Love Never Dies (2012)
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| (c) 2012 Andrew Lloyd Webber/ The Really Useful Theater Group/ Love Never Dies Film partners |
Ten years had transpired since the "strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera," a decade since the prima donna Christine Daaé and the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny met their fate at the lair of the Opera Ghost at the bottom of the Opera Populaire in Paris. Christine, by then a popular diva in Paris, receives an invitation for a performance by a mysterious impressario, and needing the money to pay the debts of her now-alcoholic husband Vicomte de Chagny, she travels to America and arrives at the lively and bustling entertainment center of Coney Island with her husband and her ten year-old son, Gustave. In the shores of this island, Christine is reunited with her old friends and the Phantom himself. What follows is a whirlwind of events that puts Christine once more in a situation where her choice would affect lives and lost loves.
Love Never Dies is Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to his immensely popular musical The Phantom of the Opera. The DVD features the show's Australian production, and begins with The Phantom (Ben Lewis) singing "Til I Hear You Sing," professing his longing for his love, Christine Daaé (Anna O'Byrne). The montage that follows establishes Phantasma, the flamboyant amusement park in Coney Island owned by an anonymous Mr. Y. Christine, along with Raoul (Simon Gleeson) and son Gustave (Jack Lyall), soon finds herself once more in the center of The Phantom's lair, and meets her friends from Paris Opera, Madame Giry (Maria Mercedes) and Meg Giry (Sharon Millerchip).
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| (c) 2012 Andrew Lloyd Webber/ The Really Useful Theater Group/ Love Never Dies Film partners |
With lavish staging, lights and costumes for the fanfare of Phantasma, revolving sets for the plush hotel rooms for rendez-vous, grandiose cellars and make-believe world of dreams, Love Never Dies does not lack anything visually. The Sydney stage deserves the accolades it received for the re-establishment of The Phantom's world of gothic beauty and mystery. Webber's music seamlessly floats through the story as well, with new haunting melodies, from operatic arias (the title song "Love Never Dies") and upbeat vaudevillian euphonies (such as "Bathing Beauty") to melancholic duets ("Once Upon Another Time") and heart-racing quartets ("Devil Take the Hindmost"). The show also features reprisals of familiar tunes from The Phantom of the Opera, a few lines and melodies here and there, such as "All I Ask of You," "Stranger Than You Dreamt It," and "Twisted Every Way."
Some of the lyrics, however, seem to border on the trite. And though truly well-acted, especially O'Byrne as the beautiful, maternal and affectionate Christine, and Lewis as the malefic, desperate yet tender Phantom, the story as a whole turned into a melodrama of a love triangle. Furthermore, I find the characterizations, particularly of Meg Giry and the Vicomte de Chagny, stretched a bit too far, turning them into (perhaps unnecessary) villains. I am also a little piqued by the Phantom's often-sardonic intonations, although the presence and voice of Gustave adds a little mellowing to the overall sharpness of everybody else.
Love Never Dies indeed tried to offer a plausible end to the fateful story of Christine and the Phantom, but it engendered loss of the appeal of the classic novel it was derived from. I think the story was trivialized, although I could always use some of the more beautiful tracks (and renditions) from the show.
