"JoseLee - can you explain what they've changed in POTO - haven't seen it in awhile
I know that ALW said last year before the Japan opening they were talking about revising the ending... "
Nothing has changed in Phantom on Broadway or in London - anywhere that uses the original staging is the same as it always has been.
The new tour though, which has a new director, new staging, and pretty much new everything except new music, has changed the ending so that at the end the Phantom sings "Christine, I love you" to her veil, and doesn't see her re-enter to place the ring on the table. He has no idea she came back until he turns around once she's gone. I think that's probably what JoseLee was referring to.
He's also much more violent in the final lair than the blocking for the original production allowed him to be. There's possible implied rape, he strangles her at one point, and he's just overall more brutal. That could be it too, although then it really doesn't explain why Christine (according to LND) goes back to the Phantom later.
