On Friday night, I was very lucky to be invited to the latest buzz-show to open in the West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, currently playing at the Adelphi Theatre, located on The Strand.
The show is currently in its preview period, and will have it’s opening night / World premiere on March 9th 2010.
For those unfamiliar with this terminology, a preview period is effectively a ‘workshop’ performance – I have had different friends in the audience each night, and I hear that it’s been a completely different show each night thus far. That said, the preview period gives one a chance to really see how they’re pulling a musical together, and so personally I think that it can actually enhance the experience. This review is based on a preview performance, and I know for a fact that they are currently working out some of the clunky elements to it as I type!
I attended last night with my good friend Adam (who used to play Edna in Hairspray – so had ‘an actors’ viewpoint), and two of my friends/colleagues from work, Joe and Huma.
Synopsis:
Setting: Coney Island in 1907. (Note: According to the show, the events occur approximately a decade after the events of The Phantom of the Opera. In reality, however, Lloyd Webber’s original show was set in 1881, meaning that the time period between the two stories amounts to 26 years.)
The Phantom has travelled to Coney Island with Madame Giry and her daughter Meg. Beginning his new life in America as a freak show attraction, he has worked his way up to a position of power and is now the successful architect of a number of Coney Island attractions. Despite his newfound wealth and success he still longs for Christine and manages to arrange for her to come and sing at one of his latest attractions. Christine arrives at Coney Island along with Raoul and their son Gustave, unknowingly returning to the man she feared most.
Let’s start with the positives first and say that this show is an absolute visual feast! Lloyd-Webber has clearly thrown a lot of money at this production – I heard several gasps coming from the audience during some of the more technological moments of the show, and some of the imagery created was simply beautiful! Huge flats and sets magically appeared out of nowhere (surely they weren’t all stashed in the wings?!) and the use of video technology really brought the audience into the story.
The score is both lavish and sound, and everybody is more than capable of holding their own on stage, with outstanding performances from Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom himself (what a voice!) and West End legend Liz Robertson as Madame Giry.
It was an enormous treat to be in a theatre that had a full orchestra in the orchestra pit – an increasing rarity these days in the West End, and the sounds coming out of the pit were warm, sumptuous and enveloping. More shows to follow suit please!
My favourite songs in the production were Bathing Beauty, Love Never Dies and, of course, the marvellous ‘Till I Hear You Sing
On the whole, I really did like the show, but (and without wanting to go into details of the story), I did have a few issues with it:
- I felt a distinct lack of empathy with the characters – I didn’t really warm to anybody enough to ‘care’ for their fate as it were.
- I only started to realise about half-way through the Second Act that I was really liking the show, and felt a little cheated out of the enjoyment factor that I’d not felt as much/realised that I’d had in Act One.
- The title of the piece may be Love Never Dies, however I didn’t feel that the romance element didn’t really manifest itself to start with if I am honest, which is a bit of a travesty when considering the show’s links with The Phantom Of The Opera!
- Raoul needs to grow a backbone and show more passion/fight.
- The ending needs reworking in my opinion – I came very close to a tear, but it lacked that final emotional push to get it from me.
Perhaps the most disappointing for me was the realisation that Lloyd-Webber has ripped two of these songs pretty much straight out of one of his earlier musicals, The Beautiful Game! (yes, I am a hardcore musical theatre fan – this is a fairly obscure reference, I grant you!!).
The titular song Love Never Dies (clip above) is sourced from Our Kind Of Love:
The 80s Starlight-Express-esque The Beauty Underneath contains a lot of sounds from the latter bits of Dead Zone I think:
I really liked the soundtrack, don’t get me wrong, however I was sitting there feeling rather cheated that I was just listening to a rehash of a couple of songs from a musical that hadn’t really enjoyed the commercial success (outside of Hungary – random, I know!) that they’d hoped for. I feel that you can get away with this on a ‘normal’ song, but it’s a little bit cheeky to do this on the musical’s signature song!
The show lasts 2 hours 50 minutes (inc. Interval) – so you can expect to get out around 22:20.
Whilst not at all related to the show itself, please be warned that the toilet situation at the Adelphi Theatre is absolutely abysmal. The toilet facilities are tiny, and the queues for them were huge (including the gents – which never happens usually!). It ultimately got to the point where the ushers were starting to try and coax people out of queues as the performance was about to recommence. My friend Joe and I nearly ended up missing the start of Act Two due to queuing for the bathroom, and I reckon that around 20-25% of the stalls audience were not in their seats once the lights came down and the Entr’acte started. (As an aside for the theatre, I think that the lights should be dimmed but not switched off for this musical introduction to allow people to get back to their seats!)
In summation, I think that this is a show that newbies and some existing Phans will come to love, with the Phans perhaps enjoying it that little bit more than those there on their first time (though the show does still stand-alone successfully). I think that once the kinks are worked out of the production, this will garner positive reviews and become a firm favourite on theatre stages around the World.
For me (and as I know will be the case for some of the other Phans), it wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be (was it ever really going to live up to Phantom?), but realistically it was far better than I’d expected when I’d first heard of plans for it, and so for that reason it gets a thumbs up from me.
After the show, I was very lucky to be invited backstage and got to meet musical legend Liz Robertson (Madame Giry) and Summer Strallen (Meg Giry) – both of whom were lovely and are my two favourite characters in the show – this absolutely made my night!
Have you been to see the show already? Do please leave your comments and thoughts on it below! 🙂
Gari Wellingham 
You are mistaken. The fans hate this abomination.
http://facebook.com/luvshoulddie
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This was never going to be easy. The idea of making a sequel to a musical, especially one that people feel so protective over was never a good idea in my opinion so it’s going to be difficult for them to win everyoen over.
Interesting that they’ve rehashed some Beautiful Game songs, didn’t know that!
I’m pretty unique in being a musical fan but not loving Phantom that much (although I have seen it twice). I’m in no hurry to see Love Never Dies, I just can’t see it working. Having said that, there are enough hard core Phans out there to make it successful at the box office, and the material they’re working with should be strong enough to get something good. The problem is Lloyd Webber is on the way out, He’s being replaced by the more modern musicals like Wicked and Hairspray and the increadingly annoying/virulent juke box musicals.
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Hey Katie,
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment 🙂
I don’t think that this musical will ever be able to win most people over to be honest – as you say, a lot of people are (rightly in my opinion) very protective of it – I think that the Phans are the most dedicated fans of a musical theatre show that I have ever encountered. I reckon that Phantom is the only show that anyone could credibly ever make a sequel to, but at the same time, I am still unsure as to whether they should have done it.
I think that they were hoping that people wouldn’t notice the Beautiful Game songs, I had to double take a few times myself – but I think that I’m right in calling it out…
Agree with your notion that the old-style musical that Lloyd-Webber writes is becoming a dying art-form (such a shame!) – I get to see most of the West End shows and I have to say that that was the first orchestra that I’ve seen in the West End for a very long time! Whilst I do really like the Wicked, Hairspray and Hair (etc) set, I think that for a musical, there is no better sound than a sweeping live orchestra to really set things alight.
I saw Andrew on Jonathan Ross last night and even he said that it still needed a lot of tinkering, so waiting to see this one a few months down the line isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Although the cast that they’re opening with is strong, I don’t think you’d miss much if you waited until they start doing ticket offers on this show, even if you do have to wait until after the first cast change or similar.
I think that once the cast album comes out in March, we’ll get a real idea of how successful the musical is.
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[…] UPDATE: I have now seen the show – my review can be found HERE […]
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I saw it on Saturday……quite simply it’s totally STUNNING.
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Glad you enjoyed it!
I know they made a lot of changes to it after Friday night, so hope nothing jarred too much and it all flowed through nicely 🙂
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I said the same thing about Love Never Dies the song ..
He originally wrote it with different lyrics and Kiri Tikanawa sang it at a concert ..it was introduced as the new song for Phantom 2….Then when I bought the disc of The Beautiful Game I heard it as Our Kind of Love and thought it was strange that it was the same song with new lyrics…and now it is Love Never Dies…Thank God I love the melody but I liked the song better inThe Beautiful Game..,,Thanks for the update!! i have been wondering over here about it…Till I Hear You SIng is a great song..i cant wait to see iton a stage in costume
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Thanks a lot for the song background Bryan 🙂
It’s a good melody and definitely worthy of greater recognition, so not too annoyed that it’s been recycled, I just wish it wasn’t the title song if I’m honest.
Till I Hear You Sing is THE vocal highlight of the show, hope you get to see it soon!
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I’m glad Gari wrote his review – I went with my family last night and our conversation on the way home was very much in line with his thoughts. The review helped me get my mixed feelings about the show sorted out.
I know nothing about music or theatre really so in that context, I think…..
The plot needs some work to get the audience involved and caring – just like Gari, I found myself eventually engaged some way into act 2. I think the overall story is ok it just feels a bit disjointed at the moment
A L-W needs to get writing to weave in a couple more memorable songs – especially one for Christine. Only the two main songs and the duet after they walk through the glass door stick in my head. The time for the new songs could be usefully found by reducing the air time for young Gushav !!
I did not appreciate the loud number when the Phantom gets to know Gusthav – I like a bit of musical continuity and that one really jarred for me! (surely A L-W did not stick that one in as a potential single??)
I do know that the cast received long standing ovation – more for their brilliant performances than the show itself perhaps?
I think we will return to see it again in a year or so – if it is still running
As for A L-W being past it? Well, my only thought is that his commercial success was always the product of his musical genious and now I wonder if his commercial success has led hime to neglect what made him great???
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Hi Geoff,
Thanks very much for stopping by my page and for leaving your thoughts – marvellous to read them!
I think that’s the problem with this show… it leaves too many mixed feelings. On one hand the plot seems to be non-existant, however the visuals and the score really do make up for some of that. It’s really hard to judge it as an overall piece.
I don’t know if you have seen Phantom(?), however I agree that something to draw the audience in (such as when the chandelier crashes in Phantom) is desperately needed in order to stir up some excitement – the only murmerings of amazement that I heard were when the drinks trolley came out.
Definitely disjointed and a little predictable (except for the ending, which goes off on a complete random and unforseen tangent… and perhaps not in the best way). I also agree that that song completely jarred (I had a ‘what on ‘Earth?’…. moment, though strangely (something in the back of my mind thinks that!) I liked it, and it definitely woke me up a little bit and drew my attention back (hurrah!).
Despite what others have said, I wouldn’t have an issue with some more bits of Phantom songs threading their way into it if I am honest, it may help to make it a little more credible / tie the story into it’s history. I think they’re trying too hard to get rid of the ‘sequel’ label.
Dear dear Gushav… oh how I disliked him and his child actor ways heh. I’d agree with a reduction in time for him (sorry little chap!).
I think that it will still be running for another year or so, but don’t see it still being there – for example – in 2012 when the Olympics come to town (though depending on international marketing and productions, it may well get a huge interest from tourists and stay on?), but regardless I do think that it’ll be a completely different show when you next see it.
I think Andrew still has it… I think he does orchestral scores very well (e.g. Sunset Boulevard – arguably his last success), and I thought it was genuinely great to get an ‘old fashioned’ musical into the West End, though I couldn’t ever see him penning a more modern hit such as the recent adaptations of Hairspray or Wicked, which is perhaps the way musical theatre audiences are now drifting.
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Back again – my CD arrived today and I wish I had received it before seeing the show. Not sure why but I like to know the music before I see a show so I can look forward to my favourite bits! I had only heard Til I Hear You Sing and Love Never Dies before going, which are of course highlights
Having listened to it a few times it is growing on me more and more.
Another thought struck me as a possible reason for my mixed reaction – the show reminds me of other shows
Titanic – albeit the ship is arriving in LND rather than departing !
Showboat – all the “show song” numbers
The King and I – long gowns and Gustave !!
There you go, all is explained – so my favourite bits of LND remind me of……..Phantom (seen in 4 times and it is one of my all time favourites)
Anyway – despite my comments I would definitely recommend it to anyone and we will be going back to see it again soon.
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[…] } > For my review of Love Never Dies (the West End musical), please click HERE […]
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Just came back from the show was really just alright – I thought I was the only person in the world who recognised the title song from The Beautiful Came – My Kind of Love was the only memorable part of that show so it was a bit cheeky to re-write the lyrics as a new title track!!
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I just bought Love Never Dies tickets for the Melbourne show. I haven’t been yet but the reviews look not to bad.
I just hope it can compare to the origin Phantom Of The Opera!
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