A Little “Research” Background
There have been a few people who have asked me about my opinion on the newest Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Love Never Dies. I think I’ve been the likely target of my friends for this question because it’s no secret that my guilty pleasure is musical theatre. That’s right, to everyone who doesn’t know, I’ve got an enormous soft spot for musical theatre. Painful, I know. The fortunate side of it is that I can suppress the giddy theatre-going side with me and balance it with, what I think are, practical observations and opinions. This comes from more than just enjoying theatre or observing theatre and truth be told, I haven’t had any proper theatrical education. I took a musical theatre history course in the first semester of my senior year at New York University, but I have been studying the subject matter on my own for a number of years. Instead of reading fiction growing up, I spent middle school and high school reading plays, librettos, biographies on composers and lyricists, and books on musical theatre history. Does that make me particularly qualified? Probably not, however I was determined to do something with this “research” in college. And of course as things turned out, my major requirements for my B.F.A. in Film took over and musical theatre took a back seat until my sophomore year when I began studying sociology. I found the course and the professor particularly interesting and continued my year with another course under his tutelage, The Sociology of Opera. With my interest in theatre returning and with Opera under my belt, the professor encouraged me and accepted me into New York University’s Berlin abroad program, which focuses primarily on German language and sociology. For me, this was also the perfect opportunity to embrace to go abroad and to see musical theatre in Germany, which I had taken an interest in years prior.
I suppose what I’m getting at in a very length, roundabout way is that I’ve spent a decent amount of my time dedicating attention to an art form that interests me, but in one that I’ve received no formal education in. The central idea that I’ve started to form or develop could very well be something along the lines of “The Sociology of Musical Theatre,” but I’m not even sure if that’s exactly the track I’m trying to hit. I think it may very well be more along the lines of a very broad interpretation of the word “adaptation.” I’ve taken that meaning to study the adaptation of productions from their different mediums (stage, screen, book, history, etc.), and their interpretation into different languages, different casts, and different countries and cities.
Love Never Dies: The Buzz
For the past week the buzz of Love Never Dies has been wracking my brain and I’ve been trying to soak up information about the production like a sponge. I have been holding myself back from absorbing too much information about the production. I don’t necessarily want all the spoilers or know all the changes the show has undergone, at least not yet.
So to those unfamiliar with the basic plot of this new show, the story picks up ten years after where The Phantom of the Opera left off. We are transported to New York City (Brooklyn) where the Phantom has fled to and has aided in the creation of attractions at the new and exciting Coney Island. The memory of Christine still haunts him and he anonymously invites her to perform at one of park’s attractions. Christine, Raoul, and their son, Gustave arrive in New York only to discover from whom the invitation came from.
I will confess that I am hugely skeptical of the idea of Love Never Dies and have been ever since the original rumors of the show came out nearly ten years ago. After a conversation with the late Maria Björnos, who expressed that she was never fully satisfied with the ending of Phantom, Webber started to conceptualize what happened after his story ended.
She was very excited about a New World location. We felt the key to the piece could be setting the story in New York and that this time the Phantom lived above his realm, perhaps in Manhattan’s first penthouse. But where in America could the Phantom have first gone to? Where could he have been unnoticed and yet been a part of the community?
I saw a documentary about Coney Island. Here was the Phantom’s new home among the freaks and the oddities who were such a part of Coney.
I stumbled on a two-dollar copy of The Phantom of Manhattan at my library’s used books for sale section about nine years ago and picked it up with my pocket change. It was a quick read even then and I don’t know if there was anything about it that stuck out to me. The Love Never Dies buzz will more than likely make me pick it up again.
What I’d like to do is to tackle or discuss several elements about the new show namely story, music and lyrics, and theatrical opposition and press.
Story – Possible Spoilers
I’ve been careful not to read too much into the production or the scene breakdowns provided by those who have seen the preview. I want to know about the production, but I don’t want to know it. There are certainly layers to the story and changes in relationships, but I’m going to talk about the main storyline. I am also not going to talk about the ending.
I received a copy of the cast album and I have been delicately selecting pieces to listen to and skipping over sections that I think may ruin too much of the show for me. I know that the argument against that from a lot people will be either “Why not listen to it? It’s not good anyway,” or “Why bother listening to that junk?” That is, of course, from the production’s opposition. My answer is that I am now genuinely interested in the show. I also know from past experiences that I if I see the show, I’m more likely to have a better-sculpted opinion of it if I go in fresh. Knowing all the music and the plot beforehand will force me to anticipate what’s to come during a production. I can only provide what I know at the current moment.
To elaborate a bit on the plot I started with earlier: The Phantom has left for Brooklyn where he has acquired a fortune building up Coney Island with the help of Mme. Giry and Meg. He is still unable to forget Christine and anonymously invites her to Coney Island to perform. Christine arrives in New York with her now-husband, Raoul and son, Gustave. Raoul’s boyish charm is forgotten and he has been drinking and gambling away the family fortune. The decision to perform at Coney Island, which he despises, is for the money. Christine soon discovers the identity of the man who invited her to New York. It is soon revealed that Christine and the Phantom made love just prior to her marriage to Raoul bringing the paternity of Gustave into question. Christine is soon faced again with the choice to choose between Raoul and the Phantom: Should she decide to sing, she stays with the Phantom. Should she not sing, she stays with Raoul and the Phantom agrees to pay off all of Raoul’s debts. Raoul, of course, accepts the bet.
I think what strikes most people about the new production is the decision to go to Coney Island in New York. The most obvious is that it gives a perfect excuse for the Phantom to flourish. With freak shows and oddities, a man in a mask is no stranger. He’s hiding in broad daylight. It also gives the writers of Love a new “playground” to explore. In some ways the move also heightens the melodrama by putting characters in a more sultry setting. Things are more scandalous and Coney Island has the ability to overwhelm the character’s senses and maybe even the audiences’. But theoretically speaking, it’s no different than the original production where we go from onstage to backstage to below the opera. Coney Island is the new stage, the hotel is backstage, and the aerie is below the opera. Does the new setting? It’s hard to tell without actually seeing the production. In theory does it make sense? To an extent. The use of this particular locale is really a ploy to give the Phantom some financial background. If the show had to be set in New York, I’m more inclined to believe the audience would have been more inclined to lean towards the Metropolitan Opera or the Manhattan Opera House (the opera house referred to in The Phantom of Manhattan and constructed by Oscar Hammerstein I).
The producers, reviewers, and publicity coordinators have been forcefully bridging the imagery of Coney Island’s rollercoaster to the story as an “emotional rollercoaster.” And it makes sense. The story is draws more on melodrama than drama with elements of the lost love, the jealous lover, the drunken husband, and the question of the boy’s paternity.
Music
Does Webber sounds a bit like Rodgers in this recent composition? I think he does, but whether he is mimicking or not is not apparent. If so there’s always the argument about the originality of Webber’s material. I think despite originality, Webber is an immensely talented composer whose music has transformed musical theatre. It’s something that I hate admitting for some odd reason. If the decisions were more conscious than unconscious, I think there is a way to look at this as tribute to the American form. The story takes place in the States and there the Rodgers-esque music is a tribute to the traditions of American musical theatre. To me, it’s more tradition than cut and paste styles.
A few observations or musical consideration:
Song comparisons:
‘Till I Hear You Sing
Lonely Room – intro (lyrics as well)
Soliloquy – ending
I Have Dreamed
Look In Your Heart
Homage to Whistle a Happy Tune? (context)
Coney Island Waltz
Carousel Waltz
At least the grandness and fullness of most Rodgers overtures
Particularly focused on the crescendos
Non-Rodgers song comparisons:
Beneath a Moonless Sky
Cellblock Tango music by John Kander
‘Till I Hear You Sing
A New Life music by Frank Wildhorn
In between/Transition songs are similar to that of the original Phantom (obviously) and Les Miserables. It’s generally the speak-sing idea. Ex. Giry Confronts the Phantom (Meg) vs. Castle on a Cloud (Mme. Thenardier)
What I do appreciate is Webber’s weaving of music from Phantom despite the fact that he says that Love is a stand-alone show. Despite this statement, those who are loyal to the show will find the bridge between the two worlds a bit easier.
The finale is one of the numbers that I have purposely skipped over and that’s for two reasons: 1. Listening to the finale of the show would be like reading the last paragraph of a book. 2. In my opinion, the finale of Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera is probably the production’s best number and one of the best I’ve seen in theatre in general.
Lyrics
Opposition
Conclusion
