I signed up to receive email alerts from Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber some time ago. If you’ve never checked out Webbie’s website, you should.  The guy video blogs, emails, and more.  He’s got to be the most social networking-savvy Knight there is.

He’s definitely the most social networking-savvy Tony Award-winning musical theater composer there is.

The irony is . . . he doesn’t need to be.

Or does he?

We all know Phantom II is gearing up, and we all know our industry’s success rate for sequels. So perhaps Sir Andrew knows that he’s got to take advantage of every viral aspect he can, if he’s going to get this chandelier to fly.

Well, so far so good.

Earlier this week, I got this email from The Masked One directly:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At 11 O’Clock on the eighth day of October 2009, I will be making an announcement of global importance.

Should my commands be ignored, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur.

Amor Numquam Moritur.

Your Obedient Servant,

The Phantom

Ok, a little cheesy, yes.  But definitely fun. And for the real phantom phans, definitely cool.

But that’s not it . . .

Today, I got a follow-up email from the Love Never Dies site offering me a chance to be one of the few people who could witness this announcement live in London.

Oh, and did I tell you that The Phantom tweets?

That’s a lot of buzz-building e-activity around a show that’s had a pretty enviable brand for the last twenty years.  And all their e-efforts are working.  Sir Andy got me to visit this website to watch their trailer.  And after watching the vid, for the first time since hearing about this sequel, I got excited about it.

You know the coolest part about their use of this technology?

When the original Phantom first opened on Broadway . . . it didn’t even have a website.  Think on that for a moment!

You’ve come a long way, Phantom baby.  It’s nice to see your Master keeps up with the times.