Friday, July 22, 2011

Love Never Dies

    Well loyal readers it has been a very long time since my last update. You must forgive me because I got married :-). June 26th was the big day, and the week before the wedding I did not see any shows. Nor did I take anything in the week following. It was not until my honeymoon when we visited London's West End that I was able to take in another show.
 
     The show is question is a sequel to the largest commercial theatrical success of all time, The Phantom of The Opera. For decades now, people have wondered what became of the Phantom after that last moment. Where did he go? What did he do? The film version gave a small bit of closure to this point, but largely there were still questions unanswered. Those questions, along with a whole bunch that nobody even cared to ask, are answered in this new production.

   Last year a cast recording was released that reflected the score at that time. It should be noted that that recording has been rendered obsolete. Many changes have been made to the score since that time. What is track 7 on that recording, is now the first song in the show. That song "Till I hear you sing" is the absolute most thrilling song in the production. In fact, the first 20-30 minutes are actually very entertaining. The dialogue through out could be improved, and I'm sure it will be by the time the next production in Australia opens (that production, it should also be noted, has a new director, choreographer, set, lighting, and costume designer).

    After the first half an hour unfortunately, things start to unravel. It becomes "Phantom of the soap opera". The story becomes convoluted to the point of silliness. Also, the score reverts back to 80's pop synths and electric guitar riffs. There is very little to remember of about the score from that point on.

  The biggest fault, in my opinion, is that the character of The Phantom loses everything that made him appealing in the first musical. All of his talent and mystery is stripped away, and he becomes just a man in a mask. There is nothing even the least bit haunting about him. He is humanized in a way that he should not be. However, in all this humanization, nobody refers to him by his real name. They instead call him "The Master" or refer to him with pronouns. For those who have read the original novel, you will know that "The Opera Ghost" as he is called, does in fact have a birth name.

     My hope is that the new creative team will steer this show in the right direction. There is actually great potential for a substantial musical. There needs to be some serious editing, and in my opinion some songs need to be cut and some songs need to be added to heighten the drama. If things things happen, and it's possible that they could, than this could be a highly entertaining and artistically successful show.

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