Love Does Die, well for a bit?

Its expected the show will close at the end of the current booking season ... but will reopen a few weeks later with revisions to the show. Ala...Sunset Boulevard...

However, this isn't decieded.

The show is struggling at the box office now, so it would be a huge gamble to close and reopen as its just making the investment go up and up and the return go down and down...

Updated On: 6/8/10 at 05:25 AM

I was rolling my eyes thru out the show... and closing them!

Nothing can save the show now. No shows really work to great success when your still trying re-write massively and save the show once its actually opened. Never worked for Martin Guerre and damaged Sunsets reputation. The show just didn't work, which is a massive shame as its one of Webbers best scores. The production team just wasn't right for the show.

I know the box office manageress and she wishes it would die believe me!!!

"ALW's weakest ever score (and none of his scores have been particularly good)"

I completely disagree, not only do I think that this is one of Lloyd-Webber's best, but it is one of my favourite scores of the last decade and my favourite current score.

Absolutely. I love it when that happens in a show as well. For example, I think the Spring Awakening score amazing, but the book awful!

I find the Spring Awakening book to lack emotion and depth. I also find the book and the characters greatly under-developed and seem to have been hastily put together as a support for the music.

Having said that, I am a massive fan of a lot of Sater's lyrics (not so much of the cut songs, glad they were cut.)

Is my morbid happiness concerning this show's failure at box office a bad thing? I think it is, however it really does look dire, hate the score so much and the idea of it.

Also, lack of depth and developed characters in a book for Spring Awakening? I hope you see Love Never Dies, your opinion is bound to change.

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Luke, it's not wrong of you- this is the whole point about hubris!

They made such grand claims. They made such a big mess.

Woman In White didn't last more than a few weeks on Broadway and WIM was a masterpiece compared to this drivel. If ALW is crazy enough to place LND in front of a New York audience, it could be the biggest bomb of all time.

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Weez, the shows you listed are all probably amongst the 10 worst musicals of all time, so placing LND on top of that list doesn't say much LOL. Seriously though, I'm glad you enjoyed it (hell, I'm glad SOMEONE enjoyed it) and, though I know everyone has their own personal tastes in music, I find it hard to take in that anyone enjoyed the score to LND. To say I'm a musical theatre fanatic would be an understatement - I see almost any show that moves and my musical tastes are pretty eclectic. But I was honestly bored out of my mind for almost the entire two and a half hours. I could almost cope with the preposterous plot and mindless text if the music was even mildly enjoyable. But apart from Till I Hear You Sing, I found it totally tuneless. (And TIHYS was repeated so often that by the end I was ready to scream if I heard it again.) Of the literally hundreds of shows I've seen over the years there are probably less than ten I would say I seriously hated - and this was one of them.

Sorry to keep ranting about this LOL but I am still giving vent to my anger at having paid £67 to see a show that I honestly thought was not worth 67 pence.

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My opinion has changed over time. I still don't like the bits of the score that blatently borrow from The Woman in White as it gets a little distracting. I still think some of the book and lyrics need to be changed or just cut all together, but for the most part the score is soaring and beautiful and it's fun to listen to when I'm in the mood. I still wish Andrew would have continued with The Master and Margarita, but I'll take what I can get.

Everytime I hear this score I pick up bits and pieces from every other song he's ever written. I understand re-using stuff, but this is just insane.

In TELEGRAPH interview/story June 12 that pretty much spits and roasts a married couple of "Phanatics" who are members of an anti-LND group, the reporter writes,

"...A Facebook group was set up to denounce the "trainwreck of a show", and false rumours began spreading of its imminent demise.
Yet the show is playing to packed houses and standing ovations each night at the Adelphi Theatre, leaving the producers baffled by the online vitriol. ..."

Later in the article,

"André Ptaszynski, chief executive of the Really Useful Group and the show's producer, said: "Love Never Dies has been extremely well received by the audiences with a standing ovation every evening, but its success has not been helped by the hostile internet campaign. ..."

So who do we believe? Is the show doing well or not?