Love Never Dies
Rating: **
Starring: Ramin Karimloo, Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Liz Robertson, Haley Flaherty
The show is set ten years after the events of Phantom in 1905 (though in reality it would be 24 years as Phantom was set in 1881, sorry for that trivia) and the Phantom, now a running a successful sideshow in Coney Island thanks to Madame Giry and her once sweet and innocent daughter Meg, is still pining for Christine and wants her to sing for him again, who's married to Raoul and has a child. She accepts, unaware of the Phantom's identity. Once the trio arrive, Christine is now forced to choose between the 2 men again and to reveal a secret she has kept since she married Raoul, now a drunk, with the money being used to pay off his gambling debts, which involves her son Gustave, who is strikingly similar to the Phantom with his musical skills.
The set design was alright but didn't have that spark that Phantom had and I could clearly see they tried to make it spectacular with the Coney Island Waltz but failed miserably. The lyrics were an improvement from how it started with the album I must admit, but they certainly didn't suit the show itself or anything really it just all seemed to clash. The background set was just awful clearly made out of cardboard and the Phantom's lair was just terrible, which included a walking skeleton with women's legs randomly walking around and a weird robot of Christine, which appeared in the prologue played by Celia. Also, the projections used gave me a headache and were overused for scene transitions they were clearly trying to hide.

The actors didn't necessarily benefit anything either, with only Ramin Karimloo (previously the Phantom in London and at the 25th anniversary concert which I went to) making an effort as the Phantom, with his stunning and seductive voice winning me over. Celia Graham (previously Christine in London) had a pretty voice indeed, but her acting skills needed to be improved and she failed to win me over with the grand aria of the title song, even though I could see she tried. Liz Robertson, in my opinion, was too stern and strict to play Madame Giry and she made her look like the Mama Rose of Phantom with her daughter Meg. Haley Flaherty made me and the audience laugh as Meg, and her transition from sweet and innocent to jealous and rejected was a moderate success. David Thaxton (well known as Enjolras in Les Miz) was unusual as Raoul, making him abusive and constantly changing his accent from English, to American, to French for some bizarre reason. I was just thinking 'Make up your mind, where's Raoul supposed to be from?!'
Overall, it's stupid with the story being cliche & so inferior to the original & I think we should do like Shaq Fu and try to get rid of every little speck of it so it never sees the light of day!