Big Phantom Love Never Dies announcement, original Phantom to close?- Page 2

[Sally]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 1:34am

I like some of your speculations, but those who figured out that October 8 is when tickets go on sale are right. This Phantom tweeting stuff is just the beginning of the advertising/promotion campaign. Lame

My *sources* tell me that "The Phantom" is actually a young woman who has been a journalist and an editor, a little surprising since in the most recent tweet, she wrote, as the Phantom, "Remember there are worst things than a shattered chandelier."

Mark Shenton in Playbill said "...Though no formal announcement has been made of the show's schedule, the Daily Mail reports that rehearsals will now begin early in January 2010."

Earlier in the article, he said that performances are scheduled to begin at the Adelphi Theatre in March of 2010.
PLAYBILL ARTICLE

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 8:15am

"Because he had the biggest willy"

Of course, that implies that she's seen EVERYONE'S willy.

[GimmeABreak2]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 8:33am

Is this the first time a Broadway show has had a sequel?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 8:40am

Nope.

Bye, Bye Birdie had Bring Back Birdie in 1984 (or so)
Annie had Annie 2, then Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge and then Annie Warbucks

I'm sure those aren't the only ones.

[vodkastinger]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 8:43am

I just hope it's as good as Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 8:47am

Bye Bye Birdie's closed after four performances.

Annie's two attempts (which were both were sequels to the original) both did horribly.

Best Little Whorehouse's only ran for two weeks.


They all seem to have faded into oblivion (except Annie Warbucks, which community theatres love), which I hope this show will... Although none of the original shows were as huge as Phantom, and I'm not sure if any Broadway sequels have run at the same time as the original.

And coincidentally enough, in the Annie sequels, there were some scenes that took place at Coney Island. I guess it's just a popular crappy sequel locale.





Updated On: 9/17/09 at 08:47 AM

[leefowler]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 8:55am

I worked on Spamalot, so allow me to share a conversation I once had with Mike Nichols:

Mike produced the original Annie, and I asked him if he had anything to do with the sequel. He said he hadn't, and that you can never have a sequel to a musical. I asked him why, and he said, "a musical is about the most important event in a person's life, and you can't have two of those".

I think I agree, actually.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 9:38am

But the loophole is that the Phantom is more of a Phantom than a person.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 1:27pm

The exception to the rule being Falsettos which was made up of two sequels, both superior and more successful than In Trousers.

[AvenueQResident]

Posted: 9/17/09 at 3:16pm

It certainly won't be replacing the original 'Phantom' in London because it's been pretty much confirmed it's going into the Adelphi Theatre, which is a completely different venue.

[Sally]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 9:10pm

If you're being serious, I don't think the Phantom is more of a Phantom than a person. All of those people wiping tears from their eyes after the last scene aren't doing it because some vague Phantom lost the girl. Kind of the point of the show is that the deformed guy everybody thought was a ghost is a man.

[binau]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 9:29pm

Wait what?

I thought the ending of POTO was meant to leave it ambiguous whether it was a 'ghost' or a 'man'.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 10:12pm

I think of him as a man, but I'm biased since I've read the original novel, as well as Kay's Phantom, which both firmly establish his humanity.

I think people get upset more because he loses his elegance and nobility and mystery, and has a total meltdown. You feel bad for him because he has become so desperate and crazy.
Updated On: 9/18/09 at 10:12 PM

[Sally]

Posted: 9/19/09 at 12:36pm

Christine discovers that he is "nothing but a man" after "Music of the Night" and says so to, I think, to Raoul. The only thing ambiguous about the final scene is where the Phantom has gone and how---when he disappears from under his cloak on the throne , leaving only the mask behind. This disappearance is only one of several magical seeming things the Phantom does throughout the show to give him the illusion of supernaturality and the power that goes with it.

I think HollyGolightly2 is right in that after he has been completely unmasked, wig and all, he clearly becomes a pathetic but angry MAN. He achieves a kind of nobility and the audience's sympathy when, in what is probably the first really unselfish act of his life, he lets Christine go with her young man although losing her devastates him.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 9/19/09 at 1:14pm

Why are we still letting this ridiculous thread title float around the top of the page?

Not that I'm helping here...

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 9/19/09 at 1:14pm

Double Post, I'm REALLY not helping...
Updated On: 9/19/09 at 01:14 PM

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 4:17pm

I know that the original idea of this thread is ridiculous, but since the posts gravitated to speculating what the October 8th announcement will be, I'm gonna post this here.

Earlier today, on BBC Radio Nottingham, Ramin Karimloo was asked about his role in Love Never Dies, and he was very coy about it. The interviewer said he was very heavily involved, and he said "Well, that's the rumor, yeah. Apparently I am." Then he said that when 'the Phantom' makes his Oct 8th announcement on twitter, "a lot will be cleared up."

Judging from what Ramin said and the way he was acting, I'm willing to bet the announcement will be the full or partial official cast list.
Updated On: 9/23/09 at 04:17 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 5:01pm

"The sequel will likely spawn new interest in the original Phantom, and I would predict their will be joint ticket offers in the future (in New York, I guess this would require them putting it in a Shubert theatre)."

Guess again. It's going into the Neil Simon. Ragtime will have to vacate when Phantom 2 is ready (assuming it is still playing).

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 7:48pm

For the Phantom again to work, obviously you need great music and lyric and the effects and illusions have to top the original, which is a pretty tall order.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 7:56pm

I'll tell you what I find disturbing about this premise--for the Phantom and Christine to have had a child together, he would have had to rape her after she fainted. There is no other time that we see them alone together except in the lair the first time. And that just totally destroys his character for me. I see him as a man who never felt a woman's touch. Why else would the kiss affect him so profoundly?

The idea of the sequel disappoints me also because I see the ending of the original as a redemption for the Phantom. He spent his whole life hiding away from the world, and tries to be a part of it, in a way, by reaching out to Christine. That's not in the cards for him, so he accepts it goes back into the shadows to watch from afar.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 8:07pm

You don't mind the Christine sex robot? 'Cause that's what I find most disturbing.

Not looking forward to watching my lovely Ramin Karimloo rape a doll. Or watching a scene that only implies that he rapes a doll.
Updated On: 9/23/09 at 08:07 PM

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 12:15am

I've not heard a note of the music, but am certain the story, as revealed through interviews, will be detrimental to the original's story...as noted by EganFan2.

[jonmbway4652]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 12:27am

why would they close either of the current phantom productions... they are both doing extremely well... that would make no sense

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 3:08pm

"I've not heard a note of the music, but am certain the story, as revealed through interviews, will be detrimental to the original's story...as noted by EganFan2."



Andy said that fans of the original might have "trouble with the way the story continues, but there was nothing [he] could do about that, as the story is the story..."

Are you kidding me? 'Nothing he could do'?? It's based on bad fanfiction; I'm sure he could have tweaked it. He already altered Leroux's story quite a bit for the original. He's acting like Leroux himself wrote the sequel and that it's sacred (while for some reason, the original novel is not).

Updated On: 9/24/09 at 03:08 PM

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 3:45pm

Adding on to the news about the announcement, 'The Phantom' just tweeted that it's going to be at 11 AM, British time.

Geez, thanks for finally telling us. Duh.