West End Wednesday: Love Never Dies

Love Never Dies is a 2010 British musical which acts as a sequel to the Andrew Lloyd Webber smash hit, The Phantom of the Opera, and is also loosely based on the novel, The Phantom of Manhattan. Although effectively a sequel, Lloyd Webber wrote the piece with the view that it can act as a stand-alone piece in and of itself, a secondary story involving the same characters.

The musical is set in New York, at Coney Island where world famous soprano Christine Daae is invited to perform at a new attraction by the mysterious Mr Y. When Christine turns up with her husband Raoul and their son Gustave, they meet friends from the past in the form of Madam and Meg Giry. Soon Christine realises that the Phantom of her past is back once more to finish what he started.

Lloyd Webber had begun working on the concept of the show back in the 1990s. He came up with the basic concept, working with author Frederick Forysth, however this partnership soon fell apart and Forysth eventually used some of the content they had been working on to create his 1999 novel, The Phantom of Manhattan. Lloyd Webber continued working on the show, even writing one song which he used for his musical The Beautiful Game, when he thought the show wouldn’t happen.

Lloyd Webber began fully working on the score in 2007. The Beautiful Game underwent extensive rewrites in 2008 becoming The Boys in the Photograph at which point Lloyd Webber removed the song Our Kind of Love, retooling it for its original purpose and placing it into Love Never Dies as the titular song. Ben Elton, who wrote The Beautiful Game/The Boys in the Photograph with Lloyd Webber, was brought on board as the book writer. Lloyd Webber liked his ideas and concept for the show, when he asked him to write his treatment. Lloyd Webber also employed Glenn Slater to come on as lyricist. The whole show was also famously delayed by half a year due to Lloyd Webber’s cat climbing onto his digital piano deleting the entire score!

Lloyd Webber presented the first act in a workshop at his annual Sydmonton Festival, where a number of his works had been born, and announced in 2009 that Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo would play the roles of Christine and The Phantom respectively, whilst also planning to launch three productions simultaneously in London, Broadway and Shanghai. The plans for the trio of productions were subsequently altered and then eventually scrapped with the view to have the world premiere in London. The show opened after a delayed preview In February 2010.

The opening cast also included Liz Roberston as Madam Giry, Joseph Milson as Raoul, Summer Strallen as Meg Giry and Niamh Perry as Fleck. The creative team included Jack O’Brien as director, with choreography by Jerry Mitchell and scenic design by Bob Crowley. The show opened to largely negative reviews from critics and was constantly retooled until November 2010 when Lloyd Webber closed the show down for four days for an artistic overhaul. Bill Deamer was brought in to enhance the choreography, whilst Bill Kenwright added to the direction. Lloyd Webber also employed the original lyricist of The Phantom of the Opera, Charles Hart, to smooth out the reportedly “clunky” lyrics provided by Glenn Slater. The order of songs was also reworked including an entirely new opening. When the production reopened, the reviews were vastly improved, however the show only lasted until August 2011 before closing.

A reworked Australian version opened at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre in 2011. The production starred Ben Lewis as The Phantom and Anna O’Byrne as Christine. The musical was well received and was filmed for DVD release. This version has since become the definitive and licensed production of Love Never Dies.

Love Never Dies has seen international productions in Japan, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Vienna. A World Tour commencing in the UK was slated to begin this year, however was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I think Love Never Dies gets a poor rap. It’s a beautiful score and the filmed version is stunning.

Original concept cast recording is available on Spotify and AppleMusic, DVD available to purchase from AMAZON and streaming ability available on sites such as BroadwayHD.

FACTS:

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Glenn Slater and Charles Hart
Book:  Ben Elton, Frederick Forsyth, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart

Theatre: The Adelphi
Run: 22 February 2010 – 27 August 2011 (Around 16 previews 350 performances)