Infamous Blackie Lawless completes the scene

After metal hero Tobias Sammet and pop fairy P!nk, it is now up to Blackie Lawless to turn the Joss Whedon & Jon Oliva's Phantom Of The Paradise into an even more fantastic event to come ! Lawless will be playing the part of an aging, infamous and burnt-out-from-glory version of Winslow Leach. It was Whedon's idea to create this ghostly and haunted figure of a successful non mutilated Winslow : "We don't want Winslow to just be this hateful and miserable victim of his devouring genius. It would be nothing but fascinating to imagine what would have become of him if his inner violence and rage had burst out on his path to glory and accomplishment."

No doubt that Blackie Lawless will give this tormented incarnation the perfect tone. 

 

 

P!nk as Phoenix

Rockstar P!nk officially announced she will be part of the long awaited on-stage recreation of Brian DePalma's Phantom Of The Paradise!
Although it was never intended to cast a famous name to play Phoenix, the "Glitter In The Air" track of the 2008 P!nk album Funhouse changed the new Phantom masterminds' hearts : "The Christine McVie spirit P!nk managed to give to this song with such power and grace left us breathless", said writer/producer Joss Whedon, "her dark and fragile humanity suddenly gave life to our character."

Phantom Of Avantasia

On the eve of the long awaited release of Angel Of Babylon/The Wicked Symphony, Avantasia's mastermind and last metal hero Tobias Sammet just announced he will be part of the Joss Whedon/Jon Oliva Phantom Of The Paradise project.
It is a fact that Tobias Sammet recently worked with Jon "Mountain King" Oliva, who sang lead vocals on one track of the yet-to-be-released new Avantasia album. Did they discuss the future of the Phantom together ? I guess that is something we can only assume for the time being.

Marvel Legacy Upon The Phantom

Some never-meant-to-be-heard words from Joss Whedon led us now to think (and dream) that his Phantom Of The Paradise could be a super hero adaptation of the story, when he talked about The Phantom as "a masked avenger" !
It is a fact that Whedon's involvment with Marvel® universe rang a bell when his name was put on the table, but his course of actions is seldom what was expected : does anybody else spend four months writing, scoring, pre-producing and directing a one-hour-musical episode of a horrific and tragic monster TV show and not only being unridiculous but turning the already memorable television event into a crucial moment of every character's path?

Joss Whedon steals the show

After Paul O'Neill unfortunately gave up on the on-stage re-creation of Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise, it is now up to writer/director/producer Joss Whedon to go on with the show.
Joss Whedon is well-known for the creation of the TV series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", of which he is now writing the eigth season for the Dark Horse® comic books and is currently the writer of Marvel® "Astonishing X Men".
Then of course, even though the new matermind confirms that O'Neill's alter ego Jon Oliva cannot and will not be left aside, Whedon's vision of the Phantom shall not be anywhere close to O'Neill's.
But then again, are De Palma's lunatic cold-hearted envious bastards so far away from Whedon's apocalyptic evil tortured minded monsters?

Paul O'Neill away from the Paradise

The endless negociations between De Palma and O'Neill finally came to an end in the most surprising way when O'Neill suddenly announced that he was off the project ! But no argument or disagreement seems to be the official reason of this unexpected turn of events, for O'Neill claims that "the Phantom Of The Paradise requiers and deserves a full attention and commitment" and that he was "too much bound to the new Trans Siberian Orchestra Nightcastle album to be the man for the job anymore".
Yet his dozens pages of notes, scores, lyrics are not to be torn to shreds for the monumental Jon Oliva still remains connected to the project !

Jon Oliva finally joins the project

It is now confirmed : after long hesitation, Jon Oliva finally agreed to be a part of the Paul O'Neill Phantom Of The Paradise. He would be playing the piano on the new tracks and O'Neill is still trying to convince him to be Swan on stage. "Let's get real", says Oliva, "Swan is supposed to be a forever young and handsome musician. I am forty seven years old and my nose is still the same it used to be." Anyway, Oliva's involvment only makes the project even more exciting than it already was.