Love Never Dies - all views allowed

Soooooooooo, I went to see Love Never Dies last week... I survived and I liked it *ducks from the rotten tomatoes and eggs*. Honestly people, it’s not as bad as I thought.
If you care to read, here are some thoughts about the show of 27th August. Full principal cast, except for Madame Giry, who was played by Janet Mooney.

First of all, the theatre. I know I’m short, but not being able to see the back of the stage from row G in the stalls really annoyed me. I know they’re not charging full price for the front row anymore, but all seats at the front of the stalls just can’t have a clear view as the stage is so high, so £67.50 is robbery!

Act I

The show starts without a warning. There’s no “good evening ladies and gentleman and welcome blah blah…” stuff and you only notice the show is starting when you hear the seagulls *lol*. Only then it gets dark in the theatre.

The Prologue is shorter than in the CD. I was very impressed with the set. The backdrop is great and there’s even a moon transforming into a ferris wheel.

Overture. It’s a great piece of music. I really like it and on stage we get really cool projections and a display of the acrobats and other artists of Phantasma. However, blink and you’ll miss the Phantom appearing with the fireball staff. Not sure what that brings to the story though. It’s not like he was a Phantasma attraction himself…

After the overture we go straight to Coney Island. First we see two belly dancers – one of them a bearded woman - and then Meg with “Only For You”. Then she sings some lines about her wanting the Phantom to see her perform and see what’s best about her. The tune is the one she sings at the end of her chat with Raoul in act II.

The Aerie / Till I Hear You Sing Once More: During the initial instrumental part we see the “Christine Doll” moving in a doll like manner (duh…) and then throws the scarf up in the air (like in the Till I hear you sing video). Then it looks like the Phantom is going to strangle her with a rope, but it’s actually a necklace he’s putting on her. It looks weird…
‘Till I hear you sing’ is a beautiful song and was performed just brilliantly by Ramin as I expected. Got huge cheers from the audience.

Then Meg and Madame Giry come in and the latter confronts him as on the CD. However at some point the Phantom points a gun at Madame Giry when he gets really angry and it just looked odd as I’m not used to seeing Phantom with guns…

Some info you only get when seeing the show – ‘Three months later’ is projected between this scene and the arrival of Christine. Again, the projections in this transition and in the pier scene are very good.
More nice projections of New York between the pier scene and the room scene (showing even the carriage crossing the bridge).

Aha moment now! The toy/music box that Gustave gets is LND’s equivalent to POTO’s cymbal playing monkey. It’s about the same size and has the same box shaped base, except it’s a boy playing a piano (looks like little Mozart, you know, because of the white wig). And then when Gustave wants to show Raoul the toy, he just kicks it. It made me chuckle…

Beneath a Moonless Sky: The Phantom’s appearance through the window is not as unspectacular as I thought, especially because the music comes in very loudly and almost everyone in the audience jumped on their seats! It was quite funny. Christine startles in shock, then embraces the Phantom, then runs away, then runs back to him to slap him, but he grabs her arm and stops her. It also surprised me that they sing most of the song apart from each other, on each side of the stage.

Then the set turns around to the exterior and the background is lit with stars for ‘Once Upon Another Time’. This scene looks actually very beautiful on stage and the MOTN pose makes an appearance in the beginning.

Between ‘Dear Old Friend’ and ‘Beautiful’ we hear the Phantom in voiceover ordering the Freaks to bring Gustave to him and, surprise, surprise, it’s just like his Notes voiceovers from POTO.

The Beauty Underneath. I love the song, I admit, even though it’s totally random and it doesn’t fit with anything else in the show! I was prepared for what was going to happen on stage and honestly I was a bit underwhelmed. I mean, if they wanted to go for crazy, freaky stuff, they could have done so much more with the set and the lighting. Thankfully Ramin saves the scene with his (as always) energetic performance. Focus on his performance and forget the rest: the organ playing gorilla, the singing heads, the creepy Frankenstein looking guy wandering around (who I almost swear is wearing something very similar to Raoul’s Masquerade costume – I wonder if I’m imagining things now…).

Now I understand the line “my own flesh and blood, yet he recoils in horror from me, just like his mother” by the Phantom. Christine does startle when she sees him unmasked after the Beauty Underneath. She shouldn’t though, but maybe she forgot how he looked like in those 10 years?

Madame Giry then appears after the Phantom declares all he owns shall go to Gustave. Ok, so she was there lurking and swears revenge. However, it does not make sense that Meg also appears there after her mother has already gone down the stairs, because later in Act II she acts surprised when after “Bathing Beauty” her mother tells her they’ve been “replaced”. I mean, if she was also lurking in the Phantom’s chambers after Beauty Underneath, she should also have heard what he said. You get what I mean?

Act II

The Entr’acte is lovely, but why can’t people SHUT UP? Seriously, I want to hear the orchestra.

Devil Take the Hindmost: the Phantom and Raoul shake hands to seal their bet. Now that’s something I wasn’t expecting. Special mention to the great acting from both guys here.

Bathing Beauty is probably one of the most annoying songs I ever heard… As is Summer Strallen’s nasal voice. Sorry…

Backstage/Before the Performance/Love Never Dies: The turning stage works really well, however the stage is always too dark. I mean, Christine’s dress is very shiny (and OMG very pretty – sorry had to say it…) but more could have been done. I was honestly expecting a bit more from Sierra’s ‘Love Never Dies’. I can’t exactly say what, but I felt her voice was a bit thin and needed more volume and oomph.
The Phantom comes in with bouquet of flowers after Love Never Dies and then he and Christine kiss (the cheese…). Then they go back to her dressing room and find a red rose with Raoul’s goodbye letter, both of which the Phantom hands to Christine. She starts reading and he nods as he realises that Raoul kept his promise.

Final Scene: Now, this scene is just wrongly directed, in my opinion. However, I had always assumed Meg was trying to kill Gustave, but no, she lets Gustave go as soon as the others find her in the pier and then only points the gun at herself, about to commit suicide...
But Gustave screaming “nooooo” and then running to the opposite side of stage from where Christine and the Phantom are, and crouching there until the end of the scene? Not good. His mother is dying for God’s sake… Oh but she’s not dead yet. She sings another reprise and sings even higher. Although, right now, I'm not sure if Gustave's scream is because his mother is dying or because he just found out his father is that "horrible" man... (After Beauty Underneath, that's what he screams after he sees the Phantom's face)
The scene just drags on and it should end with the instrumental of “Till I hear you sing” after Christine finally dies. Everything that happens after that is pointless. Like, Meg shot Christine (accidentally or not, it doesn’t matter), and the Phantom lets her hold her while he goes to Gustave? Not good. Not a good way to end the show, in my opinion.

Even so, the show got huge cheers and standing ovations. The house was as good as sold out.

Conclusion:
Not sure if I’ll make my point come across correctly here, but I’ll try. I won’t go over the major issues with the book and the lyrics, which are obviously the weakest points of the show, as they’ve already been discussed to exhaustion here and we all pretty much share the same opinion – they’re bad. But still, some core issues for me: ALW wanted the Phantom and Christine to have son. Fine. But at least explain better HOW Christine found where he was hiding after Final Lair... Also, how can Christine be so sure the boy is the Phantom's? Just because he's a little musical genious? I think it would actually be more interesting if Christine lived with the uncertainty for those 10 years and then only found out for sure during the show... And please, please change the final scene...

However, I really enjoyed the show, people, and I'll gladly see it again. I somehow managed to disconnect it from the original and tried to watch it as a standalone. It is possible to do that. It’s just not in the same league, end of story. They don’t make musicals like POTO nowadays anyway.
LND is a good show in terms of spectacle on stage and score. Oh yes, the score saves the show for me. It’s not ALW’s best, but it’s very good and hearing the orchestra play it live is great. Also, the performances by the leads are stunning. Can’t fault any of the three. Also, as Ramin was the last Phantom I saw, I felt some sense of continuity as throughout the show he keeps the same body language and gestures he had in POTO.
Also, the sets are good. Not outstanding, but quite effective. The projections are great and really help to contextualize the scenes and scene changes.

ALW wanted to make a sequel, fine. It's his show, he can do whatever he wants... But please make the story more believable...

Miss von Krolock wrote:Also, how can Christine be so sure the boy is the Phantom's? Just because he's a little musical genious? I think it would actually be more interesting if Christine lived with the uncertainty for those 10 years and then only found out for sure during the show...

That's actually a very good point. They could have created an interesting tension there.

Thank you for an interesting review! I think I have much bigger issues with the lyrics and storyline than what you have, I think the lyrics in particular are downright horrible. That said, it was interesting to read your pros and cons.

Oh don't get me wrong, I do have serious issues with the book and lyrics. I mean, don't even get me started on "Beneath a Moonless Sky" But I tried to focus on the show on stage and not so much on what people already know from CD.

Miss von Krolock wrote: The Phantom comes in with bouquet of flowers after Love Never Dies and then he and Christine kiss (the cheese…).

As in full on lip lock or a peck? July 28 when I last saw it, there was no kiss until the end.

PMB1034 wrote:

Miss von Krolock wrote: The Phantom comes in with bouquet of flowers after Love Never Dies and then he and Christine kiss (the cheese…).

As in full on lip lock or a peck? July 28 when I last saw it, there was no kiss until the end.

Full on, but not like "I'm gonna eat you all"... Definitely not a peck
A recent introduction to the show then?

So it would seem. I've seen it thrice; March, April, July. The first time I especially remember making the case to my friend, who wanted more Phantom/Christine physical contact, that it's more effective to save the kiss to the final scene. Every time I've seen it they've touched more, the first time they just stayed at opposite ends of the room in BAM, very timid. Interesting how the approach is constantly changing. Can't decide what I prefer.

Also last time I saw it Ramin's fab understudy, Tam Mutu, was on and at the end he fell completely apart (tears the works) when Christine finally snuffs it and sort of says "no, no..." under his breath, before all that handing the jacket to Meg business. Back in March Ramin was far more subdued, like he was being strong for the kid or he couldn't quite process what had happened. Can you remember what Ramin does now? thanks

Hmmm, I think Ramin still keeps the approach you mentioned, but I do remember the final kiss was VERY long. He took ages to let go of Christine and put the ring in her hands. Now that I think about it, I did miss some more drama in that scene. Maybe a bit more sobbing and screaming, but as you say, that would maybe scare Gustave even more.
Oh and "all that handing the jacket to Meg business"? Please get rid of it! It's just so so pointless and WTF...

Thanks for the detailed account of LND.
They've made improvements to the show and could probably even fix the last scene if they decide to. I'm very hard headed about LND, however. I never wanted any sequel to POTO; I don't like what they have done with the story and characters in this sequel; I don't really care how entertaining they manage to make it, buying the music is as far as I will go in supporting LND.
Apparently it is possible to see and enjoy the show by pretending it isn't a sequel to Phantom of the Opera. I would rather see a show I don't have to compartmentalize my mind to enjoy. Ramin and Sarah are talented and seem to be selling their characters and the story increasingly well, but they won't be selling it to me.

Love Never Dies can be categorized as a sequel to the story of The Phantom of the Opera – which is without doubt to date the most successful musical. It tells the story that almost after a decade of the mysterious disappearance of the phantom that happened in the Paris Opera House, the action shifts to the New York's Coney Island fairground, where Christine comes in contact with an unknown impresario who had extended an invitation to her for singing in America. The Phantom of the Opera is bound to play for the Australian audience in next year and other than that Melbourne is also firming itself as being the favorite that is going to host the respective musical’s premiere.
“The Phantom of the Opera”, is a Broadway musical that has been extremely popular and has been touring for almost two decades now. It has toured in more than 100 cities and its final stop is going to be in Pittsburgh. This musical has magical scenery that has been coupled with some mind-blowing stage effects. This musical is a must watch and is a treat for the audience right from start to the finish. As the theater lights are dimmed and the audience have fully settled in their respective seats, the opening scene comes on that manages to hold the audience’s eyes. It shows that one of the main characters that is Christine Daaé has belted her first piece of the night. “Phantom” had made its debut on the 25th of August at the venue of the Benedum Center that is held in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, and where it is going to continue giving performances until the 19th of September. You want to see the loves never dies so you can buy the cheap phantom of the opera tickets and get the real fun of stage and with mind blowing seats.

marryholmes wrote:Love Never Dies can be categorized as a sequel to the story of The Phantom of the Opera – which is without doubt to date the most successful musical. It tells the story that almost after a decade of the mysterious disappearance of the phantom that happened in the Paris Opera House...

No excrement, Sherlock Holmes?

Apparently it is possible to see and enjoy the show by pretending it isn't a sequel to Phantom of the Opera. I would rather see a show I don't have to compartmentalize my mind to enjoy.

Likewise. As I said earlier, no-one should have to pretend the show is something it is not in order to get a hint of enjoyment out of it.

No excrement, Sherlock Holmes?

You want to see the loves never dies...

Do I really? That's news to me.

Scorp wrote:As I said earlier, no-one should have to pretend the show is something it is not in order to get a hint of enjoyment out of it.

Amen to that!

R.

Hal Prince giving a big NO to any involvement in the sequel:

PC: Are you directing the sequel to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, LOVE NEVER DIES, on Broadway?
HP: No, of course. No, I'm not. I don't know why there's such a rumor.

PC: Michael Riedel wrote in his column that you may, plus Andrew Lloyd Webber just announced two new productions in Toronto and Australia before it comes to Broadway.
HP: No, I wasn't asked to and that "famous" lunch that I noticed was in the newspapers was to discuss something else entirely.

PC: That's what the Riedel column was all about, the lunch.
HP: Yes, well we were talking about something else entirely.

PC: Thank you for setting the record straight.
HP: No, we are not talking about LOVE NEVER DIES.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW_Exclusive_Hal_Prince_PHANTOM_23rd_Anniversary_No_Involvement_In_PHANTOM_2_20100913#ixzz0zThu9jXY

operafantomet wrote:Hal Prince giving a big NO to any involvement in the sequel:

PC: Are you directing the sequel to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, LOVE NEVER DIES, on Broadway?
HP: No, of course. No, I'm not. I don't know why there's such a rumor.

PC: Michael Riedel wrote in his column that you may, plus Andrew Lloyd Webber just announced two new productions in Toronto and Australia before it comes to Broadway.
HP: No, I wasn't asked to and that "famous" lunch that I noticed was in the newspapers was to discuss something else entirely.

PC: That's what the Riedel column was all about, the lunch.
HP: Yes, well we were talking about something else entirely.

PC: Thank you for setting the record straight.
HP: No, we are not talking about LOVE NEVER DIES.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW_Exclusive_Hal_Prince_PHANTOM_23rd_Anniversary_No_Involvement_In_PHANTOM_2_20100913#ixzz0zThu9jXY

Three cheers for Hal Prince.

The logo on the Facebook page for this show has changed...for the worse! It now looks like a weird cross between the film logo and the Vegas poster for the ORIGINAL show. I fail to see how it has anything to do with Love Never Dies -- there's no moment in the show where Christine is unconscious and the Phantom is abducting her again is there? Looks like they've made a right dog's dinner of this show.

Scorp wrote:The logo on the Facebook page for this show has changed...for the worse! It now looks like a weird cross between the film logo and the Vegas poster for the ORIGINAL show. I fail to see how it has anything to do with Love Never Dies -- there's no moment in the show where Christine is unconscious and the Phantom is abducting her again is there? Looks like they've made a right dog's dinner of this show.

The original LND poster also borrowed heavily from the original POTO design (with logo + automation mask/face instead of the POTO mask). But at least that one was related to the content of the show, and of sorts a nice nod to the original. The design you describe above doesn't make sense at all. But as we've discussed before, people will probably mistake it for POTO and buy tickets for that musical instead...

*goes to visit the LND Facebook site*

....or be scarred for life by the tackiness! OMG that is bad! It's so bad it made me laugh out loud!

As I said elsewhere this morning, it's the sort of picture that is best left to paperback romance novel covers.

*looks at picture, snerk*

But it's still a stand-alone show. Really.

~LCD

OH LORD, it's hideous and terrible and awful! Actually, it reminds me of the subpar work of that chick who had the conspiracy theory about the hidden plot.

When I saw it this morning, the first thing I thought of was the '04 movie poster. Definitely influenced by that.

Are we sure this isn't just some fan art? Because in my opinion the quality is about that level. Then again, so is that "disembodied head in the mist" design they're using for the show here in the US.

R.

I HOPE it's phan art...

To my eye it doesn't look like Sierra Boggess, but people describe it as if it's her. Anyone knows for sure?

I know what they're doing, and it only makes them look bad. They *are* marketing it to make people think its Phantom. So in the meantime, Webber can discuss changes and such. That's the only reasonable idea that comes to mind. If he can't get people in via the story and 'music' (it's so beaaauuutiiifffuuulll ... not), he'll just dupe crowds by making people think it's Phantom. By the way, it's a rip off of the Vegas design. Only, the Phantom in the picture has a nasty stubble that looks like Gerard Butler underneath.

I knew it looked familiar:

http://www.impawards.com/2004/phantom_of_the_opera_ver2.html

And no, Anéa, I don't see a resemblance to Sierra either.

R.

Viscountess wrote:OH LORD, it's hideous and terrible and awful! Actually, it reminds me of the subpar work of that chick who had the conspiracy theory about the hidden plot.

That thought definitely crossed my mind, too.

I don't even know what to say to that new logo. Really. Ughh. I need Gravol.

Is Christine supposed to be dead in this? It's the only scene in the show that would fit her looking like she in the logo(other than the fact that it's a copy of the movie logo).

I think it might be Sierra in the logo but photoshoped enough to give her a bit of an Emmy/movie look.

MasqPhan wrote:I don't even know what to say to that new logo. Really. Ughh. I need Gravol.

Is Christine supposed to be dead in this? It's the only scene in the show that would fit her looking like she in the logo(other than the fact that it's a copy of the movie logo).

I think it might be Sierra in the logo but photoshoped enough to give her a bit of an Emmy/movie look.

But those eyebrows... and that hair! Don't even get me started on that hair.

Ugh, that logo look absolutely horrible to me. Whoever the people in the picture are they are photoshoped to "plastic perfection". Hate it.

Raphael wrote:I knew it looked familiar:

http://www.impawards.com/2004/phantom_of_the_opera_ver2.html

Made this for another board to show the "family history."

This made me laugh out loud...LSD have managed somehow to get themselves onto Google ads! An ad came up when I was on the index page of this forum.



I'm simultaneously impressed and scared. Bravo to them for their tenacity!

Scorp wrote:This made me laugh out loud...LSD have managed somehow to get themselves onto Google ads! An ad came up when I was on the index page of this forum.


I'm simultaneously impressed and scared. Bravo to them for their tenacity!

Haha. Now that, we like!

Something totally different. I was in a restaurant the other day and they had the LND poster up by the door. I was facing it while I had my meal and it annoyed me because everyone who came in through the door saw the poster. I felt so tempted to ask the staff if I could have it (just to get rid of it somewhere later on) but in the end I didn't. I bet they would just have put a new one up.