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Post by FrontroverPaul on Feb 1, 2020 0:19:21 GMT
Curve offer - use code PHANTASMA for 15% off top two prices on Monday to Thursday performances, book by 21st Feb Got central front row of stalls for a Thursday matinee for only £38.25, was expecting to pay around £60 based on Phantom pricing so very happy with that.
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Post by mrtumnus on Feb 1, 2020 11:27:15 GMT
But it was the ending that was so awful - Christine seemingly putting the Phantom before her own son. The woman next to me shouted at the character on stage. Didn't see it as that - Christine chose music. <script async="" src="moz-extension://3daa0bdc-4875-4586-9f48-084fb8c395fd/web/libs/ciuvo-addon-sdk.min.js"></script>
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Post by horton on Feb 1, 2020 14:40:44 GMT
But it was the ending that was so awful - Christine seemingly putting the Phantom before her own son. The woman next to me shouted at the character on stage. Didn't see it as that - Christine chose music. <script async="" src="moz-extension://3daa0bdc-4875-4586-9f48-084fb8c395fd/web/libs/ciuvo-addon-sdk.min.js"></script> … rather than her child
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Post by scarpia on Feb 1, 2020 20:42:02 GMT
Were you in the production, or paid to keep going? Or just needed the sleep? Like an idiot I kept thinking it would improve. It did not. Just stupid. It was obvious even when ALW first floated this idea in the 90s that it was a stupid idea. A sequel not only undermines the sacrificial ending of the original, but it's a redundant story - either he gets the girl or he doesn't. Setting a spooky Gothic show in Coney Island - fine! The overture was great. Everything else: awful. But we knew that was going to be the case as soon as we realised it was going to be based on Frederick Forsyth's deservedly vilified Phantom of Manhattan, and when Ben Bleeding Elton got involved... Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne said it was a sh*t idea. ALW didn't listen. As far as I know, Jack O'Brien is still not on speaking terms with ALW.
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Post by crabtree on Mar 29, 2020 0:04:22 GMT
Finally, finally I caught up with the Australian love Never Dies, and it is certainly epic, and ravishingly costumed and lit, with gorgeous image after gorgeous image, but why does it just feel so alien? It was certainly better than the London production, that seemed such a clunky affair. How long did the Australian show run? I guess we'll now not see a new version in the uK.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2020 2:13:36 GMT
Finally, finally I caught up with the Australian love Never Dies, and it is certainly epic, and ravishingly costumed and lit, with gorgeous image after gorgeous image, but why does it just feel so alien? It was certainly better than the London production, that seemed such a clunky affair. How long did the Australian show run? I guess we'll now not see a new version in the uK. How do you mean by it feeling alien? Interesting. Anyway, tour isn't due until October. I hope that is long enough after the current crisis. My worry is that I think musical tastes will have gone even more to 'safe' and known stuff so even if they can put it in on they might decide not to due to poor sales. A gorgeous score so I'd love for it to be staged in the UK again. Everything in 2020 is a total guess now though!
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Post by chernjam on Mar 29, 2020 4:38:33 GMT
Finally, finally I caught up with the Australian love Never Dies, and it is certainly epic, and ravishingly costumed and lit, with gorgeous image after gorgeous image, but why does it just feel so alien? It was certainly better than the London production, that seemed such a clunky affair. How long did the Australian show run? I guess we'll now not see a new version in the uK. How do you mean by it feeling alien? Interesting. Anyway, tour isn't due until October. I hope that is long enough after the current crisis. My worry is that I think musical tastes will have gone even more to 'safe' and known stuff so even if they can put it in on they might decide not to due to poor sales. A gorgeous score so I'd love for it to be staged in the UK again. Everything in 2020 is a total guess now though! Dom - theres probably some truth to post-Crisis looking for "safe" "known" stuff - BUT now that they've embraced it as a sequel to the Phantom (which the first go round they were trying to shy away from) could make it something appealing Still haven't seen it live - and it does have its problems (a lot of build up just for the one song... ending is still a it off for me) but musically its spectacular (have the instrumental of "look with your heart" in my head now...)
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Post by crabtree on Mar 29, 2020 10:18:33 GMT
'Alien' as in I felt totally remote to what was going on. I agree that the ending is unconvincing, and I've never felt the world of Coney Island and our characters are integrated. With all the bullying and threats is this really love or sympathy. But oh those Australian costumes - gorgeous.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2020 10:43:01 GMT
Sadly I can't see this happening. I know October is over six months away, but I'd imagine there's still a lot to do in that time. Casting, rehearsing, creating the physical production etc. And with only two venues announced so far (I'm guessing no one is buying advance tickets for anything just now), there's not much of a lead-in time to sell an entire UK tour.
I also saw this as a follow-up tour to Phantom, but with Phantom losing part of its Leicester run and entire Manchester run, will they still want to send the sequel out to those venues?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2020 11:20:03 GMT
Sadly I can't see this happening. I know October is over six months away, but I'd imagine there's still a lot to do in that time. Casting, rehearsing, creating the physical production etc. And with only two venues announced so far (I'm guessing no one is buying advance tickets for anything just now), there's not much of a lead-in time to sell an entire UK tour. I also saw this as a follow-up tour to Phantom, but with Phantom losing part of its Leicester run and entire Manchester run, will they still want to send the sequel out to those venues? Makes me very sad but my gut feeling as that you are absolutely right and I also wonder if it can happen..... Do really hope I am wrong! Do we know if this was gonna be a brand new version or based on the Australia/Germany/US tour version?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2020 11:22:21 GMT
'Alien' as in I felt totally remote to what was going on. I agree that the ending is unconvincing, and I've never felt the world of Coney Island and our characters are integrated. With all the bullying and threats is this really love or sympathy. But oh those Australian costumes - gorgeous. I know what you mean, I also struggled to feel it. But much more in the Aus version. I really liked London. Think I have said before, other than the wooden rollercoaster that encases the stage, I just find some of the set of the Aus version either cheap or ugly - especially the hotel room and Christine's dressing room! Gorgeous costumes though as you say. And it's a fantastic score! Would have been better used in a totally different musical really!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2020 12:29:04 GMT
Sadly I can't see this happening. I know October is over six months away, but I'd imagine there's still a lot to do in that time. Casting, rehearsing, creating the physical production etc. And with only two venues announced so far (I'm guessing no one is buying advance tickets for anything just now), there's not much of a lead-in time to sell an entire UK tour. I also saw this as a follow-up tour to Phantom, but with Phantom losing part of its Leicester run and entire Manchester run, will they still want to send the sequel out to those venues? Makes me very sad but my gut feeling as that you are absolutely right and I also wonder if it can happen..... Do really hope I am wrong! Do we know if this was gonna be a brand new version or based on the Australia/Germany/US tour version? I would guess it's the the Australia/Germany/US tour version, but I don't think they ever announced anything. If it is, I suppose the set is all ready to tour.
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Post by vabbian on Apr 8, 2020 14:21:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2020 18:04:51 GMT
Gorgeous voices, beautiful melody. With the vast star-field in the background and the hotel room revolve to the balcony this was a breathtaking moment in the (hugely underrated) London production.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2020 17:39:05 GMT
So in an Instagram post pre tonight's screening, ALW said he was hoping to launch an international tour of Love Never Dies at Christmas/New Year time in Toronto.
Which lead me to put my Vera/Coleen Rooney hat on and look at the LND website where it also states a tour in 2021. Leicester and Manchester both showing on official site as off sale.
Then went to Leicester Curve where is also showing as off sale.
Then lastly to ATG for Manchester - still on sale here (unsurprisingly of course).
Be a real shame if this has already been pulled, was really looking fwd to it!
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Post by david on Apr 24, 2020 20:25:47 GMT
First time seeing LND tonight and really enjoyed it (despite the weak book). A really lovely ALW score combined with some great sets, costumes and vocals made for a nice evenings tv theatre viewing. I’m glad I’ve booked for the Manc run so hopefully we will get some rearranged dates soon for the UK.
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Post by sleepflower on Apr 25, 2020 10:53:57 GMT
Watched the screening last night and wasn't very keen! I'd probably still go and see a production if it was in town, but I didn't rate the songs or story at all. All the characters were completely different!
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Post by vickyg on Apr 25, 2020 13:16:39 GMT
I really liked seeing this again as I have never seen the Australian recording so I haven't seen it since it closed in London. I love the score, although I'll concede it's not quite up there with the perfection of Phantom, and am more than willing to look past some slightly unlikely happenings, not least the ending, to enjoy it. The thing that struck me most when watching last night was how short it seemed! I was really happy to see it again though.
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Post by vabbian on Apr 25, 2020 14:18:22 GMT
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523 posts
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Post by vabbian on Apr 25, 2020 14:33:20 GMT
Fun fact - ALW considers Love Never Dies (title track) the best song he's ever done If you are new to LND, I suggest Til I Hear You Sing / Love Never Dies YES the story is iffy but the music is faaaab Truly epic and romantic, the Sierra and Ramin recording has been a favourite of mine since it came out 10 years ago. Although I must admit I only ever listen to the songs below!
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Post by emsworthian on Apr 25, 2020 14:37:14 GMT
I enjoyed it. I thought some of the music was lovely. Although at times there did seem to be a bit of a jar between the Christine/Raoul/Phantom scenes and the circus scenes.
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Post by andromedadench on Apr 25, 2020 17:23:54 GMT
Just watched it and it's somehow even weirder that I thought it would be - the plot is mind-boggling, the lyrics are beyond terrible, but I'm so pleasantly surprised by the score, it's really lovely. Yet I can't get over how bizarre the book is - it's part Mexican TV soap, part kitchen-sink drama and part bad fan-fiction.
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Post by jaqs on Apr 25, 2020 18:17:11 GMT
I just couldn’t watch it. I got through Til I hear you sing and then gave up. I do love the score and enjoyed it in London despite the book, just felt too weird to watch on tv.
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Post by theoracle on Apr 25, 2020 19:04:30 GMT
Assuming the tour is going ahead, can we have Ben Lewis reprise the Phantom in this. Would love to see him do this live in person. Such an underrated voice, barely used in Company and The Bodyguard tour, it would be great to hear him sing this score in a theatre with the lovely acoustics and be a part of the cheering crowd after each number.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2020 20:22:46 GMT
Fun fact - ALW considers Love Never Dies (title track) the best song he's ever done I would have bet money on his best song being 'Our Kind Of Love' Hang on a minute....
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Post by edi on Apr 25, 2020 21:02:38 GMT
What an annoying story. Shame because I enjoyed the score and visually it was beautiful.
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Post by danb on Apr 25, 2020 21:20:15 GMT
It looks a bit too sumptuous to tour the uk tbh. If they could do it with a bit of mdf and some poster paints it might do ok. That Australian set is pretty fab isn’t it? I only watched my dvd once but listen to the cd often. So many gorgeous motifs. I’d definitely give it a go with a decent non-shrieky Christine.
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498 posts
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Post by chernjam on Apr 25, 2020 21:29:26 GMT
I have the DVD and somehow ended up watching the whole thing on YouTube again last night. Was pleasantly surprised again by how much I love the score. I've had "look with your heart" in my head for over 20 hours now (It's amazing the songs of ALW that I love and stick with me from each of his shows are the underrated ones of those scores: Woman in White - Trying not to notice; Aspects - There is more to Love; Sunset - well I love almost every minute of that, but Girl meets boy's melody can become an ear worm; Phantom - Twisted every way) Anyway its funny just my sharing it on facebook and I got 20 comments saying they never knew there was a sequel to Phantom. I laughed to myself thinking how around the World Premiere that this was something they were almost denying trying to say it's a stand alone piece. The story is a bit weaker but in this production it flows better. I've tried to watch bootlegs of the Original production (especially when people ask why that wasn't recorded) and while it was kind of cool to see the prologue with Coney Island come to life, after that, wow does it drag. I hated all the coney island stuff in the original, but in the Australia production it works. Perfect example Meg and Madame Gyrie's "Mother did you see" in the original was lost to me - but in Australia - musically and dramatically is beautiful. BTW - the Meg and Gustave in Australia are really fantastic -
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Post by westendboy on Apr 25, 2020 21:47:10 GMT
Just finished watching this for the first time. Honestly, I'm conflicted on how I feel about it...
As a sequel to 'Phantom', it doesn't really work. But if you take the fact that it's a sequel to one of the most successful and longest-running musicals out of the equation and see it as it's own entity, then it's not half bad.
There were moments that I really liked and the score is nice to listen to. Also both Ben Lewis and Anna O'Byrne were brilliant in their performances. But some of the character decisions made were just off-putting. I didn't like how they made Raoul a snobbish arsehole compared to how he was in 'Phantom' and I don't really like the idea of Christine having real feelings for the Phantom. I like to think that she did care for him, but can't forgive him for all the horrible things he has done, when referring to 'Phantom'. I'm not sure if the messy book/libretto is either Lloyd Webber or Ben Elton's fault, but I wouldn't be surprised if they both had a hand in this.
I'm not trying to seem like I'm bashing the show. I went in with an open mind, despite being aware of the fact that it doesn't have the kindest of reputations. I was also aware that the one on YouTube was the Australian version, so I'm not sure how bad the original West End version was.
So overall, I didn't think it was as bad as a lot of people have called it (I'd hardly go so far as to call it "bad"), but I wouldn't call it an "underrated gem". I will probably go and see it when it returns for the tour sometime whenever, just to see if my opinions change when watching it live. For anyone going into this for the first time, I'd say go in with an open mind and see how you feel.
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Post by andromedadench on Apr 25, 2020 21:53:18 GMT
I have the DVD and somehow ended up watching the whole thing on YouTube again last night. Was pleasantly surprised again by how much I love the score. I've had "look with your heart" in my head for over 20 hours now (It's amazing the songs of ALW that I love and stick with me from each of his shows are the underrated ones of those scores: Woman in White - Trying not to notice; Aspects - There is more to Love; Sunset - well I love almost every minute of that, but Girl meets boy's melody can become an ear worm; Phantom - Twisted every way) Anyway its funny just my sharing it on facebook and I got 20 comments saying they never knew there was a sequel to Phantom. I laughed to myself thinking how around the World Premiere that this was something they were almost denying trying to say it's a stand alone piece. The story is a bit weaker but in this production it flows better. I've tried to watch bootlegs of the Original production (especially when people ask why that wasn't recorded) and while it was kind of cool to see the prologue with Coney Island come to life, after that, wow does it drag. I hated all the coney island stuff in the original, but in the Australia production it works. Perfect example Meg and Madame Gyrie's "Mother did you see" in the original was lost to me - but in Australia - musically and dramatically is beautiful. BTW - the Meg and Gustave in Australia are really fantastic - This is the only production I've seen so can't compare, but I do agree it's really well staged as it does flow smoothly and I easily watched it in one sitting despite the nonsensical story, and the actors do an excellent job considering what they have to work with. I also loved the little boy and Meg here.
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