So she knew he wasn’t dead, because she went and found him (how? Not a clue) so…when did this happen? The lyrics in the original make it clear it wasn’t prior to the last scene of the first musical, and the lyrics in this one suggest it was the night before her wedding (well done on that one, Christine), but she also thought he was dead later on, so how does that make sense…? I don’t know. Except it’s also implied that he was “killed” by the mob and/or fire at the end of the last play. So…why does it even matter whether there’s a moon? As to when this happened, Christine apparently believed, after the moonless night, that the Phantom was dead. As long as she can’t see him, it’s all okay! Also, it’s worth noting that almost every previous interaction the Phantom and Christine had were in rooms without windows, and many of the key moments were underground. Other problems here (because there are more)–that moonless night annoys me so much, because it, like Angel of the Opera, reduces the Phantom’s problems and complications to just being unattractive. This also apparently torpedoed Christine and Raoul’s relationship (even though he doesn’t know about the moonless night), and in part sent him off on a spiral of drinking and gambling, totally changing his character too. Result: Christine and Erik’s relationship and their characters are completely changed based on a scene that wasn’t in the last play. They spent the night, and then the Phantom left, convinced he was unworthy, unaware that Christine had fallen in love with him and also become pregnant. It was afterwards, I think (more on that in a moment). When was this in the first musical, you ask? It wasn’t. Christine and Erik have a duet about one magical moonless night they spent together. That takes you about halfway through the play, and so many problems should already be apparent.Ībout the kid. He offers money, plays on the sentimental past, and if that doesn’t work, threatens to kidnap her son–at least until he has a sudden GASP moment when he realizes how old the kid is. The Phantom quickly finds her, and really, really, really wants her to sing for him on Coney Island. Christine turns up in New York with Raoul and her son Gustave in tow, here to sing for Oscar Hammerstein in order to pay off Raoul’s gambling debts. Y (why? not a clue, especially when he has a perfectly nice name like Erik) is running a freak show on Coney Island and writing really bad sideshow performances for Meg Giry, while he mopes about Christine. Actually, it must be ten years and nine months, but more on that later. The story is set on Coney Island (already we have a problem), ten years after Phantom. Love Never Dies really is terrible–on so many levels. Some of my reaction may be based on “but it’s not how I want it to turn out.” But that’s not all the basis for my reaction. Another bias: I’ve been invested in my own idea for the last six years about how the Phantom’s life ought to turn out in a sequel (the brief version: he stays at the Opera House, becomes a renowned but never-seen composer, and marries Meg Giry). I’d built up a vast amount of morbid curiosity. Frankly, I had put plenty of effort into hating it, and I think that’s why I wanted to see it. But I also didn’t come into it with an uneducated mind–I had read a lot about Love Never Dies and listened to about half of the soundtrack. The long review is going to be complicated and slightly incoherent, because there are so many flaws on so many levels at so many points, it’s hard to get structure into the review.įirst, a few notes on biases: I did not come into this with an open mind. The short, quick review is that it is an awful, awful play, flawed on so many levels I can’t count them, funny when it’s not supposed to be, entertaining in much the way that Plan 9 from Outer Space is entertaining. It was everything I had expected–it was terrible, and I had a wonderful time. It was showing in a local theater, and two friends and I went. I recently saw the filmed version of Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. The better Webber musical with the Phantom
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