ABC is back in business with Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry. According to Variety, ABC Studios is developing Cherry's The Phantom of the Opera, which will take the classic tale of ghost-meets-singer and transport it into the high-pressure world of the modern music industry.

Instead of adapting Andrew Lloyd Webber's popular take, the series will look to the original 1909 novel. The Gaston Leroux classic has inspired a number of feature films, including the iconic 1925 version starring Lon Chaney. The show is being described as a "drama with musical elements," possibly similar to ABC's "Nashville," which frequently mixes prime time soap plots with country music performances.

Cherry will serve as executive producer along with Sabrina Wind. Songwriter/screenwriter duo Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner will write the teleplay and executive produce. Zachary and Weiner previously wrote the Broadway musical First Date, which starred Zachary Levi and ran for five months.