Re: Love Never Dies - all views allowed

starryeyed Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:30 am

Jeff, you know while I don't support all of LSD's tactics (or ALW's either for that matter) I always support you guys. I can't quite believe the fan brigade are over looking the unproffesionalism of that letter and finding it all quite a hoot. If someone of LSD was to say something similar to them though they'd take offence... just saying.

operafantomet Sun Mar 13, 2011 8:13 pm

Not "Love Never Dies" 's night at the Oliviers Awards. They lost out on best light design, best scenic design, best costume design, best female lead, best male lead and and best supporting actress in a musical. Only "Best Musical" left now...

ETA: nope, lost out on the "Best Musical" too. This is pretty bad for LND. It only indirectly won through David Thaxton in Passion. Thaxton is the new drunk!Raoul in LND. That he won the award over Ramin Karimloo came as a surprise to everyone, I think.

And John Owen Jones was maybe a bit too honest in an interview, saying that he would love to see LND again, as he's only seen a preview, and he's heard it's much improved since then... Whoops! sunny

Scorp Sun Mar 13, 2011 10:53 pm

operafantomet wrote:That he won the award over Ramin Karimloo came as a surprise to everyone, I think.

Not a surprise to me! Thaxton's actual acting in Passion was superb. His appeal wasn't merely voice and looks, both of which he also possessed in spades.

Phantom won Best Musical and Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Musical for Michael Crawford back in 1986, followed by the first ever Audience Award in 2002. Just sayin'. Smile

LadyCDaae Sun Mar 13, 2011 11:07 pm

I'm sure the song "Schadenfreude" is only running through my head right now because I saw Avenue Q last night. Really. Rolling Eyes

(Yes, I'm being a bit petty right now. No, I don't particularly care.)

~LCD

Alyssa Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:11 pm

There are new photographs from the March Production

It looks like they got rid of the pirate shirt

And Raoul has a mustache! Did he have one with the original cast? Because that would explain EVERYTHING seeing as facial hair means you're evil.

PMB1034 Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:26 pm

Photoshop! There are at least two images of Ramin which are photoshpped in from the last set ala the Phantom brochures! Why though? Surely it's less effort to just take some new ones.

Raoul didn't have a moustache in the original cast no. BUT in early workshop/rehearsal videos on the LND blog it was clearly the original intention. Maybe Milson's agent negotiated him a 'no tache' clause? Still surprised to see the idea revived after all this time.

ML6 Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:49 pm

PMB1034 wrote:Photoshop! There are at least two images of Ramin which are photoshpped in from the last set ala the Phantom brochures! Why though? Surely it's less effort to just take some new ones.

You can still see Joseph's hand and body in the image at the bar. Damn, ALW, hire someone who can do better photo-shopping for your musical.

starryeyed Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:58 pm

Joseph had facial here for at least the first few performances. It was gone before the official opening night though. I hope they get rid of David's too!

Cape Twirl of Doom Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:50 pm

Alyssa wrote:There are new photographs from the March Production

And Raoul has a mustache! Did he have one with the original cast? Because that would explain EVERYTHING seeing as facial hair means you're evil.

OK, what am I missing here? I clicked on that link and don't see any photos of Raoul with a mustache, neither do I see any kind of Photoshopped weirdness in the photo at the bar.

confused

starryeyed Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:51 pm

It's quite a light blonde moustache so easy to miss I guess. I only really notice it in the one of him sitting in the bar stool.

I didn't notice the photoshopping in the bar scene but noticed some horrible photoshopping in the Love Never Dies picture where it's clearly the picture from before re-used with David photoshopped in.

PMB1034 Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:45 pm

Just clicked the link....they've gone again!

operafantomet Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:27 pm

OK seriously.... I've never - NEVER - enjoyed a LND review as much as this one:
http://bookelfe.livejournal.com/225937.html

Till I Hear You Sing: (Couldn’t he just . . . go buy a ticket to one of her performances?)

Meg meanwhile sings about how excited she is to see Christine and how they will be BFF again and sing and dance side by side again and everything will be just like it used to be, except of course for the awkward fact that Meg does not wear clothes to work anymore.

We take advantage of it to go to the bar to discuss possible plot functions of the Christine-automoton – it’s like a Chekhov’s gun, you can’t introduce it in the first act and not use it in the second! – and have another round of drinks. We have a feeling we will need them for the second act.

The Phantom and Raoul get very much in each other’s faces to have a penis-measuring match and also an argument about which of them Christine loves more, and Phantom is like “neener neener you’re a drunken loser!” and Raoul is like “neener neener at least I’m pretty!” and the Phantom is like “lol not with that moustache you’re not”

The Phantom’s great masterwork, for the record, basically is just “LOOOOVE NEEEEVER DIIIIIES” repeated ad infinitum.

Later, I will theorize that someone has fundamentally misunderstood the meaning of Chekhov’s Gun. (“We introduced a life-sized animatronic lady in the first act,” a writer clearly said to himself, “so a gun needs to go off in the last!”)

(The quotes above are excerpts from a longer review, just for the record)

EarlFan Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:35 am

Haha, that must be the best LND review I've read so far, it's brilliant! Very Happy

starryeyed Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:49 pm

I saw the show on Friday night and dare I say, quite liked it this time round. This cast blows the last cast out of the water, even the ensemble is tighter. It still has its issues and I still don't like the story line and still refuse to see it as a sequel but I say, seperating it from the original the show on Friday was quite good. I'm definitely not a fan by any means though.

There were two small changes added in, Meg's routine in Bathing Beauty is slightly different now and there's a small scene with Hammerstein after the arrival at the pier. There was also some line changes but apart from that nothing major. David Thaxton is outstanding in this show, it made me want to see him in something else though as I feel he's wasted in LND. His acting in DTTH was brilliant as he carried on the drunkenness throughout the song. He broke my heart in the final scene, he just shuffled on in understated shock, he is the complete opposite of Joseph's Raoul. It was the first time I noticed that sequel Raoul wears the exact outfit original Raoul wears when he comes on in the final scene, down to the scarf and everything.

ETA: I was sat beside someone who really liked the show but actually threw up a viewpoint I've not heard said that often by people who like the show, he thought Till I Hear You Sing was the weakest song in the show. I've generally heard people raving about it if they like the show.

phantom10906 Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:13 am

Is this an April Fools joke or do i start throwing a party? Click me

operafantomet Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:41 am

phantom10906 wrote:Is this an April Fools joke or do i start throwing a party? Click me

I bet my money it's April Fools joke. Alas.

Klavirista Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:40 pm

April Fools Day continue...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvW8K21oFhs

Scorp Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:25 am

Klavirista wrote:April Fools Day continue...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvW8K21oFhs

Sadly not a joke. What's ridiculous is that it's in the same key as Hannah Waddingham's 'Our Kind of Love' and has the same arrangements for the single release of that song, so the recycling is even more apparent!

**Raphael** Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:45 am

Out of curiosity, is LND the first ALW musical not adapted from existing material (Phantom of Manhattan notwithstanding)? Seems to me ALW shows live and die on the strength of the source material. A completely original and engaging story might simply be beyond his ability.

R.

operafantomet Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:12 am

Raphael wrote:Out of curiosity, is LND the first ALW musical not adapted from existing material (Phantom of Manhattan notwithstanding)? Seems to me ALW shows live and die on the strength of the source material. A completely original and engaging story might simply be beyond his ability.

R.

True... I wonder about "Starlight Express", though. Originally they were to be based on Rev W. Awdry's Railway books. But were they? I don't think they were, because of some dispute, but I don't really know the musical NOR the books at all.

But I definitely think the libretto is what mares LND. Lame lyrics and lame plotline all through. Maybe the problem is that the storyline is largely ALWs creation (which, in my opinion, Frederick Forsyte only penned down for him). And no-one dared tell ALW that it was sub par and needed serious revisions before opening that expensive musical of his. So yes, if the source material was better, it might have been a good musical.

I still wish he would have picked up that "Master and Margarita" instead.

Scorp Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:51 am

Raphael wrote:Out of curiosity, is LND the first ALW musical not adapted from existing material (Phantom of Manhattan notwithstanding)? Seems to me ALW shows live and die on the strength of the source material. A completely original and engaging story might simply be beyond his ability.

R.

No - cf. The Beautiful Game, also written with ~~the talentless~~ Ben Elton.

Oh, and Tell Me On A Sunday, although it's only a one-act song cycle.

Very few musicals are completely original, though.

IamErik771 Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:48 pm

Scorp wrote:
Raphael wrote:Out of curiosity, is LND the first ALW musical not adapted from existing material (Phantom of Manhattan notwithstanding)? Seems to me ALW shows live and die on the strength of the source material. A completely original and engaging story might simply be beyond his ability.

R.

No - cf. The Beautiful Game, also written with ~~the talentless~~ Ben Elton.

Oh, and Tell Me On A Sunday, although it's only a one-act song cycle.

Very few musicals are completely original, though.

This is true. I was reminded of a topic on the TVTropes wiki that attempted to list the surprisingly few musicals that are original (and even some of them are questionable). But yes, a lot of the time, musicals live or die on either their source material or on the composer and book writer's ability to bring great, original ideas into it. (Which, needless to say, LND is sorely lacking.)

operafantomet Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:33 am

In an article from January 1988, ALW tells that one of the aspects of the Leroux novel that fascinated him the most was that Christine went back to the Phantom. Which might explain his LND fetish...

"But Lloyd Webber, obviously an optimist, was attracted to the project because, he says, "Christine goes back to the Phantom in the end." We never get to see this in the show, but Lloyd Webber points to a passage in the book in which Christine's ring is found on the Phantom's finger. At this point, the Phantom is a skeleton and Christine comes back only to bury him, but it's a nice gesture."

http://books.google.com/books?id=xuUCAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA26&ots=jB-Cwey5z4&dq=%22gillian%20lynne%22%20%22michael%20crawford%22%20slick%20music&pg=PA28#v=onepage&q=%22gillian%20lynne%22%20%22michael%20crawford%22%20slick%20music&f=false

PMB1034 Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:50 pm

An interesting video about the Australian production and boy does it look different! Fans of this show are going to have a fun time comparing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4VvigR_75A&feature=player_embedded

operafantomet Fri Apr 22, 2011 5:51 am

Someone commented on the mask looking better than in London, and I actually think I agree with that. More character to the face, more nose.

But as soon as they played the "....still you don't walk through the door" line from "Till I hear you song", all my open-minded-ness disappeared. The lyrics really are the worst, and I think they need to change a lot more than a line here and there to even make them decent.

Also, odd costume and set stuff to present. Is the giant masks is the coolest they got? Not all that impressed so far. I don't think Aussie will be butchered to pieces like in the London press, but I think it is a make-or-break for the show, and I don't see it happening based on this clip. Still, too early to tell I guess.

PMB1034 Fri Apr 22, 2011 4:24 pm

operafantomet wrote:Also, odd costume and set stuff to present. Is the giant masks is the coolest they got? Not all that impressed so far. I don't think Aussie will be butchered to pieces like in the London press, but I think it is a make-or-break for the show, and I don't see it happening based on this clip. Still, too early to tell I guess.

Yes I think far to early to tell. Actually I thought the heads looked quite impressive and I wouldn't say an odd thing to present just presumably what's available currently in the rehearsal space. I think the ensemble costumes look far more circus like than the Rodgers & Hammerstein-lite of London. The vibe I get is their going for "gothic weird", reminds me a little of Bo Welch's production design in Batman Returns.

For me this show will likely end up a fascinating curio, different everytime it emerges. It helps I just adore the score/orchestrations (I've always been a film score geek), the way the music swells between BAMS & OUAT...I could listen to that moment forever. It's funny LND has painted me the eternal optimist; with everything else I'm into I'm usually the voice of dissent at the back!

Scorp Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:34 am

PMB1034 wrote: It's funny LND has painted me the eternal optimist; with everything else I'm into I'm usually the voice of dissent at the back!

Sadly I think it's made me the eternal pessimist, which doesn't bode well for my life expectancy.

I worry that the Aussies WILL take to this show merely because it's ALW and they're marketing it heavily as the original musical -- take a look at all the adverts. Perhaps when they see the show, they'll come away disappointed as many people who didn't know about the plot beforehand have done in London, in which case the show will die. I have no qualms in saying that this is what I hope to happen. I once thought ALW had underestimated Phantom fans by trying to sell them such a bizarre story, but maybe he didn't if people are still quick to elevate him to a status and league beyond reproach.

I find the dilution of something dark, menacing and historical into a nonsensical cheesy romance story for tweens for lucre and later-life success very sad. I no longer google for anything to do with Phantom for fear of getting a headache from a garish kaleidoscope of kitsch borne out of the minds of Joel Schumacher or Ben Elton. I have no desire to see the original either even though I still love it, just because I get LND shoved in my face every time I go. I don't enjoy the score of LND either, much as I'd like to, because for me the show is a piece of theatre, and I can't separate that music from those lyrics and that plot.

For me, the show an embarrassment and it makes me extremely reluctant to tell anyone that I harbour a great affinity for the original and its ancestors. There is a growing community of people though -- teens, mainly -- brought up on the 2004 movie, who do not feel this way and I suppose I am some kind of dinosaur with these sorts of views. I wonder if I'm a lone dinosaur.

I feel that now is time for a Robert Englund-type film to redress the balance. Or something. Anything. Until then, I think I might stick with Monsieur Leroux et son roman.

I know this rant says nothing new. I am just a little bit saddened by the status quo.

EarlFan Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:18 pm

Just a mini rant. I went to the St George's Day concert with Alfie Boe and others at Trafalgar Square, Tam Mutu sang 'Til I Hear You Sing. At the end of the song the presenter said some words about the show and ended with "...so please go and see it". I'm just getting so tired of everyone trying desperately to promote it. Can't they just give it a rest.

phantom10906 Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:15 pm

This article discusses some of the changes they are doing for the Australian production: Click me

phantom10906 Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:54 am

Oh god here we go again. Click it

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