Love Never Dies

[whitestar45]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 2:22am

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

[Lot666]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 8:18am

Your assumption could be correct, but I'm not sure this means he's now the full-time lead. It is not uncommon for a performer's current credentials to cite their "best possible" role in a show, even if they're actually an alternate or understudy. For example, I've seen alternate Christines describe themselves as "Currently playing Christine in Phantom of the Opera".

I agree with you that he's very good.

Updated On: 6/15/18 at 08:18 AM

[whitestar45]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 12:22pm

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.

[Solipsist234]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 1:56pm

According to the Love Never Dies tour website, Bronson is now the official Phantom (he is no longer listed as an alternate, AND Gardar is no longer on the website.)

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 2:15pm

Damn. I guess this was inevitable given Cortes’ difficulty from the beginning with singing the role eight times a week. Opera singers are used to doing three or four performances a week at full throttle with lots of rest in between so I guess he just finally burned out. Great voice though.

[whitestar45]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 2:25pm

The Distinctive Baritone said: "Damn. I guess this was inevitable given Cortes’ difficulty from the beginning with singing the role eight times a week. Opera singers are used to doing three or four performances a week at full throttle with lots of rest in between so I guess he just finally burned out. Great voice though."

I wonder how many times a week he went on when he performed Love Never Dies in Germany. 

[icecastle]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 2:49pm

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.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 2:57pm

Interesting that the website now lists previously titled Christine "understudy" Rachel Anne Moore (who I actually went to college with) as the Christine "alternate," and they promoted one of the ensemble members to Phantom understudy (so there can be two, like before), but there's no Phantom alternate listed. I wonder if Murphy will be doing eight shows a week.

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 3:07pm

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

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 3:27pm

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 love Phantom, 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?

 

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 3:28pm

Rachel Anne Moore has been listed as the “alternate” for a while. I was confused when I saw that, because I didn’t realize Christine was a shared role in LND like it is in the original show.

[icecastle]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 3:36pm

Never mind the original takes place in 1881... so it's really 26 years later. Bronson has a beautiful voice but he's way to young for even original Phantom. They could at least add some age lines on his "good side"!

Is this going to Broadway this spring? When does the tour end? I would assume they would cast a bigger name for the Phantom. Can't wait to see what Brantley says.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 3:44pm

I think Broadway is still up in the air for this show, but I can't see it happening. The tour was most likely sent out to test the waters and see how American audiences would react to the idea of a Phantom sequel. It's selling okay, but reviews have been scathing at worst and lukewarm at best, so I don't imagine that investors will want to take a gamble on a Broadway production.

Also, I'm not sure if this is final, but I heard whispers that the tour is closing up shop in December.

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

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 4:52pm

It was a good idea to send out the tour this season. I don’t know about other cities but Love Never Dies sold extremely well here and from what I understand it’s because Hamilton was also on offer and they sold out of season subscriptions which was the only way to guarantee tickets to Hamilton. The other shows in the package sold well simply because people wanted Hamilton tickets.

[icecastle]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 7:13pm

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.

[whitestar45]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 8:54pm

The Distinctive Baritone said: "Interesting that the website now lists previously titled Christine "understudy" Rachel Anne Moore (who I actually went to college with) as the Christine "alternate," and they promoted one of the ensemble members to Phantom understudy (so there can be two, like before), but there's no Phantom alternate listed. I wonder if Murphy will be doing eight shows a week."

Michael Gillis is alternating with Bronson. I believe Dave Schoonover was always a Raoul and Phantom u/s. I have no idea why Rachel Anne Moore is now titled an alternate.  

[whitestar45]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 9:37pm

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. 

 

 

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 6/15/18 at 11:35pm

Interesting. Well they both read as several years younger, and recently played Tony and and Cunegonde, so I’m not the only one.

[whitestar45]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 12:34am

What is it about this sequel that fascinates you?

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 2:02am

The only place in Phantom where Christine is a teenager is in the 2004 film. In the stage musical, she’s supposed to read as being in her early twenties. So, a Christine in her early thirties in LND makes sense.

The Phantom's age is trickier, both because it seems like productions of LND (except for the Danish production, I think) want to play the Phantom and Christine as being the same age, and because in the original musical, there are many, many actors who play the Phantom as being quite up there in age--at the very least, much older than Christine tends to come across. There isn't anything in the text for Phantom that technically says the Phantom is old, but I think it adds more tragedy to his situation to portray him as middle-aged; compared to the young, rich, and dashing Raoul de Chagny, the Phantom is older and ugly and suffering through a terrible hand that has been dealt to him by life.

It's just jarring to go from Phantom, where the titular character is often played by actors who are much older than the leading lady, to Love Never Dies, where the characters in question are presented as being the same age. It's like as Christine gets older, the Phantom gets younger so he'll stay "appealing" to all the young women watching the show. I think it's a missed opportunity, as having the Phantom be old would be a great opportunity to explore the character more; as he gets up there in age, the Phantom wrestles with the tragic fact that his one true love has come and gone, and he spent pretty much his entire long life alone without having accomplished anything or experienced any long-lasting relationships, which would make his discovering he has a son all the more "touching." But oh well.

Updated On: 6/16/18 at 02:02 AM

[Lot666]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 9:53am

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

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 10:52am

Lot666, I think you hit the nail on the head. It must be a Cameron MacIntosh thing. The tour of the original POTO has also been using various young and handsome Phantoms, and the dashing Nick Cartel (who played Marius not that long ago) is not even the age Valjean is supposed to be at the BEGINNING of Les Miz. Ramin Karimoo, who also played Valjean (and both Phantoms) seems to have started this ridiculous trend.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 11:09am

The only time I don't have an issue with a younger Phantom being cast is when that actor makes the choice to play the Phantom as older and can pull it off. John Owen-Jones, for example, was fairly young when he first played the role, but he presented himself onstage as much, much older than he was in real life in order to better embody the character. It was the complete opposite of Ramin Karimloo's first run, where he made the active choice to make the audience aware of the fact that a young, twenty-something dreamboat was playing the part. And I guess, judging by how many fangirls Ramin's type of Phantom has picked up, that's what they want to stick with for a while. Sigh. At least the Broadway production still goes for older actors from time to time.

[bwayrose7]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 12:40pm

I could be wrong, but I think the whole younger-Phantoms casting is also an attempt to tiptoe along the line of whether or not we interpret the Phantom as a tragic, romantic antihero or a violent, creepy stalker. I've always gotten the feeling that the production doesn't know whether to play to the fans who write online treatises about Poor Misunderstood Erik or to the audiences who view him as the villain of the piece. Casting a younger Phantom plays to the notion that he could be a romantic hero (by eliminating the age gap between him and Christine), while casting an older one leans more into the creepy-villain interpretation (because an older man following a younger girl is viewed with trepidation while a handsome young man doing something similar is the stuff of many a rom-com).

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 6:48pm

An older Phantom can be the tragic romantic figure if you're into that sort of thing.

In more seriousness, Phantoms like Michael Crawford gave me the impression that in the context of the show, the Phantom's "sexiness" originally came from his mysterious nature, his gorgeous voice, his strange charisma and intriguing gestures--all of which disappear as soon as the mask comes off to reveal the real man behind all the smoke and mirrors. Aside from that, it's also possible to play up the masked Phantom's "sexiness" with more middle-aged portrayals by going for the silver fox bachelor approach vs. going for the young and hawt angle that ultimately defeats the point of the Phantom's tragic situation. (You're supposed to sympathize with the Phantom because he's UGLY underneath that mask, Mackintosh!)