This afternoon, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group and Shanghai Media Group Live announced a new partnership titled the "Phantom China Project".

According to the report the project will select cast members for a Chinese version of the musical Phantom of the Opera via a television competition series.

Original Phantom star, Sarah Brightman, has been announced as one of the judges of the competition. According to Brightman, she is looking for naturally talented actors who can devote themselves to acting and vocal training.

Winners are also competing for a chance to appear in the Broadway and West End productions of the show before the Chinese version is mounted.

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Based on the classic novel Le Fantôme de L'Opéra by Gaston Leroux, 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.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group, has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is directed by Harold Prince. Lyrics are by Charles Hart (with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe) and the book is by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Phantom of the Opera has production design by the late Maria Björnson, lighting by Andrew Bridge and sound design by Mick Potter with original sound by Martin Levan. Musical staging and choreography is by Gillian Lynne. Orchestrations are by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

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