Love Never Dies was over a decade in the making. Lloyd Webber first started working on the sequel to his 1986 hit, Phantom of the Opera, in 1990. However, it was not until 2007 he began writing the music. A number of writers have been and gone; including Frederick Forsyth and Ben Elton. Nominated for various Laurence Olivier and Whatsonstage awards, The critic and audience reviews were very mixed and its opening on Broadway was postponed indefinitely. It also ended up having substantial re-writes. The show had its official opening on 9th March 2010 at the Adelphi Theatre.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has said that he does not see this as a sequel, but as a stand alone piece. It is set in 1907 and Lloyd Webber says this is roughly ten years after the original Phantom. It’s not based on the original book by Gaston Leroux. It says a lot about the power, and expectations, of Lloyd Webber that the show sold £9 million in advance ticket sales. It’s budget was only £6 million. It’s directed by Jack O’Brien and the cast includes Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, Sierra Boggess as Christine and Joseph Milson as Raoul. The choreographer is Jerry Mitchell.
In 2007 the Daily Mail reported that the show would be delayed because Lloyd Webber’s six-month-old kitten Otto, climbed onto Lloyd Webber’s piano and managed to delete the entire score. Although he did not recover any of it from the instrument, he managed to put the score back together again. Phew!
22nd February 2011
