In PBS press materials promoting the April 5 "Great Performances" airing of the new film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Donny Osmond reveals that there has been talk about him appearing in The Phantom of the Opera on stage.

Asked it there was a Phantom in his future, Osmond, who has played Joseph 2,000 times since 1992, told PBS publicists: "For the fun of it, when I was at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Phantom of the Opera was playing down the street, and I asked my musical director to get me the book to see if I could sing it. He suggested that we go over to the Pantages [Theatre] one afternoon, have the musical director play piano, and I could sing it. I threw myself into it."

Word got back to Andrew Lloyd Webber, who composed the mega-hit.

"When I went over to England to do his 50th birthday, he said, 'So, you want to play the Phantom some day.' I went, 'Yep!' He said, 'I heard about your audition. Just so you know, the West End's available anytime you want it.' So, one of these days, maybe I'll play the part."

Osmond filmed the music-video-like Joseph film in 1999, when he was 41. He said he "beat himself up royally" to get in shape because he didn't want his grandchildren to say, "Let's go watch flabby grandpa." Osmond, who appeared barechested through much of the stage show and film of Joseph, said he has hung up the loin cloth for good: "I've retired it," he said.