Search - Andrew Lloyd Webber :: Love Never Dies

"Phantom" sequel sails over it's rough spots

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 03/09/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Twenty years after the original smash-hit "Phantom of the Opera" (which knocked "Cats" off it's scratching post in 2006 as the longest-running musical in Broadway history), Andrew Lloyd Webber has finally come through with the long-awaited sequel, LOVE NEVER DIES.



LOVE NEVER DIES picks up the story ten years after the events of the original "Phantom". Following his mysterious disappearance in the underground lair, the Phantom was quickly spirited away to America by Madame Giry and her daughter Meg; and has now established himself as the most successful, albeit mysterious, impresario of New York's bustling Coney Island fairground. For his latest venture at "Phantasma", the Phantom--using the new alias of Mr Y.--finally manages to lure his beloved opera singer Christine Daaé, her husband Raoul and their young son Gustave, to perform in America for the first time...and the scene looks set for a dramatic confrontation...



Andrew Lloyd Webber hasn't had a hit new musical in years ("The Beautiful Game" was a forgettable mess, and "The Woman in White" failed spectacularly on Broadway despite a respectable, two-year London run); so the stakes were high for Lloyd Webber to extend the story for his most successful, beloved and most personal work. Does it succeed? Well, yes and no. Ben Elton's plot (loosely adapted from Frederick Forsyth's "Phantom of Manhattan") has enraged longtime "Phans", who have denounced it as nothing more than illogical, worst case-scenario fan-fiction, the characters bear little resemblance to how they were seen or portrayed in the original "Phantom"; and the score swings, almost wildly in places, from inspired to mundane.



Despite it all, though, Andrew Lloyd Webber has beautifully furnished the world premiere cast of his LOVE NEVER DIES with two performers who have also played their roles in productions of the original "Phantom". Ramin Karimloo is a particularly romantic Phantom with a voice direct from heaven; Sierra Boggess--who most recently originated the title role in Broadway's "The Little Mermaid"--is delightful as Christine. If there is one thing that slightly worries me about Karimloo and Boggess, it is the issue of their relative youth, which definitely plays against the reality of their characters being ten years older! As such, it would have been a dream come true to see Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman back in their trademark roles, but in light of the incredibly demanding score (and indeed, Brightman's reluctance to re-enter the musical theatre scene), I understand completely why this was perhaps never even possible in the first place.



All of the characters make quite dramatic transformations in LOVE NEVER DIES, but perhaps the biggest is Raoul. Ten years after winning the hand of Christine, Raoul (played by Joseph Millson) is now an embittered, drunken mess, resentful of Christine and Gustave, still haunted by his past battles with the Phantom (and, to top it all off, suspicious of Gustave's true parentage!). A far cry from the bright-eyed lad who once professed his undying love to Christine on the Paris Opera rooftop by singing "All I Ask of You". Summer Strallen is Meg, who has given up ballet to become the Phantom's headlining "Ooh-La-La Girl"; and Sally Dexter plays the ever-mysterious Madame Giry.



The best numbers in the show are those that Andrew Lloyd Webber wisely used in the official LOVE NEVER DIES press launch, namely "The Coney Island Waltz" (an eerie melody with shades of "Sunset Boulevard" in it's opening strains), and the Phantom's soaring ballad "'Til I Hear You Sing". Raoul and the Phantom's "Devil Take the Hindmost" duet harks back to their stormy vocal tauntings in the original "Phantom" score. The title song ("Love Never Dies", sung by Christine at the climax of the second act) is merely a re-tread of a piece that ALW previously slotted into "The Beautiful Game", entitled "Our Kind of Love", but apparently it always meant for the eventual Phantom sequel, according to the composer at least. Glenn Slater's lyrics serve their purpose.



The storyline will forever shatter the romantic dreams of diehard "Phans", the score is brilliant in some places but sketchy in others, and the overall tone of the piece wildly shifts during the course of events. It's never going to achieve the same level of success or adoration as the original "Phantom", let alone threat it's position as the longest-running musical Broadway has ever seen, but it's fine footnote if nothing else."

A Worthy "Phantom" Follow-Up

Steven Valenti | Cleveland, OH | 03/09/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Judging from this cast recording, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Love Never Dies" is a solid sequel to the composer's blockbuster, "The Phantom of the Opera."



The show is a risky proposition that could have been a disaster, and indeed the critics have not weighed in as of this writing, but whatever the fate of "Love Never Dies," I don't think anyone can accuse the composer of simply trying to cash in on his biggest success. This is an effective score in Lloyd Webber's "Phantom"-"Woman in White"- gothic melodrama mode-- a genre in which he obviously excels. The lush melodies are here, as they always are, but what really impressed me is that the plot (book by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ben Elton, and Glenn Slater; lyrics by Slater) is surprisingly well constructed, with sharper characterizations of the main players from "Phantom"--The Phantom, Christine, Raoul, Madame Giry, and Meg (The only major addition is Christine's and Raoul's son Gustave.).



The action takes place ten years after "Phantom" on Coney Island, which turns out to be an inspired choice of setting, allowing the composer to have fun with the amusement park atmosphere (lots of varied and swirling, often thrilling, melodies) while also giving us a logical place for the Phantom to have settled-- among the other freaks in this funhouse world. Madame and Meg Giry have managed to help the Phantom escape Paris and the three have settled in America (Meg has been singing cheesy vaudeville songs at the resort.). Eventually, Christine arrives with Raoul and their son for a performance. Raoul has turned into a bit of a drunk and a gambler (Christine takes the gig to help settle his debts). Of course, the Phantom, still pining for her, has arranged Christine's concert in secret.



The plot develops at a steady, if somewhat slow, pace and I cannot really imagine a better follow-up for these characters. They were not particularly well developed in the original (as Lloyd Webber has stated), so this is a worthy attempt to add more purpose to the characters. The music is memorable, and does not simply rehash the earlier show. There are little moments of the "Phantom" score well placed in certain spots, but these are very few. The music manages to recall its predecessor by matching its tone and style, without merely copying it. (Careful listeners will notice that part of "Our Kind of Love" from "The Beautiful Game" is used in the title tune here. Lloyd Webber has acknowledged this and stated that he always intended to use it in a Phantom sequel, and was unhappy with it in "Beautiful Game," and has since replaced it. Good enough for me.)



My one major complaint about the recording is the casting. Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine, are fine singers, but they are not distinctive in the way Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman were on the original. The cast feels a little too ordinary, and the acting can come across a bit stilted. I hope they show a bit more personality on stage.



Like most Lloyd Webber recordings, this is a nearly complete recording, with well over two hours of music. I think other "Phantom" fans will be pleased."

Eh.

Brittanica | 03/20/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"*SPOILER ALERTS*



I had hopes for this when it was first announced. Then, I learned it was based on Forsythe's novel The Phantom of Manhattan, which I consequently read and hated. My hopes decreased. I was introduced to Phantom via the 2004 movie, and have been a Phan since. I now have since seen the musical twice and read anything and everything I could get on Phantom, not to mention to other versions of the music (Nightwish for example covered the title song).



I opened the CD with minor expectations, and that's about where they remained. The music is sub-par. The songs do not enchant you nor get inside you like the original soundtrack. The story itself is much like the Phandom seen throughout the internet...SPOILER ALERT, Christine finally got with The Phantom, and Raoul is a whiny drunk. The plot is silly and vapid, though the clear love between Christine and the Phantom is touching. The love Christine has for Gustave is nice as well, though not necessarily the feelings you see between mother and son. Meg's part seems tacked on, plus she and Mme. Giry just went insane apparently during the previous ten years. The Phantom is no longer feared but adored by all (in particularly the Girys), and the plot is just rough to get through.



The music isn't all that great, either. The songs are occasionally catchy, but not that memorable. A lot of it sounds like rejected Disney or Repo! The Genetic Opera songs. "Till I Hear You Sing" gives a little of the same oomph the original Phantom provided, but it is masked by the hideousness of many of the other songs. I personally enjoyed the duet between Raoul and the Phantom "Devil Take the Hindmost," but it was not brilliant. The title song is not a duet, which I dislike, and the Christine songs sound forced, not pure like the original. Many of the songs feel as though they are stealing from other works ("Beneath a Moonless Sky" has nearly the exact same chords and tune as "Sally's Song" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, "Heaven by the Sea" is reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast's "Be Our Guest", and "Ah, Christine" brings to mind Sweeney Todd's "Poor Thing" or "No Place Like London"). The music is pretty enough, but not really original, and the lyrics are painful at times. Worst (or possibly best, depending on your sense of sound and humor) is "The Beauty Underneath." The tune is rather catchy (it's the tune I had stuck in my head) and it's not necessarily a bad song...until you realize it's the Phantom singing to Gustave...his son. Gustave's consequent "yeeeees" at the end of the refrains make this song seem rather homo-erotic, but don't let me turn you against the music before you hear it.



The other issue is the plot. Granted, I read the book, so I knew what was coming...but I knew what was coming before I read it. In a Phantom sequel where Christine has a son that is just like the Phantom himself...it's pretty obvious they are related (especially since Raoul can't seem to stand Gustave). Then the whole Meg sub-plot and the death at the end were just...ridiculous to say the least. There was nothing in the original play that supported this ending...and if you are going by the original novel, the entire sequel is ridiculous.



So three stars seems relatively generous for a CD that disappointed me much in the same fashion as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace disappointed me at age 10 when it was first released."