LOVE NEVER DIES - US Tour- Page 9

[Lot666]

Posted: 11/20/17 at 12:57pm

Not sure what's going on, but I've heard that Mr. Cortes may be out through the end of December.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 11/20/17 at 1:32pm

Uh oh. Wonder what's happening

[ArtMan]

Posted: 11/20/17 at 4:07pm

I just got confirmation that I won the lottery ($50) for Sunday in Orlando.  I saw the show in London and looking forward to seeing it again.

[Lot666]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 8:57am

ArtMan said: "I just got confirmation that I won the lottery ($50) for Sunday in Orlando. I saw the show in London and looking forward to seeing it again."

I didn't win a lottery, but I did recently receive an email from Andrew Lloyd Webber's team, advising that I had been selected to receive a pair of tickets for the opening night performance in my area. I'm delighted; now I have tickets for three performances!   This came from the web survey that the ALW social media accounts posted last week (there was an opportunity at the end to be entered in a drawing for tickets to a variety of current ALW shows).

[broadwayboy222]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 12:58pm

As per his Instagram, looks like Bronson will be on as the Phantom for every show of the Orlando run, minus Saturday and Sunday matinee's. Quite strange if Gardar is only performing two performances in a week's engagement...... unless the rumors of his absence are true.

[mozgrrl]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 1:04pm

This could be far-fetched....BUT...could he be absent because he's taking over for Peter in March on Broadway?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 1:11pm

mozgrrl said: "This could be far-fetched....BUT...could he be absent because he's taking over for Peter in March on Broadway?"

That does seem a bit far fetched. As he wouldn’t need to be ready for broadway until at least February.

[atczwriter]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 1:29pm

Will report back from Orlando's opening tonight.

[Lot666]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:42pm

broadwayboy222 said: "As per his Instagram, looks like Bronson will be on as the Phantom for every show of the Orlando run, minus Saturday and Sunday matinee's. Quite strange if Gardar is only performing two performances in a week's engagement...... unless the rumors of his absence are true."

To be clear, Mr. Cortes is supposed to be playing the Phantom in the two matinee shows this coming weekend?

[Lot666]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:43pm

Call_me_jorge said: "mozgrrl said: "This could be far-fetched....BUT...could he be absent because he's taking over for Peter in March on Broadway?"

That does seem a bit far fetched. As he wouldn’t need to be ready for broadway until at least February."

But it's an interesting thought!

[Justin D]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 3:09pm

Yes It is, but will Equity be ok with this? or are they not as big on this sort of thing anymore?

I'm all a fan for it personally as he has  not played the Phantom in part 1 before.

 

I also remember back in the day you had these Equity swaps, does that still happen? (I will let your unknown Brit perform if you let one of our unknowns perform in a production of yours in the UK) There hasn't been an american in the UK Phantom since Marcus Lovett, and before him, Grant Norman. 

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/25/17 at 9:54am

Saw the show last night in Orlando. Oof.

I’ll start with the good: the entire cast, including Bronson Murphy, who was on for the Phantom. All of them had outstanding voices and it’s an exceptionally well-sung production. They try valiantly to make it work, but unfortunately they’re done in by a horrendous script and story.

I don’t love or hate Phantom- I’m not a Phan, but I see why the show has such appeal. However, this show is on a whole different level.

There are huge plot holes here that I won’t go into because they’re full of spoilers, but they’re so big you could drive a truck through them. The twists are predictable, and things are telegraphed very obviously. In the early part of the show, I don’t quite understand how Christine (or even Raoul) didn’t piece this all together sooner.

The rest of the plot is a whole lot of melodramatic camp, and I found myself giggling at the wrong moment a few times. The whole “Meg’s Revenge” section of act 2 is especially funny.

I also spent much of the show wondering what happened to Oscar Hammerstein. He never wondered why Christine didn’t show up? Never thought to go looking for them?

If this comes to New York, it’s going to get savaged by the critics.

Updated On: 11/25/17 at 09:54 AM

[chernjam]

Posted: 11/25/17 at 11:20am

adam - it's definitely not "War and Peace" in terms of story lines.  And perhaps because this is your first time seeing the show, you missed a couple of things - because if I remember correctly - let me put this in spoiler alert territory: 

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Hammerstein never invited Christine to NY.  The Phantom lied to her to get her to come to NY.  That's why at the start of "Beneath a Moonless Sky" she realizes she has been tricked by him 

 

[broadwayboy222]

Posted: 11/25/17 at 12:59pm

Arrived intending to buy student rush tickets only to find they were sold out! However, after waiting to see if anyone outside the theater had any extra tickets to get rid of I was incredibly lucky enough to have had one of the box office staff walk out after seeing myself standing in front of the box office and reoffer the very last student rush ticket that had come back right at curtain time!! Saw the show Tuesday night and is it perfection? No. But I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed it! As stated above the entire cast, vocally, is incredible. I sat wondering/wishing/hoping many times to one day possibly get to see this cast perform the original. Bronson was on as the Phantom, and I found this quite interesting, at stage door I politely asked how many times he had gone on thus far, to which he gently responded "let's just say I've been the principal performing 6 times a week since opening." Still makes me wonder what on earth is going on with Gardar?!? I additionally hope he is being paid the proper salary, as he is still billed as an alternate/understudy, however is basically the principal at this point..... Also wanted to note how incredibly kind the three leads were at stage door, Bronson, Megan and Sean were all out rather quickly but stayed chatting and greeting people for what almost seemed like a full hour! I had a lovely conversation with Sean Thompson, as I knew a family friend who was in Sunset along with him, what a sweet, friendly man! Overall, it was quite a wonderful night and while it does have its share of problems, I do wish this production would at least attempt a Broadway run, even if the critics won't be kind. Also, if anyone is attending today or Sunday's matinees, I am curious as who will be playing Phantom for those perfomances as those are currently the only two in which Bronson is not scheduled to perform.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 11/25/17 at 3:37pm

Broadwayboy222, I am seeing the Sunday matinee and will post who played the Phantom.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 11/25/17 at 3:37pm

double post

Updated On: 11/25/17 at 03:37 PM

[ArtMan]

Posted: 11/26/17 at 9:30pm

Michael Gillis went on as the Phantom at the Sunday matinee.  I asked  someone with the show (I'm not being specific...don't want to get him/her in trouble) about Gardar.  I was told he developed allergies while in Ft Lauderdale.  The medicine they prescribed for him messed with his vocal cords.  He will remain out for a few more weeks.

Updated On: 11/26/17 at 09:30 PM

[ArtMan]

Posted: 11/26/17 at 9:30pm

double post

Updated On: 11/26/17 at 09:30 PM

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 11/27/17 at 8:55am

Saw this Saturday afternoon - not a fan or a foe of Phantom as a caveat.

Michael Gillis was on for the Phantom, as was the Christine understudy (sorry, didn't get her name). 

 

The good: As mentioned earlier, the entire cast was wonderful, in fine voice and was pleasantly surprised to see Karen Mason (somehow I missed that she was in the tour!).  The show was well designed and looked 'expensive'.  The performances were solid.

 

The bad: As previously mentioned, the story is full of holes and is inconsistent.  We spend at least 1/3 of Act 1 establishing that we are in Coney Island - which doesn't play into the story in a meaningful way.  The plot twists can be seen coming a mile away.     There was a good amount of license taken getting the story from Phantom to this.

 

Overall - a meh.

 

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 11/27/17 at 1:35pm

Gardar will be out on vocal rest for the next few WEEKS? I hope he doesn't suffer the same fate as the original Phantom in the current Phantom tour. He missed several performances due to vocal issues and was fired and replaced by his understudy, Cooper Grodin. ALW is being unusually supportive here given his past intolerance for this kind of thing.

[Lot666]

Posted: 11/28/17 at 1:17pm

chernjam said: "adam - it's definitely not "War and Peace" in terms of story lines. And perhaps because this is your first time seeing the show, you missed a couple of things - because if I remember correctly - let me put this in spoiler alert territory:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Hammerstein never invited Christine to NY. The Phantom lied to her to get her to come to NY. That's why at the start of "Beneath a Moonless Sky" she realizes she has been tricked by him

 

And it's why Raoul waits in the hotel bar for a rendezous with Hammerstein that never occurs.

[Lot666]

Posted: 11/28/17 at 1:26pm

broadwayboy222 said: "Bronson was on as the Phantom, and I found this quite interesting, at stage door I politely asked how many times he had gone on thus far, to which he gently responded "let's just say I've been the principal performing 6 times a week since opening." Still makes me wonder what on earth is going on with Gardar?!? I additionally hope he is being paid the proper salary, as he is still billed as an alternate/understudy, however is basically the principal at this point"

Mr. Cortes will not perform until after Christmas.

I personally feel that the billing should've been changed to indicate Mr. Murphy as the star at this point. It's really not fair to call him an understudy when he's regularly performing the role at least six times per week, and has been doing so for some time now. He's also a great ambassador for the show, with a strong and enthusiastic social media presence (I've not seen anything on social media from Mr. Cortes since the tour began).

[whatacharacter]

Posted: 11/28/17 at 1:29pm

ArtMan said: ".I was told he developed allergies while in Ft Lauderdale. The medicine they prescribed for him messed with his vocal cords. He will remain out for a few more weeks."

He actually developed the allergies in previews in Baltimore...  which is legitimate as the fall allergies in Maryland are harsh.

 

[Lot666]

Posted: 11/30/17 at 11:42am

How long do principals usually stay in their roles in touring companies? Is it likely that the current cast will do the entire tour, or will they be replaced at some point?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/30/17 at 11:44am

It varies just about as much as on Broadway.