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| Thoughts: OK, I first became interested in musicals when I found out Jim had written the lyrics for "Whistle down the Wind". I knew the name Andrew Lloyd Webber, and some of the scores for "Phantom" and "Evita", but that show changed everything. "A Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste" is still one of the most aching beautiful songs I will ever hear. Sometime afterward, when I'd listened to as many Lloyd Webber scores as I could find, I watched the VHS 'Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th Birthday Celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall".
I remember being surprised when he got up onstage and introduced Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to sing one of his new songs, "The Heart is Slow to Learn". I couldn’t believe what he actually said, that he was thinking about projecting a sequel to "Phantom". How could it be possible? In the original novel, the Phantom dies. At the end of the musical, Christine's kiss redeems him and he lets her go. To continue the story would be to contradict that beautiful message. But I chose to keep an open mind and the song was Phantastic. Sometime after that, Frederick Forsyth published a novella called "The Phantom of Manhattan" in which the Phantom has fled Paris and is now living in New York. I thought that was actually a pretty cool concept. Instead of the Phantom living below ground, this time he would live above in the skyscrapers.
But the story itself was just awful. The ending literally was the only time I picked up a book and threw it across the room. And yet there was something brilliant about the idea of the Phantom living in Manhattan. I really wanted to see how Andrew would deal with the challenge but it never happened. He wound up doing "The Beautiful Game" with Ben Elton instead, taking the tune for "The Heart is Slow to Learn" with him, and that was that. Everyone thought it was dead. And on top of that, the lyricist Don Black reused the title for the "Dracula" musical with Frank Wildhorn and Christopher Hampton. In 2004, when I saw the Joel Schumacher film, I was wondering if anyone else thought Andrew would take up the sequel again. Several ideas from the Forsyth novel were drawn upon for the screenplay and the last scene definitely got me thinking. I thought if he did it, it would perhaps be the biggest challenge of his entire career because of the original production's fame. How could any sequel live up to what is now one of the most successful live entertainment events ever staged? Now I'm in two minds about "Love Never Dies". The original author Gaston Leroux never intended to write a sequel and his estate is not supporting it, although there's nothing they can do. The original was beautiful as it was. It never needed to be continued. And yet the music I heard from the launch, as well as the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa song, made me feel that this would be one of the most brilliant evenings in musical theatre in a long time. I'm sick of shows like "The Producers", "Hairspray", "Legally Blonde" and "Shrek". As decent as they are, they don't move me the way "Phantom" and "Tanz" do. "The Coney Island Waltz" took me into that world and I wish I could see the Coney Island from that era. "Till I Hear You Sing" is the most beautiful song of that nature I've heard since "Johanna" from "Sweeney Todd". "Love Never Dies", the title song, which recycles the music from the earlier Dame Kiri Te Kanawa song and, in turn, "Our Kind Of Love" from "The Beautiful Game" is just right. I've been following it closely. They're keeping the plot a secret. There have been rumours though, e.g. Andrew set the story in 1907 so he could incorporate the great fire at Steeplechase Park. Just yesterday a woman was telling me that people were still on the rollercoaster rides when the flames were spreading. It makes me think that perhaps Christine becomes scarred by the fire. If that's true, I definitely want to see this. It subverts everything, sort of like how "Wicked" made the WWW the sympathetic character. So that's my $200 worth on the subject.
> I wonder what Ryan thinks of it. I'll have to ask him. He > uses the show poster as his avatar and he knows a great > deal about ALW. I knew that both Jim and ALW were signed > to Robert Stigwood in the early seventies but I didn't > know that they were aware of each other until Ryan told > me. Makes perfect sense now that I think about it. > > > Been listening to ALW's new song (see link) the last few > > days and think it's really good (bodes well for the > > show). > > > > Some great lyrics ('love won't let you go, once you've > > been possessed') and by far the best use of the melody, > > which has had two previous incarnations. > > > > Also fantastic vocal from Sierra Boggess! > > > > Some get hung-up about recycling but I'm not too bothered > > as long as the writer does something new & fresh, and I > > think ALW's done just that. | |
