suffering a suspected heart attack. He was 50 years old.
Musical theatre legend Andrew Lloyd Webber remembers fellow music icon Michael Jackson in the UK Telegraph. Lloyd Webber reveals how much Jackson enjoyed the craft of musicals, how he himself influenced them in later years and the King of Pop's desire to play the "man behind the mask" in a film version of The Phantom Of The Opera. Michael Jackson became an instant fan of the mega musical and its original Olivier and Tony Award winning star Michael Crawford.
Andrew Lloyd Webber tells the Telegraph that: "I first met Michael when he came to see Phantom of the Opera in New York when we'd just opened in 1988. He was clearly interested in the piece. He saw it several times and used to come backstage, often without the entourage that followed him around in later life. The story got to him. I think he had a connection with the lonely, tortured musician. He found the idea of somebody working through music and having a girl as a muse very intriguing - and he loved that there was illusion in the show.
Michael became interested in playing The Phantom himself, in a movie version of the show. We talked about it a lot, but we'd only just opened and, at the time, I felt that it was too early for it to become a film. I felt his interest in Phantom was because he was interested in doing something theatrical himself. He was a highly theatrical animal. I remember him saying to me that he'd seen Cats and how happy he was that dance was making a comeback in the theatre. He certainly talked about theatre a lot, and when he was last in London, he went to see Oliver!. Of course, he was a great showman himself, but he found the whole stagecraft of musicals extraordinary."
To read the entire Lloyd Webber essay on Michael Jackson's passing in the Uk Telegraph, click here.
In a phenomenal, unparalleled career, Michael Jackson sold more than 750 million records, had 13 number one singles - more than any other male artist - and is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. His numerous other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records, including one for "Thriller" as the world's best-selling album of all time - 100 million copies and counting. 
The longest-running show in Broadway history (a feat it achieved in 2006 when it surpassed the then-record run of Cats), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is the winner of 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Since its Broadway debut on January 26, 1988, the musical has grossed over $720 million, making it the highest-grossing show in Broadway history. Having since surpassed Cats' record by a phenomenal 3 years and 1,300 performances, it has now played over 8,800 performances - the only show in Broadway history to do so - and all with no end in sight.
Its international success - equally staggering - is represented by total worldwide grosses estimated at over $5 billion. This colossal figure makes PHANTOM the most successful entertainment venture of all time, surpassing not only any other stage production, but also far surpassing the world's highest-grossing film Titanic (at $1.2 billion) and such other blockbusters as The Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park and Star Wars.
Worldwide, over 65,000 performances have been seen by 80 million people in 25 countries and 124 cities. There are currently ten productions around the world: London, New York, Budapest (Hungary), Osaka (Japan), Warsaw (Poland), Copenhagen (Denmark), Perth (Australia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), the U.S. National Tour and a revised production in Las Vegas at The Venetian.
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is currently working on a sequel to the show, Phantom: LOVE NEVER DIES.
