Andrew Lloyd Webber - Love Never Dies Deluxe Edition
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CD Details
Artist: Andrew Lloyd WebberEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
CD Release Date: 2010-03-09
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Prologue
- The Coney Island Waltz
- That's the place you ruined, you fool
- A Little Slice of Heaven
- Only For Him / Only For You
- The Aerie
- `Til I Hear You Sing
- Giry Confronts The Phantom / Are you Ready to Begin
- Christine Disembarks
- Arrival of the Trio / Are You Ready to Begin
- What A Dreadful Town
- Look With Your Heart
- Beneath A Moonless Sky
- Once Upon Another Time
- Mother please, I'm scared
- Dear Old Friend
- Beautiful
- The Beauty Underneath
- The Phantom confronts Christine
- Entr'acte
- Why Does She Love Me
- Devil Take The Hindmost
- A Little Slice of Heaven (Reprise)
- Ladies... / The Coney Island Waltz (Reprise)
- Bathing Beauty
- Mother, did you watch?
- Before The Performance
- Devil Take The Hindmost (Quartet)
- Love Never Dies
- Ah, Christine!
- Gustave! Gustave!
- Please,Miss Giry, I want to go back...
Music reviews of Love Never Dies Deluxe Edition
Music Review: Love Never Dies? It sure does.
Rating: 1 Stars
First of all, I'd like to say right up front that I am a tremendous admirer of Andrew Lloyd Webber. I am not one of those people who write reviews only to bash him and denounce his life's work as unsubstanciated trash; nor am I one of those manic "Phans" who are all torch-and-pitchfork for any attempt at a sequel that comes rolling their way. I'm simply a fan of both him and his previous works who was highly disappointed.
When I first found out there was going to be a sequel to "Phantom", I hoped Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford would come back to repise their roles. After listening to this album, I am so glad they didn't. I was sorely let down by the quality of "Love Never Dies", and taking part in it would have only brought them down in my own estimation.
I had heard alternately positive and negative reviews for this show; being a big fan of the original, I was a little curious about this, though leery of the setting at Coney Island. After some deliberation, I decided to just go ahead and take a listen. My fears were justified.
Love Never Dies is a tremendous monstrosity. Set in 1907, ten years after the events of the "Phantom of the Opera"(Time discrepancy anyone? I thought the original took place in 1881. Hmm...), and set in New York; or more specifically, Coney Island, of all places; the Phantom has built himself up as an innovator for the freak-shows and attractions at the park. Calling himself Mr. Y, he devises a plan to lure Christine from Paris to sing. To make a long story short, she arrives; tragedy ensues; and the whole thing ends just as abysmally as it starts.
The plot is ridiculously kitsch and predictable. You needn't even have to see it live to know what direction it's going to take, and even then it is beyond unbearable. Even the title itself is deplorable, for SPOILER HERE: one of the principle characters is "done away with", for lack of another phrase, in a rather merciless and unnecessary manner, proving that love does indeed die (I hope I didn't give away too much). Lust never dies would be a far more fitting moniker. What should be a celebration of the strength of love and its ability to persevere through any circumstance is instead reduced to a wake, displaying in vivid color the irrevocable tragedy caused by it and the destructive effect it has upon people's lives.
As a word of note to fans of the original, I would like to point out how far removed and very different from "Phantom" this is; much too different. Andrew Lloyd Webber freely admitted that this was going to be a completely separate work, and in case it doesn't meet your expectations (it REALLY failed to meet mine), he at least met that one.
In case you're wondering, don't go looking for any continuation musically. There is no romantic lullaby like "Music of the Night" or a beautiful, longing ballad like "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again". Instead, those greats have been replaced by songs like "The Beauty Underneath", a weird, pounding, rock-stomp, or "Beneath a Moonless Sky" which left me feeling sick to my stomach. We all knew ALW was secretly bursting to include more rock in POTO. In LND he's gotten his chance; and boy, did he go all out.
Even character-wise, nothing is the same. The characters are desecrated and made largely one-dimensional, with enough problems to fill an entire season of "As the World Turns". All of the beautiful characterization that was put into the Phantom himself is done away with for LND. I never though Ramin Karimloo made a very good Phantom, and, unfortunately, it seems the revised character was written around his lackluster portrayal. The Phantom is made very uninteresting. He has no style, no grace, no nobility, and no personality. He's little more than a shadow of his former self. He's no longer a genius, but a freak-show sell-out, everything he aspired not to be in both Leroux's novel and the original play--heck, he isn't even scary!
The rest of the cast is also changed considerably. Meg (little Meg Giry!), has seriously gone to the dark side in her role as the lead "Ooh-la-la girl", a group of seriously underdressed showgirls. For supposedly being French, she comes off too brash and brassy, and not at all the sweet little member of the corps de ballet. Christine is too flat and boring, and doesn't have any of the really sweet, innocent qualities she used to that made her such a compelling character. Oh, and to top it all off, Raoul is a bitter, gambling drunkard, totally lacking in sympathy and warmth. What a group of winners. None of them are in any way appealing; there is far too much anger running through them, enough that it makes you, as the listener, uncomfortable. It really left me wondering,"What was anyone thinking?" or more probably, "Were they thinking?". And the resounding answer to that question is No.
What really tore me up emotionally was the lack of sympathy and honest devotion between the Phantom and Christine. Their first meeting, for instance, which should have been a sweet homage to their parting at the end of POTO is nothing more than a gruff confrontation, ending in a sickening duet showcasing an overabundance of bawdiness. The only touching emotional conflict in the whole show is that the Phantom hasn't written any decent music since Christine left him, and has instead produced cheap side-show jingles. A nice tribute, but it leaves me to wonder, did he write the music for LND too?
Concerning the music, Andrew Lloyd Webber has really lost his touch here. The entire score feels like it was written by someone else. Grating, disturbing, and for all intents and purposes Tim-Burton-esque, it is slow-moving and nowhere near the caliber of any of his other work. It doesn't leave you feeling uplifted, but drained and unsettled instead. There is nothing pretty or romantic about it. It has has none of the sweeping, grandiose melodies of POTO, and if you didn't know any better, you could easily pass this off as a very poor imitation of a usually good composer.
The songs here aren't even sappy. They're just bad. I actually had to stop and walk away from listening for a while before I got through it, they are just that terrible. They sound like cheap, third-rate songs tossed hap-hazardly into your average third-rate American musical. There is all flash and no substance, and what a weak flash it is, too. The lyrics are clunky and cumbersome, and if they weren't so utterly ridiculous, maybe you'd be able to focus on some of the better points of the score itself. There's hardly a tune out of the whole lot I can remember enough to hum or would even care to. None of them are memorable and certainly will not be ones that are still popular some 20-odd years later. The only exception is the title song "Love Never Dies", which is very beautiful and classic, a real show-stopper; but is sadly the one and only, and is nothing more than an ominous portent when taken in context with the show.
All of the gorgeous operatic sensibilities that made the original Phantom stand out have been uprooted for the sake of appeasing those who objected to "too much Opera". Excuse me? It was set inside an Opera house, written by a man who was an opera critic, and has the very word displayed quite blatantly in the title.
As a major fan of POTO I admit to have listened to the original album more times than I can count. I certainly couldn't stand to listen to this album more than once without my head exploding or my eardrums bursting from the overwhelming shrillness of each piece, coupled with the overly-repetetive introduction of electric guitars. The cast as singers are only annoying and seem perfectly content with their terrible habit of over-acting and under-singing lines, which is only magnified by what dribble the material is that they have to work with.
The score by itself certainly has some merit, but with different lyrics and better story I can see working, ideally, in another show, one totally unrelated to "Phantom"
Those who are more familiar than I am with Webber's earlier works will probably deem this classic ALW; edgy, slightly irreverent, and definitely different than anything else standing in musical theatre; but for something as a follow-up to a show based in an opera house, that style just doesn't fit.
In few words, Love Never Dies is a chaotic, unexciting spectacle (and I mean spectacle in a bad way). It certainly has no makings for being a theatre classic, nor a timeless masterpiece. It doesn't have the nostalgic feel of "Phantom of the Opera", nor the sense of tension or anticipation that was so apparent throughout all of the score. The dismal choice of setting is so completely unsuited to the core subject, it's hard to even believe anyone gave it the green light. I completely understand that ALW aimed to be different, but honestly, when you're dealing with a sequel, shouldn't it at least be a little cohesive to where you started from?
I really blame Mr. Webber for his choice of Glenn Slater as lyricist and Fredrick Forsyth's novel as source material. Don't get me wrong; I think Mr. Webber is a gifted composer who has produced some of the best theater works in the last forty years, nearly all of which have been received as world-renowned smash-hits; but I personally don't see this as one of his best. The stinker lyrics and bad choice of source material bring it all down. I honestly believe he would have done much better if he had tried to come up with a story himself, rather than depend on the atrocious sell-out "Phantom of Manhattan" is.
In tone, the show is far too dark and depressing. There is no mystery and absolutely no magic; humor is nonexistent. The romance and wonder is gone, only to be replaced by a drawn-out nightmarish bore. It has none of the poignancy and brilliance of the original, and doesn't carry over well as a continuation of the original story. Honestly, it reminded me of the Joel Schumacher movie adaptation of "Phantom": bad acting, bad orchestration, so-so singers, and enough grit to sandpaper superglue off a wall. Those who enjoy bodice-busting tales of carnage might like this one, but for those of us who liked the Phantom the way he was, beware.
To quote the Phantom himself (not Karimloo's Phantom, but his earlier incarnations), Love Never Dies is a "lamentable mess", to put it kindly, and if you are a fan of the original you'll avoid this one. I sure wish I had.
Description of Love Never Dies Deluxe Edition
A Must Have For Collectors! This is the 2CD/DVD Deluxe Edition of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies musical. It's a Special Deluxe Limited Edition 2CD complete cast recording; Bonus DVD with interviews and filmed footage nicely bound 40 page booklet. Behind the scenes at the soundtrack recording sessions in London and interviews with Andrew Lloyd Webber, award-winning set designer Bob Crowley and the stars of the show. PLUS "Coney Island Waltz" music video - featuring this haunting piece of music set to stirring archival film footage of The glory days of Coney Island. A "must have" for collectors.Andrew Lloyd Webber's long awaited new show "LOVE NEVER DIES" will have its World Premiere in London at the Adelphi Theatre on Tuesday 9 March 2010, followed by New York on Thursday 11 November and Australia in 2011.
"LOVE NEVER DIES" continues the story of `The Phantom', who has moved from his lair in the Paris Opera House to haunt the fairgrounds of Coney Island, far across the Atlantic. Set ten years after the mysterious disappearance of `The Phantom' from Paris, this show is a rollercoaster ride of obsession and intrigue...in which music and memory can play cruel tricks...and `The Phantom' sets out to prove that, indeed, "LOVE NEVER DIES".
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