In the late 1980s, while continuing to sing throughout the United States, in such roles as Hoffmann in The Tales of Hoffmann, Lord Percy in Anna Bolena and Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West, he was approached by Hal Prince to re-create the role of Ubaldo Piangi in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera for its Los Angeles premiere.Marill, Alvin H. and Leonard, William T., More Theatre: M-Z, Scarecrow Press, 1993, p. 934 This would take Negrini through 8 years and over 3,000 performances of that role, in both Los Angeles and San Francisco.
