LOVE NEVER DIES will not arrive on broadway this season...uh duh? — Page 2

Did the Phantom rape Christine?
I missed that.

bwayphreak234,

I think that for people who aren't happy with the show, it's not so much that it's not the ending people wanted. I think Webber very much over-estimated how many people wanted any "second ending" at all. Audiences have been satisfied for years to imagine their own what-came-afters, if they were of a mind to.

---Then, there are the problems with the show others have mentioned.

I'm kinda sad because I wanted to see it. I think the score is good, except the hrrible vaudville ones (and there suppossed to be bad) The story definately has its flaws. I agree The Phantom is pathetic in this. He should be the Phantom of old. Also, it's just the ending. Very surprising and proves the name of the title wrong??? I hope it makes it here next year.

"except the hrrible vaudville ones (and there suppossed to be bad)"

I didn't get the impression that Meg's vaudeville stuff was supposed to be intentionally bad. I thought it was there to show the way music was changing during that time period, with opera/classical beginning to go from the standard of the period to becoming a more upper-class/elite art form as vaudeville and the sounds of the music-hall began to rise.

That being said, I don't care for most of Meg's music, especially the constant repeats of "Bathing Beauty." This is, of course, based solely on the recording, as I have not seen the show in London, so do not know if any of that has since changed between the recording and the premiere production.

I've said before, it is the ending that needs the most work.

They have to accomplish 2 major things in a short time: Christine dying (and Gustave will have to deal with her death) and him accepting the Phantom as his dad. It's too much to do in a short time.

Perhaps Gustave needs to find out about the Phantom being his dad before he is kidnapped somehow?

The other thing would be to totally re-do the ending. It is a 'free' story so they can change it as they wish. You can end up with several possibilities for who survives in the end:

Gustave & the Phantom

Gustave & Mme Giry

Gustave alone (with some sort of Phantom suicide after christine's death ,a-la the big fire)
Gustave being presumed dead but in fact is alive somewhere, now Mme Giry has to raise him after everyone else dies in the fire.

Gustave & Raoul(with Raoul not actually leaving)

There are alot of possibilities in there, they just have to pick the one that works best on stage.


Book aside, there are alot of shows around that have been successful with a shabby book. Phantom itself has some big plot holes. Look at Cats, that didn't have a book at all really and ran for ages. So even if they cant fix the book, once they put on a good show (production wise) and add a few more songs I think they will survive the critics and focus on tourists.

As for Gustave's conception, they should have gone about it slightly different to make it more plausible: Christine is having a hard time dealing with what really happened in part 1 and now that some time has passed, she is nervous about the marriage, not that she prefers the Phantom, but just some cold feet, she goes to her father's grave for support again and it so happens that is where the Phantom is hiding (and not hiding in some random place and she some how finds where he is hiding by accident) Once she stumbles across him there with all her insecurities and daddy issues she gets caught up in the moment and dot, dot, dot)

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Although I would change many things in the plot/book, as it stands, I would have Giry shoot Meg to save Gustave (and some parent/sibling irony) then Phantom, Christine and Phantom Jr. re-unite in the third sequel. YOU CAN'T STOP THE DARK!

I read the reviews and if it's improved, then I wouldn't mind seeing this come to New York. I mean, it's PHANTOM so it's supposed to be bombastic and over-the-top, right? More importantly, I've become a fan of Ramin Karimloo after watching the CineCast of the 25th Anniversary Les Miz Concert. If the show does make a Broadway transfer, I hope RK crosses the Atlantic and opens it here.

It seems like Andrew has almost gotten this disaster almost control. The reviews are way better than when the shoe first opened and the changes that were made sound like they will do a lot to help the show.

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I have not seen LND. For me, the single most important thing in a musical is the music. I can forgive a weak book and plot if the music is good, but I cannot forgive a weak score for a strong book and story.

In my opinion, LND is ALW's best score yet. I think it is magnificent and the use of motifs, especially in the first act finale is brilliant.

Story wise, I'm not sure what to think, but this discussion has finally led me to begin reading The Phantom of the Opera.

I do not believe Christine ever chose Raoul at the end of POTO. She never had the chance - the Phantom made that decision for her. Where the original failed, IMO, is it never told us who Raoul was - he was a very one dimensional character. All we knew was he was handsome, rich and a fan of Christine. I never understood why she would chose him over the Phantom. The Phantom wrote beautiful music, which is a shared passion. Furthermore, she lost her father young and the Phantom was a type of father figure. However, one cannot forget he is/was a murderer. Without knowing anything about Raoul, I think the most logical course of action would have been for her to pick no one. I'm basically reading the book to get a better idea of who Raoul is in the original.

I don't mind the vaudeville numbers. As a previous poster says, it fits with the changing music preferences of the time. While I like The Beauty Underneath, I do not think it, in the musical style it was written, fits with the rest of the score, much like I don't thing the title song in POTO fits.

The bottom line is he has given us a glorious score and has really given me a lot to think about when it comes to the characters and their development. That is a success in my eyes.

I think people, especially critics, love to hate ALW. That is unfortunate. This is a better show, music wise, book wise and plot wise (despite it's weaknesses) than a lot of shows that run for years.

I wish it a long and heathy run.

Updated On: 12/23/10 at 11:14 AM

The reviews are way better? Have you read only the snippets from the reviews that were in the linked summary?

I've read all seven of the reviews that have come out so far, and it looks to me that there are three very favorable: Spencer in the Telegraph, Lister in The Independent, and Coveney in The Stage.

Four reviews are unfavorable: Benedict in Variety Magazine, Hitchings in The Evening Standard, Jake Orr in A Younger Theatre (not mentioned by Broadwayworld).

http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-love-never-dies-adelphi-theatre-andrew-lloyd-webber/

---And Marmion in the Daily Mail.

At this time, the reviews are as mixed as they were for the first opening.

"I never understood why she would chose him over the Phantom."

I am always dumbfounded when people say this. The phantom is a crazy stalker and murderer. In the book he had intentions of blowing up the opera house until Christine managed to touch his soul with her pity. The dude had a torture chamber in his house! She didn't love him, she pitied him, and nothing more. Why do people always think she would/should have chosen the crazy one?

^ I could not agree more. I have not read Scarlet, but I have heard horror stories about that thing.

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