Fitting superbly into the Capitol, the show opens with Ben Lewis as the Phantom struggling with writers’ block. A decade after the original Phantom of the Opera, he has escaped from Paris with the help of Madame Giry and Meg, and is now known as Mr Y, the mysterious masked manager of a huge Coney Island variety palace. In some ways he is like a villain from The Matrix; in others he’s torn and tormented. With a powerful, explosive and difficult opening – straight into ‘Til I Hear You Sing’ – Lewis looms menacingly, towering physically and vocally over the entire production. It is a glorious performance.
Aristocratic wastrel Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny (Simon Gleeson), having caroused his fortune away brings his wife Christine – now an established prima donna – and their son Gustave to New York for a lucrative engagement for the Hammersteins. Raoul and Christine unexpectedly meet up with Madame Giry and Meg (‘Dear Old Friends’). But the crucial reunion is between Christine and the Phantom.
As in the original Phantom (and many Gothicky romances) he enters her room through a mirror. They have a glorious set of duets – ‘Beneath A Moonless Sky’ and ‘Once Upon Another Time’ – that reveal the intimacy between them and explains what happened after the Phantom vanished from the Paris Opera all those years ago.
The Phantom threatens Gustave, who has great musical potential, so that Christine will agree to sing for him. But he relents once the truth about the boy’s parentage is revealed. In being forced to sing for the Phantom (the title song, in Act 2), Christine has to gamble her marriage to Raoul and the future of her son. She also unwittingly destroys the hopes of the two other women who have given their all for the Phantom: Madame Giry and Meg.
Anna O’Byrne as Christine is magnificent, with a glorious soaring voice; she’s a prima donna indeed. Gleeson performance as Raoul is also magnificent, especially during his ‘Why Does She Love Me?’ Tyron Geany gives a lovely performance as Gustave; Maria Mercedes as the obsessive, stern and rather forbidding Madame Giry is brilliant; and it is a delight to see the wonderful Sharon Millerchip as Meg (a role she played in the original Phantom).
The huge, spectacular set designs by Gabriela Tylesova are on a scale rarely seen; they are amazing. They ‘fly’ in, revolve, tilt – and the Phantom’s half mask is incorporated into the design. There are also shades of the barricades from Les Miserables and also Starlight Express.
The costume designs are ravishing. Special mention must be made of the stunning ‘peacock’ dress and design Christine wears in Act 2 for ‘Love Never Dies’, and of the glorious dresses for Meg and the ensemble in her delightful set piece ‘Bathing Beauty’.
If you know your Phantom, there are musical snippets cunningly sprinkled throughout the show (eg echoes of ‘Prima Donna’ for Christine, and ‘Angel of Music’). There’s also some rather strange integration of 80s rock music rhythms and heavy electric guitar (‘The Beauty Underneath’). Elsewhere there is possibly a Sinatra flavour (Raoul’s ‘Why Does She Love Me ?’). The large orchestra, under maestro Guy Simpson, is magnificent. I’m afraid that the lyrics by Glenn Slater were at times rather trite, however.
Graeme Murphy’s choreography is dazzling – if you know his work and look closely there are small quotes from his Tivoli and Nearly Beloved in particular.
A dark work, rather light on the humour and heavy on the tension, this production may leave some Phantom fans cold; some will hate it. But I found it extremely impressive, with magnificent performances. It is a lavish, opulent melodrama that is an extraordinary piece of entertainment.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Love Never Dies
Director: Simon Phillips
Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Glenn Slater
Book by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ben Elton, Glenn Slater and Frederick Forsyth
Additional lyrics: Charles Hart
Orchestrations: David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber
Choreography: Graeme Murphy AM
Lighting Design: Nick Schlieper
Sound Design: Mick Potter,br>
Set and cotsume: Gabriela Tylsova
Musical Supervisor: Guy Simpson
Cast: Ben Lewis, Anna O’Byrne, Maria Mercedes, Simon Gleeson, Sharon Millerchip, Emma J Hawkins, Paul Tabone, Dean Vince, Tyron Geany (with Ky Baldwin, George Cartwright and Jack Lyall)
Capitol Theatre, Sydney
January 12th–April 1st, 2012
Bookings and more information: www.loveneverdies.com.au
