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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2018 8:51:36 GMT
Sorry if there’s already a LND thread, I can’t find it!
Anyway, stumbled upon a new complete LND cast recording on Apple Music last night. It says “2018 studio cast.” I’m pretty sure this is wrong. It’s definitely the Melbourne cast and I’m 90% sure it’s the audio of the DVD release. With the exception of Beauty Underneath which is the updated version recorded for ALW’s 70th.
Can anyone else confirm the origins of this recording? Seems very odd that there has been zero publicity or promotion!
Also does anyone know if it’s available on CD?
Oh, and re the recording. It’s excellent. Reflects all the changes since the OLC.
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Post by anita on Jun 30, 2018 8:59:55 GMT
I was told by someone it's the CD they are selling at venues of the American tour but was given a link to purchase & it came up sold out.
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Post by notmymuse on Jun 30, 2018 9:47:26 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2018 10:00:42 GMT
Sorry if there’s already a LND thread, I can’t find it! Anyway, stumbled upon a new complete LND cast recording on Apple Music last night. It says “2018 studio cast.” I’m pretty sure this is wrong. It’s definitely the Melbourne cast and I’m 90% sure it’s the audio of the DVD release. With the exception of Beauty Underneath which is the updated version recorded for ALW’s 70th. Can anyone else confirm the origins of this recording? Seems very odd that there has been zero publicity or promotion! Also does anyone know if it’s available on CD? Oh, and re the recording. It’s excellent. Reflects all the changes since the OLC. Can't confirm, but I thought the same listening. Sounds just like the DVD audio with the exception of Beauty Underneath, which other than the new (questionable) arrangement stands out from the rest as the kids voice is deeper - as you would expect with a sub 16-year old male and a 6 year time difference. |
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Post by vabbian on Apr 11, 2019 3:27:13 GMT
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Post by vabbian on May 4, 2019 18:21:17 GMT
^sorry about above post. well, when I was in China, I found this fabulous video of Sierra Boggess (the best Christine  ) singing Love Never Dies. I looked for a LND thread to post it but there doesn't appear to be one. I agree with ALW that LND is his best work, and I will stan it until the day I die! I hope in the future that this can be revived. The staging was sh*t, the Aus version even more so. Sierra is truly the best Christine, and Ramin one of the best phantoms. Their chemistry was magical, I saw this production and cast 6 times in the West End. My family used to take us every Christmas time to see Phantom (traumatic, I know), although LND was the show that truly got me into the theatre. But judging from how gay I am, that was bound to happen at some point anyway. I have uploaded the video to youtube, hopefully it doesn't get taken down, enjoy:  |
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Post by inthenose on Sept 4, 2022 14:00:50 GMT
I was watching an old Jack Lemmon/Shirley MacLaine movie called “The Apartment” and the main theme is eerily similar to “Our Kind of Love”/“Love Never Dies”. I mean, eerily
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Post by scarpia on Sept 4, 2022 15:03:15 GMT
I was watching an old Jack Lemmon/Shirley MacLaine movie called “The Apartment” and the main theme is eerily similar to “Our Kind of Love”/“Love Never Dies”. I mean, eerily It's called 'Jealous Lover', I believe (I LOVE The Apartment BTW). It was picked up on pretty early, even in some reviews I think of LND. There's a fair amount of self-plagiarism in the score too, with recitative from Sunset and music from The Woman in White finding their way in. |
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Post by inthenose on Sept 4, 2022 15:12:04 GMT
I was watching an old Jack Lemmon/Shirley MacLaine movie called “The Apartment” and the main theme is eerily similar to “Our Kind of Love”/“Love Never Dies”. I mean, eerily It's called 'Jealous Lover', I believe (I LOVE The Apartment BTW). It was picked up on pretty early, even in some reviews I think of LND. There's a fair amount of self-plagiarism in the score too, with recitative from Sunset and music from The Woman in White finding their way in. Great film isn’t it!!!! |
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Sept 4, 2022 17:10:03 GMT
I didn’t see the Australian cast but from the dvd they were much better in my opinion.
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Post by chernjam on Sept 5, 2022 2:48:37 GMT
I purchased this when it first came out... was happy to have the updated version of the score on CD (yeah, I'm dating myself in wanting an actual CD rather than streaming cast recordings ) I've never seen LND live - never made it to NYC despite several promises it was en route. Enjoyed listening to the score, but as ALW often says if all the elements don't work it doesn't matter how good the score is. Which is what I think is the case here. The story really comes across as thin. Phantom survived and lures Christine to NYC where Raoul has become an abusive spouse - and the climax is whether she sings a song the Phantom wrote or not? Eh... Maybe COVID has made me a bit more jaded, but the story seems less deserving the seriousness of the score that ALW wrote. Which is a shame. The first time I heard "Till I hear you sing" I remember thinking that was going to be a colossal hit for him |
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Post by sukhavati on Sept 5, 2022 3:18:44 GMT
This is indeed the audio track from the Melbourne company with most of the audience reaction removed. Casey Lyons, who played Gustave in the North American tour, was recorded on the road while Ben Lewis went to Abbey Road and re-recorded the new arrangement of "Beauty Underneath." Jack Lyall, the Melbourne Gustave, is in most of the rest of the recording. They did add a segment called "Gustave Gustave" for what was a montage scene in the film. I bought the CD set when I saw LND in California. I was told by someone with connections at Her Majesty's that Ben Lewis had been asked to do LND for a short term Broadway run and he turned it down. That was summer of 2018, when he was still principal Phantom in London. Instead he went directly from Phantom to the gender switched Company. I enjoyed LND, Meghan Picerno was a revelation live, but Gardar Thor Cortes flaked out on a lot of dates, so we got Bronson Norris Murphy in both the performances we attended. He's got a great singing voice, but his acting left a little to be desired. Still, it was nice to get a soundtrack for this iteration of the show.
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Post by lolalou on Sept 5, 2022 8:45:19 GMT
Wasn’t this slated at Curve in 2020 but Covid had other plans. Any news if it will return to the UK anywhere? I’d love to see this.
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Post by sukhavati on Sept 6, 2022 2:25:03 GMT
Wasn’t this slated at Curve in 2020 but Covid had other plans. Any news if it will return to the UK anywhere? I’d love to see this. They haven't announced venues or dates yet. I believe casting has been underway, so an announcement should be forthcoming.
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Post by Oliver on Mar 6, 2023 10:30:47 GMT
As misguided as the original opening was, I would take it any day over BK's. The placement of TIHYS right at the start is stupid. This is an emotional song that the drama needs to build to. It also makes the song's prologue, which is far from one of ALW's finest moments, the first thing we hear. I've always disliked the sentimentality of this prologue, announcing the Phantom as a romantic and lonely figure right off the bat, lacking subtlety therefore, and then "Ten long years..." and "lost and gone" is a hopelessly weak transition into the song, an uncharacteristically lazy piece of writing from the composer. There isn't a single decision BK has made in musical theatre that is sound. I don't understand what ALW sees in him. A good director tasked with improving LND would have had the story unfold from Christine's perspective. The first time Christine sees the Phantom should be the first time the audience sees the Phantom as well. it's obvious that would work better dramatically.
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Post by sukhavati on Mar 7, 2023 6:23:18 GMT
As misguided as the original opening was, I would take it any day over BK's. The placement of TIHYS right at the start is stupid. This is an emotional song that the drama needs to build to. It also makes the song's prologue, which is far from one of ALW's finest moments, the first thing we hear. I've always disliked the sentimentality of this prologue, announcing the Phantom as a romantic and lonely figure right off the bat, lacking subtlety therefore, and then "Ten long years..." and "lost and gone" is a hopelessly weak transition into the song, an uncharacteristically lazy piece of writing from the composer. There isn't a single decision BK has made in musical theatre that is sound. I don't understand what ALW sees in him. A good director tasked with improving LND would have had the story unfold from Christine's perspective. The first time Christine sees the Phantom should be the first time the audience sees the Phantom as well. it's obvious that would work better dramatically. Personally, I prefer the Australian/North American opening over the original UK version. The UK prologue implying that Giry was responsible for a fire that destroyed Phantasma - an event that isn't actually depicted anywhere in Act II - didn't particularly work for me, and it was a failed attempt at an Easter egg to conflate it with the film version of Phantom.
My personal take before seeing LND was that ALW had personally identified too closely with the Phantom role. He was the impetus behind the horrible novel that led to LND. I think in his mind he had to prove that the soprano would have chosen to remain with the Phantom if fate hadn't intervened just before the curtain. There was a certain Beauty and the Beast snark going around when he and Sarah Brightman first got together. I also felt it was a cynical money making ploy. TBH, how many of his shows since 1990 have shown nearly the same longevity or ubiquitousness? As an aside, killing Christine off worked with the POTO prologue, since Raoul mentions she's dead, plus it's a very 18th/19th century solution for novelists dealing with a female character transgressing societal norms, in this case, Christine deciding to leave her husband and stay with Erik. In novels, the transgressive females either suffered a crisis and repented, or died if they were unrepentant. Credit my friend with a doctorate in British Lit, and her dissertation exploring these issues.
I didn't care for the original UK production, but Ben Lewis won me over for Team LND Oz. LND isn't that far off from Phantom in the sense that you need three really strong leads to raise the tone of the show above the melodrama of the book. Might not translate via film but when you're seeing a great cast live, it's a moving show. I think Oliver's preference for LND needing to be told from Christine's point of view is an interesting option; the challenge would indeed be reshaping the material. It might be problematic that the audience's first sight coinciding with Christine's first sighting could be seen as repetitive of the original musical. However, the thing we often forget is that POTO is told from old Raoul's memories of what Christine told him - so it's filtered through Raoul's POV from beginning to end. In this case, it's from Erik's POV, and he was the original title character.
I suspect ALW will tinker some more with the book and score if the UK tour ever gets off the ground. I'm curious to see what happens.
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Post by Oliver on Mar 7, 2023 11:35:09 GMT
As misguided as the original opening was, I would take it any day over BK's. The placement of TIHYS right at the start is stupid. This is an emotional song that the drama needs to build to. It also makes the song's prologue, which is far from one of ALW's finest moments, the first thing we hear. I've always disliked the sentimentality of this prologue, announcing the Phantom as a romantic and lonely figure right off the bat, lacking subtlety therefore, and then "Ten long years..." and "lost and gone" is a hopelessly weak transition into the song, an uncharacteristically lazy piece of writing from the composer. There isn't a single decision BK has made in musical theatre that is sound. I don't understand what ALW sees in him. A good director tasked with improving LND would have had the story unfold from Christine's perspective. The first time Christine sees the Phantom should be the first time the audience sees the Phantom as well. it's obvious that would work better dramatically. Personally, I prefer the Australian/North American opening over the original UK version. The UK prologue implying that Giry was responsible for a fire that destroyed Phantasma - an event that isn't actually depicted anywhere in Act II - didn't particularly work for me, and it was a failed attempt at an Easter egg to conflate it with the film version of Phantom.
My personal take before seeing LND was that ALW had personally identified too closely with the Phantom role. He was the impetus behind the horrible novel that led to LND. I think in his mind he had to prove that the soprano would have chosen to remain with the Phantom if fate hadn't intervened just before the curtain. There was a certain Beauty and the Beast snark going around when he and Sarah Brightman first got together. I also felt it was a cynical money making ploy. TBH, how many of his shows since 1990 have shown nearly the same longevity or ubiquitousness? As an aside, killing Christine off worked with the POTO prologue, since Raoul mentions she's dead, plus it's a very 18th/19th century solution for novelists dealing with a female character transgressing societal norms, in this case, Christine deciding to leave her husband and stay with Erik. In novels, the transgressive females either suffered a crisis and repented, or died if they were unrepentant. Credit my friend with a doctorate in British Lit, and her dissertation exploring these issues.
I didn't care for the original UK production, but Ben Lewis won me over for Team LND Oz. LND isn't that far off from Phantom in the sense that you need three really strong leads to raise the tone of the show above the melodrama of the book. Might not translate via film but when you're seeing a great cast live, it's a moving show. I think Oliver's preference for LND needing to be told from Christine's point of view is an interesting option; the challenge would indeed be reshaping the material. It might be problematic that the audience's first sight coinciding with Christine's first sighting could be seen as repetitive of the original musical. However, the thing we often forget is that POTO is told from old Raoul's memories of what Christine told him - so it's filtered through Raoul's POV from beginning to end. In this case, it's from Erik's POV, and he was the original title character.
I suspect ALW will tinker some more with the book and score if the UK tour ever gets off the ground. I'm curious to see what happens.
As I see it, nothing in LND works, and for this reason I don't quibble with plot intricacies such as Madame Giry being responsible for the fire. I don't care about the story or any of the characters in LND. I didn't like the original opening to LND either, my point is only that it worked better musically and structurally than the revised version. The placement of TIHYS at the start makes no sense to me. I agree with you that ALW likely identified too closely with the story to make a good sequel, and perhaps, as you suggest, with the Phantom himself. There is evidence which we see in his comments, e.g. "love letter to Sarah", "closing a chapter" and such, which frankly get on my nerves. Your theory about why LND ended the way it did is really interesting, I hadn't thought of that. I also agree that in a society that massively values looks over talent, the "beauty and the beast" idea of Phantom likely struck home with him. I'm sure he drew parallels in his own mind between Phantom and Christine and himself and Sara Brightman. Personally, I never thought she was beautiful, nor him ugly, but I've no doubt he saw it that way. However, your theory about LND being a cynical money making ploy on his part seems more problematic, since writing a sequel occurred to him as far back as 1990. Also, if personal feelings provided the impetus for LND, as you say, that would suggest the opposite is true. |
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Post by phantz on Mar 9, 2023 11:45:23 GMT
The UK prologue implying that Giry was responsible for a fire that destroyed Phantasma - an event that isn't actually depicted anywhere in Act II - didn't particularly work for me, and it was a failed attempt at an Easter egg to conflate it with the film version of Phantom. I don't think it's that, but rather to do with the actual Coney Island fires: 1907 at Steeplechase Park (rebuilt and reopened 1908) or more particularly the 1911 fire that destroyed and forever closed Dreamland. But this should've been the climax of the show ala the burning of Manderly in Rebecca. Could've had Phantom braving the flames to save Christine before dying or something. |
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) singing Love Never Dies.
