Phantom Rides Again (and Again)

I caught Love Never Dies in the original London production. Since then there have been a lot of changes. According to my calculations by the time it closed in the West End it was on version 3.1 with Aussie-compatible Bill Kenwright plugins.

So this is a bit out of date but here’s a review.

**SPOILER ALERT**

One common misconception about Lord Lloyd Webber is that he’s a commercially-motivated writer. In truth he’s more Boheme than businessman. This is nowhere more evident than with Love Never Dies, a sequel to Phantom of the Opera, the most commercially successful entertainment in the history of the word ever. It’s taken 18 years. If it was all about the money, money (ch-ching, ch-ching) then, by this time, we would surely be on Phantom XII: Return to the Sewers.

But something finally drew His Lordship back to the characters of the original. So it’s 10 years on and the Phantom has donned his mask once again, skipped the Atlantic and become a mysterious genius who lords over a mini-empire of circus freaks and showgirls in Coney Island, New York. The star turn is Meg, a dancer from the days of the Paris opera house and the old ballet mistress, Madame Giry, has become Head of Light Entertainment. The Phantom hatches a plan to lure his old flame Christine, now an internationally-renowned singer, to perform in New York. She arrives along with hubby, Raoul, who, having gambled away the fortunes of his more successful wife, has turned into grouchy embittered drunk. So the gang’s all here.

Ah, but there’s also the boy. Yes, Christine has a 10-year-old (hint!) and it soon becomes clear that this fella is, in fact, the product of an illicit rendezvous between the Phantom and Christine on the night before her wedding. Well, I say “soon”. That’s truer for the audience than most of the characters. For Raoul the penny doesn’t drop until this exquisite exchange in the Act II:

PHANTOM: Such a child, strange to see, different, musical?
RAOUL:Huh?

That was pretty much my first reaction to the little tinker too. But, in fact, the boy is a necessity. The Phantom needs to be unmasked and that requires a character to react to the unmasking. In the original, it’s Christine. On the first occasion, she faints with shock; on the second, she accepts him, warts and all. The story revolves around these two points and the same points occur in Love Never Dies. Only this time it’s the boy, not Christine, who’s on the other end of the Phantom’s mug.

All well and good. But it does change things. The show begins with the Phantom still obsessed with his desire – romantic, artistic, erotic - for Christine. But as soon as he is revealed as daddy dearest then his focus shifts from her to the boy. This would be fine if his obsessive desire was enlarged too. Instead it seems to diminish. The Phantom has spent 10 years patiently building an empire and amassing a fortune half way across the world so that he can bring Christine to him. That’s obsessive. When he learns about the boy, what does he do? He tries to bond with him by showing him some freaky Phantasma inventions (“The Beauty Underneath”); he challenges Raoul during an early morning sing-off (“Devil Take the Hindmost”); and he forces Christine to sing a song (“Love Never Dies”). None of this really ramps up the obsession factor.

It also makes the Phantom far less dangerous. What is the Phantom story about? Essentially it’s a monster story with a twist of romance. In the original the monster isn’t slain by the swashbuckling hero, Raoul. Instead it’s the heroine, Christine, who does so with a sign of affection, a kiss. But the point is that the Phantom is a genuine (although pitiable) monster. He frightens, humiliates and murders. His obsession pervades the entire show as he manipulates events like a villainous puppeteer. By comparison the Phantom of Love Never Dies might as well be changing nappies. Not only is he a monster who’s less monstrous, his final “slaying” (being accepted by his son) is trumped by the actual and accidental slaying of the heroine. The result is a more domesticated and less fulfilling kind of drama . Where the original Phantom was a rock opera, Love Never Dies is closer to soap opera.

And yet and yet, despite the plot problems, it’s still worth the effort. There is one wonderful musical theatre moment. Christine is caught between Raoul and the Phantom. Her decision whether or not to perform the Phantom’s song becomes an ultimatum. The build-up is slow and methodical as the stage revolves and the characters wait backstage. Suddenly the lights are on her and she sings:

“Love never dies
Love will continue
Love keeps on beating when
you’re gone
Love never dies
Once it is in you
Life may be fleeting,
love lives on”

Now, like much of the show, the lyrics by Glenn Slater may be a little purple. But they are very singable and allow the swooping rangy tune to do its work. At the climax the lighting on Christine switches to theatrical footlights and it’s clear that Christine has made her choice and, once again, succumbed to the lure of the Phantom’s music. As the audience applauds it becomes the Christine’s audience of the play itself. We, too, have been lured into the drama.

The two leads, Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo, are star turns and have the kind of voices that it’s a privelege to hear. The direction by Broadway veteran Jack O’Brien is slick and the designs are suitably romantic and outlandish. But this is Lloyd Webber’s baby. Something about this story brings out an open-throated, heart-on-the-sleeve honesty in his music and, when it comes to emotional truth, sincerity is a powerful thing. Phantom made him a fortune; a more poorly plotted Love Never Dies may lose him one. But it wouldn’t matter: it was never about the money.