Love Never Dies

On bronsonnorrismurphy.com it says:

“Bronson is currently touring the United States as THE PHANTOM in the North American Premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.” Apparently, Bronson is now the regular lead. He more than deserves it.

Updated On: 6/15/18 at 02:22 AM

I know what you mean. They always put their best foot forward.

I have spoken to several people connected to the show and they have confirmed that Bronson has taken over the Phantom role.

German here- you can call out far more often here. It's very common for principal actors to list their off dates ahead of time, often for a month's worth of shows they'll have already decided to call out six times, in addition to unplanned ones. Gardar had an alternate, Mathias Edenborn here as well. Never paid much attention to this show after seeing it and disliking it so I don't know how often he called out, but he only did 6 shows there as well.

I saw this steaming pile last night.

It wouldn't matter is Dakota Fanning and John Goodman were in the leads, no casting could elevate this or make it worst than it's book/lyrics/music.

A musical about an ugly European who used to write music for a beautiful woman who he thought loved him but now is loveless and kinda a hack?

We GET IT, ANDREW. We GET THAT IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU AND SARAH

Updated On: 6/15/18 at 03:44 PM

In Hamburg it was a huge flop, quite embarassing for Stage Entertainment. I didn't see Rachel as Christine but I did see her as Carlotta and she was very good in that role. Wonder if she'll join the Broadway company of the original when the tour closes.

The Distinctive Baritone said: "Sondheimite said:

"We GET IT, ANDREW. We GET THAT IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU AND SARAH"

LOL. Yeah, I think we all know that LND is basically self-therapy that got produced on an international level. And yes, it's a terrible show. But I lovePhantom,so this disaster of a sequel continues to fascinate me.

Also, I would like to point out that Bronson Murphy and Megan Picerno are both clearly in their late twenties, or at least appear to be.So in the original, the Phantom and Christine were teenagers?”

It is my understanding that Bronson is 32 and Meghan is 34. Bronson is a powerful, tenor whose voice soars. IMHO He has an excellent, strong Phantom voice. Meghan and Rachel have voices that you would expect to hear from a mature woman. The leads carry themselves with confidence. I’ve read that POTO Christine was a teenager.

I am a huge fan of the original Phantom musical and am also a fan of Love Never Dies. However, if there's one aspect of both shows that irks me of late, it's the tendency to cast young, handsome men in the lead who are very close in age to the woman playing Christine.

Going back to the source material (the Gaston Leroux novel), the Phantom is significantly older than Christine, who is somewhere between 15 and 20, depending on the French-to-English translation one reads. I don't believe the Phantom's age is ever made explicit in the novel, but various aspects of the story suggest that he is in his 40s or 50s. This is a man whom Christine believes at first to be the ghost of her father.

When the musical was first cast back in 1986, the age gap was depicted fairly accurately, as Michael Crawford is almost 20 years older than Sarah Brightman. Unfortunately, Cameron Mackintosh and his ilk decided in the more recent past to start casting young, handsome men to play a hideously deformed, middle-aged character. This was likely based on the assumption that a "hot" Phantom in the advertising would be a big draw for women.

The show struck gold with the casting of Ramin Karimloo in the London production back in 2006 (he had previously played Raoul, a role for which he was far better suited). Mr. Karimloo is a charismatic performer with a powerful voice, but he is also so ridiculously handsome that even the makeup and mask can't negate his physical appeal. As a sighing, squealing, swooning fan base grew, he was unsurprisingly cast in the lead in Love Never Dies, presumably to shore up interest among female fans of the original show.

Opposite Mr. Karimloo, Sierra Boggess was cast as Christine, forming a dynamic duo that quickly became known as "Rierra" among the squealing. Similar to Mr. Karimloo, Ms. Boggess is an attractive woman with a golden soprano voice. The thing is, there's only three years difference in their ages and Mr. Karimloo was only 32 back when he began playing a character who was supposed to be 10 years older than he is in the original Phantom. When one does the math, the Phantom should be somewhere in his late 50s (if not early 60s) in Love Never Dies.

To bring this dissertation full circle, Bronson Norris Murphy is an attractive man with a very good voice. I don't know his specific age, but he barely reads as 30-something, let alone a man in his late 50s who's led a very hard life.

Updated On: 6/17/18 at 09:53 AM