The Phantom of the Opera will haunt the Parisian opera house once more, but he won't do it song.
"Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry and ABC will develop a modern-day "Phantom of the Opera" series, but won't use Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical juggernaut as its source material.
The one-hour drama series will draw upon the original gothic novel "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra" by Gaston Leroux. The action will be set in the "sexy and cutthroat world of the modern-day music business" and incorporate musical elements like the ABC series "Nashville," according to ABC.
"The Phantom of the Opera" revolves around a young opera singer named Christina and the ghostly gentleman who haunts the opera house. The Phantom tries to help her become a better singer, but secretly he wishes to make her fall in love with him.
Leroux partially based his 1910 novel on historical events at the Paris Opera in the 1800s as well as the myth that the 1841 production of Le Freischütz used a real skeleton.
Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner will write the pilot script with Cherry and Sabrina Wind serving as executive producers.
"Phantom of the Opera" has two famous big screen adaptations. The 1925 version became a classic silent film that stuck close to Leroux's material. The 2004 version starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum adapted Webber's Broadway hit.
