*UPDATED* LND review Part 2: musically focused so minimal spoilers.
The funny thing about discovering The Phantom Of The Opera, particularly if it's early in your musical theatre fandom - you fall madly in love with. It quickly becomes one of your favourite musicals. You happily listen to the soundtrack over and over. You learn all the tunes really quickly, and marvel at how talented Andrew Lloyd Webber is. It was one of the few musical scores that I was happy to play from cover to cover. [When I'm in need of catharsis, playing the complete book of POTO between the hours of 11pm and 2am on my piano is still one of my favourite things to do, even though I haven't in a long time.]
And then you grow up a little. You realise that it is uncool to like Andrew Lloyd Webber (with the exception of Jesus Christ Superstar, which is universally acknowledged as genius). You realise that his tunes maybe be catchy, and he may have written some great overtures, but he is not so original, or so clever. And certainly not cool.
Still. POTO is still a sort of benchmark for musical theatre. Marina Prior once said that while she doesn't see the need to go to London to work (and prove her successfulness in musical theatre), she'd fly there personally if she got to play the Phantom. Jonno once mentioned that one of his dreams was to play The Phantom. It's a pretty understandable goal. The role is huge, and since all things are not equal, being cast it as an Asian would be huge.
I think it is safe to say that musically, Love Never Dies does not live up to it's predecessor. The music just isn't as good. It isn't as memorable, as intuitive, or as impactful.
There are some good tunes, no doubt about that. Leanna, was it you or Ali that posted up a link to the youtube clip of 'Until I hear you sing once more'? I remember someone mentioning that it slightly reassured their skepticism of whether or not LND would be any good. And it is a great song, that makes a big impression early on in the show. It's well placed - a lyrical, romantic number a little reminiscent of 'All I Ask', but placed in a 'Music Of The Night' like context. Nothing else really makes the same kind of impact. Christine gets a big solo towards the end of the show called 'Love Never Dies'. It is supposed to be her big coming out after being put in a spot and forced to make a choice. I don't remember the song at all, and it's the title track for chrissakes! I *do* remember sitting in the audience, listening to it, and waiting for it to go somewhere. There was a shift mid-song to a louder volume and more confident characterisation...but it didn't make the *song* itself take-off, the way 'Think of Me' takes off when Christine finds the confidence to put her all into her singing. So she was louder, and made some interesting arm gestures. So what?
Gustave gets a great melody called "Beautiful". It's really pretty, and just that little bit eerie. I think that affect came from using an augmented 5th in the melody construction. [See, I don't think 'Til I hear you sing once more' just because it was familiar -> I remembered another melody that I liked, ok?!]
Gustave and his mother sing a number about seeing with your heart, not your eyes. It conceptually works very well as an early piece which recurrs, e.g. when Christine tries to get Gustave to accept the Phantom. The song is alright, but the concept of it seems more effective then the song itself.
I thought there'd be this big build-up to the first meeting between Christine and the Phantom, but it actually happens fairly early, without too much crazy drawing of it out. They have a great moment of reminiscence, that also serves to explain a lot of the 10-year gap in the story. I think the music might have been quite good, it's just hard to comment on a duet when I'm not a fan of one of the voices.
There are a handful of multi-character songs. None of them had the humour of 'Prima Donna' or 'Notes', or the drama and romance of 'Past the Point of No Return'. The amazing thing about those pieces in POTO was that each individual melody and lyric was excellent stand-alone, and also combined so effectively. I really missed that aspect to the multi-character songs in LND.
The difference in the visual staging of the show and the musical style suited the change of setting well. Rather than the gothic glamour of the Parisian Opera House, we get the gaudy showiness and mystery of the American circus/carnival. ALW wrote a lot of perky tunes reminiscent of old-school American Broadway musicals to reinforce this. They did their job - the show felt like it was set in a completely different place. It was a bit unsettling coming from POTO. Meg becomes quite brash and brassy and speaks with an American accent. You wonder where the young, sweet, demure ballet dancer went.
However to quote myself on Facebook: "Andrew Lloyd Webber is no Cole Porter". For the most part the music may have reinforced the setting and the mood, but they didn't seem to have value/charm in and of themselves.
The one exception was 'Bathing Beauty', initially a showy, upbeat, chorus girl number. Meg later turns it inside out during a darker moment. That fragment of song doesn't last very long, but it was probably my favourite musical writing in the entire show. She also has my favourite character arc. It may be that she acted it with the most conviction.
I think I could hear ALW struggling to write something that he hadn't written before, if you know what I mean.
I think music should inherently make a certain amount of sense when you hear it - it should feel 'right'. Unless it's deliberately written to be otherwise! I don't mean that composers should be unoriginal in the way they construct their music, just that they should have worked at making musical decisions that make sense in some way. Sometimes I hear a melody and it's like the composer is trying too hard. Their instinct is to write XYYZ, however they worry that that sounds too unoriginal so they tweak it a little, throw in some unexpected intervals. Sometimes it works. And sometimes the result is a melody that sounds like it has been artificially altered from what it intrinsically was.
And it could all be in my head. =D
I miss the way ALW could write a kick-arse overture. Overture to POTO - breathtaking. Except in the movie where they gratuitiously extended it in a way that didn't develop it musically. Overture to Cats - my favourite music in the entire show. Overture to JCS - brilliant. It just totally takes off, and takes you with it.
LND overture - pretty blah.
The Act 2 opening music was the standard 3 or so minutes of orchestral music to a closed curtain, composed of fragments of the main themes of the show. And they just...weren't...that...memorable.
I listened to the extended press release of LND from last year, which includes a lengthy section of the overture and I realised I had been a bit harsh. The music did transport back to the stage illusion from last night. It did create that peculiar, quirky circus feel, the sense of being in another time, and it was a really good overture. I just got so dazzled by the lights and appearing characters and sets that the overture fell into second place to the spectacle of the return to Coney Island.
There were a few small musical references to POTO scattered through LND. Sometimes they were really short, e.g. a "Christine, Christine" moment. You heard the odd chord that reminded you of POTO, even though what followed was quite different. A melody may have been reused with different lyrics, e.g. Christine reads a letter written by Raoul while singing the "LittleLotte" theme. And once they completely borrowed from POTO: while Christine was trying to make a decision, you heard Raoul singing "Christine, Christine don't think that I don't care, but every hope and every prayer rests on you now" with identical orchestration to the original.
The show is still very stand-alone. The references to the original show are nice, but they don't drive the show. I think that's a credit to ALW. He didn't just try to rehash the music of POTO.
I can't think of too much more that I'd like to say about music. For the moment. I may write a Part 3, focused on character and plot. This will definitely contain spoilers so only read if you don't mind...
And then you grow up a little. You realise that it is uncool to like Andrew Lloyd Webber (with the exception of Jesus Christ Superstar, which is universally acknowledged as genius). You realise that his tunes maybe be catchy, and he may have written some great overtures, but he is not so original, or so clever. And certainly not cool.
Still. POTO is still a sort of benchmark for musical theatre. Marina Prior once said that while she doesn't see the need to go to London to work (and prove her successfulness in musical theatre), she'd fly there personally if she got to play the Phantom. Jonno once mentioned that one of his dreams was to play The Phantom. It's a pretty understandable goal. The role is huge, and since all things are not equal, being cast it as an Asian would be huge.
I think it is safe to say that musically, Love Never Dies does not live up to it's predecessor. The music just isn't as good. It isn't as memorable, as intuitive, or as impactful.
There are some good tunes, no doubt about that. Leanna, was it you or Ali that posted up a link to the youtube clip of 'Until I hear you sing once more'? I remember someone mentioning that it slightly reassured their skepticism of whether or not LND would be any good. And it is a great song, that makes a big impression early on in the show. It's well placed - a lyrical, romantic number a little reminiscent of 'All I Ask', but placed in a 'Music Of The Night' like context. Nothing else really makes the same kind of impact. Christine gets a big solo towards the end of the show called 'Love Never Dies'. It is supposed to be her big coming out after being put in a spot and forced to make a choice. I don't remember the song at all, and it's the title track for chrissakes! I *do* remember sitting in the audience, listening to it, and waiting for it to go somewhere. There was a shift mid-song to a louder volume and more confident characterisation...but it didn't make the *song* itself take-off, the way 'Think of Me' takes off when Christine finds the confidence to put her all into her singing. So she was louder, and made some interesting arm gestures. So what?
Gustave gets a great melody called "Beautiful". It's really pretty, and just that little bit eerie. I think that affect came from using an augmented 5th in the melody construction. [See, I don't think 'Til I hear you sing once more' just because it was familiar -> I remembered another melody that I liked, ok?!]
Gustave and his mother sing a number about seeing with your heart, not your eyes. It conceptually works very well as an early piece which recurrs, e.g. when Christine tries to get Gustave to accept the Phantom. The song is alright, but the concept of it seems more effective then the song itself.
I thought there'd be this big build-up to the first meeting between Christine and the Phantom, but it actually happens fairly early, without too much crazy drawing of it out. They have a great moment of reminiscence, that also serves to explain a lot of the 10-year gap in the story. I think the music might have been quite good, it's just hard to comment on a duet when I'm not a fan of one of the voices.
There are a handful of multi-character songs. None of them had the humour of 'Prima Donna' or 'Notes', or the drama and romance of 'Past the Point of No Return'. The amazing thing about those pieces in POTO was that each individual melody and lyric was excellent stand-alone, and also combined so effectively. I really missed that aspect to the multi-character songs in LND.
The difference in the visual staging of the show and the musical style suited the change of setting well. Rather than the gothic glamour of the Parisian Opera House, we get the gaudy showiness and mystery of the American circus/carnival. ALW wrote a lot of perky tunes reminiscent of old-school American Broadway musicals to reinforce this. They did their job - the show felt like it was set in a completely different place. It was a bit unsettling coming from POTO. Meg becomes quite brash and brassy and speaks with an American accent. You wonder where the young, sweet, demure ballet dancer went.
However to quote myself on Facebook: "Andrew Lloyd Webber is no Cole Porter". For the most part the music may have reinforced the setting and the mood, but they didn't seem to have value/charm in and of themselves.
The one exception was 'Bathing Beauty', initially a showy, upbeat, chorus girl number. Meg later turns it inside out during a darker moment. That fragment of song doesn't last very long, but it was probably my favourite musical writing in the entire show. She also has my favourite character arc. It may be that she acted it with the most conviction.
I think I could hear ALW struggling to write something that he hadn't written before, if you know what I mean.
I think music should inherently make a certain amount of sense when you hear it - it should feel 'right'. Unless it's deliberately written to be otherwise! I don't mean that composers should be unoriginal in the way they construct their music, just that they should have worked at making musical decisions that make sense in some way. Sometimes I hear a melody and it's like the composer is trying too hard. Their instinct is to write XYYZ, however they worry that that sounds too unoriginal so they tweak it a little, throw in some unexpected intervals. Sometimes it works. And sometimes the result is a melody that sounds like it has been artificially altered from what it intrinsically was.
And it could all be in my head. =D
I miss the way ALW could write a kick-arse overture. Overture to POTO - breathtaking. Except in the movie where they gratuitiously extended it in a way that didn't develop it musically. Overture to Cats - my favourite music in the entire show. Overture to JCS - brilliant. It just totally takes off, and takes you with it.
LND overture - pretty blah.
The Act 2 opening music was the standard 3 or so minutes of orchestral music to a closed curtain, composed of fragments of the main themes of the show. And they just...weren't...that...memorable.
I listened to the extended press release of LND from last year, which includes a lengthy section of the overture and I realised I had been a bit harsh. The music did transport back to the stage illusion from last night. It did create that peculiar, quirky circus feel, the sense of being in another time, and it was a really good overture. I just got so dazzled by the lights and appearing characters and sets that the overture fell into second place to the spectacle of the return to Coney Island.
There were a few small musical references to POTO scattered through LND. Sometimes they were really short, e.g. a "Christine, Christine" moment. You heard the odd chord that reminded you of POTO, even though what followed was quite different. A melody may have been reused with different lyrics, e.g. Christine reads a letter written by Raoul while singing the "LittleLotte" theme. And once they completely borrowed from POTO: while Christine was trying to make a decision, you heard Raoul singing "Christine, Christine don't think that I don't care, but every hope and every prayer rests on you now" with identical orchestration to the original.
The show is still very stand-alone. The references to the original show are nice, but they don't drive the show. I think that's a credit to ALW. He didn't just try to rehash the music of POTO.
I can't think of too much more that I'd like to say about music. For the moment. I may write a Part 3, focused on character and plot. This will definitely contain spoilers so only read if you don't mind...