Andrew Lloyd Webber, the composer and theatrical impresario behind West End and Broadway shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and Cats, spent 20 years bringing Love Never Dies to life. The musical follows on from the events of The Phantom of the Opera, which had its premiere in London in 1986.
Lord Lloyd Webber has refused to call Love Never Dies a sequel, however, preferring to describe it as a "stand-alone piece." It features the main characters from the original Phantom, but takes place roughly 10 years later, in 1907--admittedly a chronology inconsistent with the first show.
The show opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London, England, on March 9, 2010. A Broadway production is planned for Spring 2011.
Love Never Dies: The Story
Love Never Dies takes place in the bustling amusement resort of Coney Island, New York, to which the Phantom has fled after being hounded out of Paris in the previous story. Here, he has opened Phantasma, a palace of circus-like curiosities and entertainment, where patrons and performers know him as "Mr. Y."
Madame Giry, the former mistress of the Paris Opera Ballet, and her daughter, Meg, have arrived in America with him, and Giry hopes that Meg will be heir to the Phantom's fortune. Her hopes are dashed, however, when the Phantom invites soprano Christine Daae, the heroine of the original story, to sing for him as the star attraction of the summer vacation season.
She arrives with her husband Raoul de Chagny--now a bitter alcoholic--and their son, Gustave. Neither Christine nor Raoul is aware of Mr. Y's true identity. Once they arrive, however, the Phantom reveals himself to Christine and confesses he still loves her and yearns to be with her. More shockingly, the two reveal they shared a night of sexual passion a decade earlier, before the Phantom left Paris.
The Phantom meets Gustave, a gifted boy soprano. While showing Gustave his exotic lair, he notices the boy's natural gift for music and notes his age--10. The Phantom realizes he is Gustave's real father.
Meanwhile, Raoul unexpectedly meets Madame Giry, and discovers he and Christine are there at the Phantom's invitation. The angry Vicomte de Chagny implores Christine to leave.
As Act II of the play begins, a distraught Raoul faces his old rival for the first time since his arrival. The Phantom taunts Raoul about Gustave's paternity and challenges him to fight for Christine's affections. The confrontation ends with a bet: If Christine sings for the last night of the season, as agreed, she belongs to the Phantom; if she refuses, Raoul has won.
Love Never Dies: The Ending
Christine is torn between Raoul and the Phantom, her "Angel of Music." As the Coney Island summer season draws to a close, the stage awaits Christine. She knows her decision will seal the future for her and Gustave.
She sings.
By the time her performance ends, Raoul has left for Paris, knowing he has lost Christine. But where is Gustave? The Phantom is furious, believing that Raoul has taken the boy with him. He is wrong, however. Meg Giry, on finding out that she will lose her inheritance to Gustave, has snatched the boy and taken him to a point at the water's edge known as "Suicide Hall," where she plans to drown him. The Phantom and Christine find her and confront her, and Meg reveals she has a gun.
A stand-off ends with the increasingly deluded and hysterical Meg ends with a struggle, followed by an accidental gunshot. The victim: Christine. She and the Phantom share a last kiss, and she dies in his arms.
Reactions
The show provoked strong reactions. Seasoned critic Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph (London) said Love Never Dies was Lloyd Webber's "finest show since the original Phantom of the Opera," predicting that "its creepy allure will linger potently in the memory when frothier shows have been long forgotten."
A group of "Phans," on the other hand, began a " Love Should Die " campaign against the show, protesting that Lloyd Webber had ruined the story and assigned motivations and actions to the characters that could not possibly exist in the world of the original story.
The story of Love Never Dies may be far-fetched in places, and its sentimental message about love may be uncomfortably reminiscent of a Hallmark greetings card. Considered on its own merits, however, and forgetting its inconsistencies with the original story, Love Never Dies is a show of entertainingly melodramatic fervor.
More on Love Never Dies: Love Never Dies: Songs from the Phantom Sequel, by the same author
