Parliament and Big Ben

Parliament and Big Ben
Viewed from The London Eye

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

TWP: Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies

Luke's comments about the sequel to Phantom of the Opera:

I saw Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre on July 15, 2011. I wanted to see this musical not only because of my musical theatre interests/background, but also because it is the sequel to one of my favorite musicals, Phantom of the Opera.I arrived at the theatre 5 minutes late due to forgetting which Tube stop to go to, but I only missed the first scene. 

One of the first thing I noticed is that the Adelphi Theatre is much larger than the Garrick Theatre. That's to be expected because the scale as well as the cast of Love Never Dies is much larger than Pygmalion. Also the presence of choreography and large, complex set pieces requires a bigger stage. 

I was impressed with how the cast and crew incorporated aspects of theatre in ways that I haven't seen before. They used the lighting to make a glass door look and behave like a mirror so the Phantom could have a really cool entrance. They also used transparent screens to project images and videos onstage for scene transitions. The cast also incorporated pyrotechnics into their performance. The use of pyrotechnics was very clever for some of the scenes; but for other more dramatic scenes, pyrotechnics are essential in order to achieve the desired effect.

This musical takes the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride. It tells a dark story of revenge and desperation while taking you inside the disturbing mind of a physically deformed composer.

I highly recommend this musical to anyone who wants to know what happens next in the Phantom of the Opera. This musical has made my top five list of musicals. Love Never Dies will make you laugh and cry, but it will leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

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