Broadway Features and Reviews
Love Never Dies Opens: Broadway Phantom Lives
By Caitlin Maggs, Broadway Magazine
Who says plastic surgery is the craze of the decade? Facial disfigurements are back in this season, as the Phantom reawakens in London, his quest to spread 'Love Never Dies' is only just beginning.
Proving wrong the phrase; no one follows a hit, Phantom's follow-up aims to hold it's own beyond the daunting ghost of its high-flying predecessor. Becoming an overnight sensation back in 1986, the heart-wrenching romance that broke down all theatrical boundaries, and rose up to become not only one of the world's most adored musicals of all time, but also a movie dream, earning a record two billion plus.
Clearly for Andrew Lloyd Webber a lot is resting on the continued triumph of his ambitious sequel 'Love Never Dies'. Though even at early days, the snippets of theatrical gold are already beginning to shine from within this potential classic.
Leaping from the ghostly chasms of Paris Opera House to the dazzlingly lights of the Coney Island fairground, all seems set for Mr. Webber's new musical to yet again weave its magic on the floorboards in this exciting follow-up. Starring Ramin Karimloo as the brooding anti-hero and Broadway's Sierra Boggess as seduced songstress Christine Daae, 'Love Never Dies' picks up the story a decade after we left it, to find Christine and Raoul settled with their son Gustav in Paris.
But with mysterious events unfolding around her; Christine is invited to perform at a new attraction in Coney Island resort, blissfully unaware of the Phantom's darkened plans for her arrival...
With London 'phans' positively ablaze with anticipation, scandalous rumours, and more than a touch too much white paint, the show's opening night was a success, leaving the more sceptical critics choking on their pens. While praise for the sequel was not universal, it was prevalent among many London theatre critics.
Walking in the daunting footprints of its almost crushing predecessor, a sequel was one big gamble, and a gamble proved to be well worth the risk. This independent story is not haunted by the glamour and shine of its past heritage, but quite the reverse. It is growing to exceed people's estimations to become inevitably a rightful international success story on its own merit alone. Underneath the mask, 'Love Never Dies' is no disappointing understudy.
Love Never Dies hits Broadway in the fall. Don't be scared.
Sample of Reviews below:
"The show may ultimately prove too strange, too dark, too tormented to become a massive popular hit, but I suspect its creepy allure will linger potently in the memory when frothier shows have been long forgotten." –Charles Spencer, The Telegraph
"In short, the show has much to commend it and the staging is a constant source of iridescent pleasure...Although Lloyd Webber's score is full of gems, in the end a musical is only as good as its book. With a libretto to match the melodies, this might have been a stunner rather than simply a good night out." –Michael Billington, The Guardian
"The score may lack a duet as thematically and melodically interwoven as 'The Music of the Night' from the original. But the leading couple sing beautifully together, like two fountains overtopping each other, in the lyrically staged balcony double duet of 'Once Upon Another Time'." –Paul Taylor, The Independent
Proving wrong the phrase; no one follows a hit, Phantom's follow-up aims to hold it's own beyond the daunting ghost of its high-flying predecessor. Becoming an overnight sensation back in 1986, the heart-wrenching romance that broke down all theatrical boundaries, and rose up to become not only one of the world's most adored musicals of all time, but also a movie dream, earning a record two billion plus.
Clearly for Andrew Lloyd Webber a lot is resting on the continued triumph of his ambitious sequel 'Love Never Dies'. Though even at early days, the snippets of theatrical gold are already beginning to shine from within this potential classic.
Leaping from the ghostly chasms of Paris Opera House to the dazzlingly lights of the Coney Island fairground, all seems set for Mr. Webber's new musical to yet again weave its magic on the floorboards in this exciting follow-up. Starring Ramin Karimloo as the brooding anti-hero and Broadway's Sierra Boggess as seduced songstress Christine Daae, 'Love Never Dies' picks up the story a decade after we left it, to find Christine and Raoul settled with their son Gustav in Paris.
But with mysterious events unfolding around her; Christine is invited to perform at a new attraction in Coney Island resort, blissfully unaware of the Phantom's darkened plans for her arrival...
With London 'phans' positively ablaze with anticipation, scandalous rumours, and more than a touch too much white paint, the show's opening night was a success, leaving the more sceptical critics choking on their pens. While praise for the sequel was not universal, it was prevalent among many London theatre critics.
Walking in the daunting footprints of its almost crushing predecessor, a sequel was one big gamble, and a gamble proved to be well worth the risk. This independent story is not haunted by the glamour and shine of its past heritage, but quite the reverse. It is growing to exceed people's estimations to become inevitably a rightful international success story on its own merit alone. Underneath the mask, 'Love Never Dies' is no disappointing understudy.
Love Never Dies hits Broadway in the fall. Don't be scared.
Sample of Reviews below:
"The show may ultimately prove too strange, too dark, too tormented to become a massive popular hit, but I suspect its creepy allure will linger potently in the memory when frothier shows have been long forgotten." –Charles Spencer, The Telegraph
"In short, the show has much to commend it and the staging is a constant source of iridescent pleasure...Although Lloyd Webber's score is full of gems, in the end a musical is only as good as its book. With a libretto to match the melodies, this might have been a stunner rather than simply a good night out." –Michael Billington, The Guardian
"The score may lack a duet as thematically and melodically interwoven as 'The Music of the Night' from the original. But the leading couple sing beautifully together, like two fountains overtopping each other, in the lyrically staged balcony double duet of 'Once Upon Another Time'." –Paul Taylor, The Independent
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