She enjoyed it and we've watched it off and on a few times sense, but in that vein I decided to experiment for myself. See I had come to find out that the Australian version of Love Never Dies had been filmed by the same crewed who filmed the 25th anniversary PotO stage show, and I decided to throw caution to the wind and download the show to watch and review. I had purchased the London recording of the show and been sadly disappointed, the show was such a bomb it was re-designed and re-made and re-introduced in Australia. Because it is Andrew Lloyd Webber, and because I am a sucker for the Phantom, I watched and suffered for you my dear readers.
Enjoy my review after the image break!
The Characters are pretty well represented by the new actors, especially in the Phantom and Christine roles which were my favorite in design. They seem physically complimentary, slender to well built and dark ad white comparison. Their physical chemistry was very well done, I truly believed in the relationship between them simply because of the way they portrayed themselves. The characters looks genuinely aged as well, the addition of mutton chops to Raoul and the extended spinster make-up of Giry were very welcome additions. I was happy with the changes to the old characters, but less happy with the new characters. The new characters seemed forced, added on to help the narrative but otherwise were shallow and ill-formed. They all seemed like extra set pieces, not snap-shops of a real persons life.
The set design...eh. It was bright and detailed to be sure, but very reduced and small compared to the huge set effects PotO was known for. The opening set intro with the circus design is as large as it gets, everything else is far more reduced and seems to take place on a series of rotating set designs within rooms and on overhangs within a carnival show. I wasn't a big fan of it all personally, the sets seemed to be overcompensating for the lackluster acting from the assembled groups or trying to tone down the outrageous costumes of the cast or their over-the-top and rather unbelievable acting. This all really hurt my feelings on the show as a whole, and separated me from the performance.
I had the same feelings on the costumes as I did on the set design. At times I found the costumes to be phenomenal and inspired, I was a huge fan of the simple white that Christine was dressed in and the long coat that Phantom wears made me drool. The early 1900's period costuming was very nice, I loved how the extras and chorus all dressed so nicely. However, I was really unhappy with a good bit of the majority of the circus costumes. They seemed to surreal, too unnatural and were jarring enough to make me frequently loose my sense of realism. The overly ambitious costumes just seemed....too jarring to me. Like the set, the costume back and forth differences just left me feeling lacking.
Till I Hear You Sing (Once More)
The music was a back and forth. Vastly improved from the London showing, it still was not up to the quality that I expected from Andrew Lloyd Webber. The orchestration of all the music was very lovely, he didn't rely upon too many modern instruments or sound synthesizers. My major issue seems to be with the inconsistency of the vocals and lyrical writings of things. At times it seems like he tried to ram and crush story plot into each song which could have been better covered by a small monologue. Other times he forces and greatly stretches the rhythm schemes to try and make it fix the orchestra instrumentation. Some songs I fell in love with (such as Till I hear you sing or Beneath a Moonless Sky ) where as others just made me feel awkward and frustrated ( the Beauty Beneath or Dear Old Friend come to mind ).
All and all, the show isn't a terrible show by any means. Taken on its own, its a valid show and worth attending at some point. Compared to the original show it is a sequel to? It holds a pale flickering candle to a bright star.
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