the big Phantom of the Opera post, part 3: Love Never Dies, continued!
Okay, despite many weeks of sewing projects coming and going, my Phantom kick has turned into a full-fledged musical theatre binge, and the Broadway Odyssey has resumed full force! So for now the sewing updates will have to wait while I review some cast recordings! For today, the second part of my analysis of Love Never Dies!
After my favorites, I have mixed feelings toward the other songs:
"The Beauty Underneath" - well, actually, this one I just plain hate. A cheesy rock number has no business in this show! Yes, the show is a mess and it's dramatic integrity is questionable at best, but this music does not fit with the rest of this score AT ALL! The Phantom is NOT a rock star, Andrew Lloyd Webber! When I first heard this song I was like "Where the HECK did this come from?!" (Seriously, ALW, the score of Rent called; it wants it's song back!) This thing is such a non sequiter, I couldn't believe what I was hearing at first, but it just got worse and worse until I couldn't help collapsing into a fit of giggles. It's SO BAD! The rest of the score has such a classical, period feel that to be assailed by electric guitars and synthesizers and such a fast tempo just doesn't work. Yes, in the original PotO there were synthesizers, and even electric guitars, but it didn't try to be modern, it was very much still in the faux grand opera mode of the rest of that score. THIS is like trying to drop The Rocky Horror Show into the middle of A Little Night Music. NOT A GOOD IDEA! And don't waste Ramin Karimloo's lovely voice on a rock number, please. He can do the style convincingly, you wouldn't know him from Adam Pascal on this track, but really, why would we want Adam Pascal if we're going to hear the Phantom, you know? I actually think the Australian production improved this terrible number a bit by not having it's Phantom sing in a modern pop style; even though I still dislike it in general, it somewhat anchored it to the rest of the show better to not have his vocals shift gears so much. (The Phantom shouldn't sound like a young hipster! That was part of the problem in the London show, lovely as they are, there were times when Ramin and Sierra sounded more like 20-somethings meeting after their teenage fling at the prom than like the Phantom and Christine a decade older!)
"Beneath A Moonless Sky" - Oh lordy, where to begin with this one? It's The Booty Call Song, for lack of a better description. o_O It's still hard to think of this without wincing, but try I must! I suppose I should have seen it coming, since if you have a Phantom sequel, and Christine has a kid in it, you KNOW it's going to be the Phantom's kid! What bad fanfic writer can resist that temptation? (Answer: none!) But I didn't expect an actual song about... the deed itself. I don't know, I just can't... I just can't even...!!! I just can't believe it went there. Now, in all honesty, of course just about every Phantom phan has their fantasy about Christine and the Phantom getting together, but most of us (I hope and trust!) realize that it could never work in the context of the actual story, and that as a diverting little daydream in our heads is where it should stay, NOT on the page, and NOT on the stage! To actually go there just feels wrong. I literally covered my face in my hands and screamed "Ewwww! Nooooo!" when I heard this song for the first time, it just felt so cheap and dirty. The lyrics aren't even coy about it; "The Point of No Return" was about sex, but at least it had the decency to cloak itself in metaphor, even if very obvious ones. These lyrics feel coarse in comparison. These two characters, and the relationship between them, has been very dear to many fans for many years, and this song somehow violates that. And more's the pity, because musically I like it quite a lot. It has a very grand, dramatic feel that's more reminiscent of the original PotO score than anything else in LND. But I just can't get over what it's about enough to enjoy it as a song. I tried listening to it a second time and still couldn't take it. The third time, when I saw the Melbourne production, a little bit of the egde had been taken off by the fact that I'd sat with the knowledge of it for a while, but it was still rather squicky, and I don't know that I'll ever like it. (And yes, the lyrics on my icon are in fact from this song, but Ramin and Sierra are so pretty together in the photo! And at least it wasn't the 'I took you again and again' line! Don't even get me started!!)
"Devil Take the Hindmost" - Another love/hate song for me. Musically, I think it's just great; the counterpoint is full of tension and really provides a chance for the actors playing The Phantom and Raoul to sing at eachother with a strength and gusto that must be as fun for them to sink their teeth into as it is for us to listen to. But unfortunately, this is the song were the Phantom and Raoul are fighting over Christine (in a bar, no less) which really dampens the fun. There's nothing less attractive than when men argue over which one 'owns' a woman, so to have them haggling over Christine like she's an object makes them both seem pretty objectionable specimens. It's just too much macho crap; at any point in this song, I kept expecting one of them to be like "Alright, I'll get a tape measure and we'll settle this once and for all!" It all feels very juvenile and silly.
"Why Does She Love Me?" - This one is another song I hate, in which Raoul nurses drink #12 at the bar and ponders why Christine would love a drunken, nasty, gambling wastrel like himself. The cheesy saxophones are agrravating enough, but this portrayal of Raoul is the real problem. It's way too easy to just say "oh well, Raoul's not really a nice guy, and the Phantom really is!" There is nothing in the original story to support this portrayal; if Christine knew Raoul when he was a kid, there's no way he could be like that without her knowing. And either way, whether they're saying she knew and just chose him because he's handsome and rich, or that she was too stupid to figure out what he was really like, diminishes her character horribly and unjustly.
"Dear Old Friend" - Love/hate again. Musically this is a lovely, old-fashioned quartet with much pretty singing (and in the Melbourne production, seeing it on stage with four actors in lovely period clothes promenading about to it's jaunty rhythm was delightful) but sadly, it's just a cover for Christine, Raoul, Madame Giry, and Meg Giry, to passive-aggressivley bitch at eachother while all hating eachother's guts. These were the characters we liked in PotO, don't mess with them, please. We want them to be happy and stay BFFs. Don't ruin it just because you can.
"Love Never Dies" - eh, it's there. Not really objectionable in any way from a storytelling standpoint, but musically and lyrically undistinguished. It's so standard issue it could be sung by any character from any show, anywhere. This is the first thing I ever heard from this score, and I was so underwhelmed by it, it convinced me that LND wouldn't be worth a first glance. Certainly it's one of the weakest songs in the score, which is disappointing considering it's supposed to come as the emotional high point of the story. (And doesn't it sound like a mash up of lots of different songs we've all heard before? A little of "You Must Love Me", a little "Some Enchanted Evening", and overall it feels a lot like Magnolia singing "After the Ball" in the second act of Show Boat. Doesn't it?)
Well, that's it for the songs, but as for the plot itself... to be continued once again! It'll require a whole other post to tackle that!
After my favorites, I have mixed feelings toward the other songs:
"The Beauty Underneath" - well, actually, this one I just plain hate. A cheesy rock number has no business in this show! Yes, the show is a mess and it's dramatic integrity is questionable at best, but this music does not fit with the rest of this score AT ALL! The Phantom is NOT a rock star, Andrew Lloyd Webber! When I first heard this song I was like "Where the HECK did this come from?!" (Seriously, ALW, the score of Rent called; it wants it's song back!) This thing is such a non sequiter, I couldn't believe what I was hearing at first, but it just got worse and worse until I couldn't help collapsing into a fit of giggles. It's SO BAD! The rest of the score has such a classical, period feel that to be assailed by electric guitars and synthesizers and such a fast tempo just doesn't work. Yes, in the original PotO there were synthesizers, and even electric guitars, but it didn't try to be modern, it was very much still in the faux grand opera mode of the rest of that score. THIS is like trying to drop The Rocky Horror Show into the middle of A Little Night Music. NOT A GOOD IDEA! And don't waste Ramin Karimloo's lovely voice on a rock number, please. He can do the style convincingly, you wouldn't know him from Adam Pascal on this track, but really, why would we want Adam Pascal if we're going to hear the Phantom, you know? I actually think the Australian production improved this terrible number a bit by not having it's Phantom sing in a modern pop style; even though I still dislike it in general, it somewhat anchored it to the rest of the show better to not have his vocals shift gears so much. (The Phantom shouldn't sound like a young hipster! That was part of the problem in the London show, lovely as they are, there were times when Ramin and Sierra sounded more like 20-somethings meeting after their teenage fling at the prom than like the Phantom and Christine a decade older!)
"Beneath A Moonless Sky" - Oh lordy, where to begin with this one? It's The Booty Call Song, for lack of a better description. o_O It's still hard to think of this without wincing, but try I must! I suppose I should have seen it coming, since if you have a Phantom sequel, and Christine has a kid in it, you KNOW it's going to be the Phantom's kid! What bad fanfic writer can resist that temptation? (Answer: none!) But I didn't expect an actual song about... the deed itself. I don't know, I just can't... I just can't even...!!! I just can't believe it went there. Now, in all honesty, of course just about every Phantom phan has their fantasy about Christine and the Phantom getting together, but most of us (I hope and trust!) realize that it could never work in the context of the actual story, and that as a diverting little daydream in our heads is where it should stay, NOT on the page, and NOT on the stage! To actually go there just feels wrong. I literally covered my face in my hands and screamed "Ewwww! Nooooo!" when I heard this song for the first time, it just felt so cheap and dirty. The lyrics aren't even coy about it; "The Point of No Return" was about sex, but at least it had the decency to cloak itself in metaphor, even if very obvious ones. These lyrics feel coarse in comparison. These two characters, and the relationship between them, has been very dear to many fans for many years, and this song somehow violates that. And more's the pity, because musically I like it quite a lot. It has a very grand, dramatic feel that's more reminiscent of the original PotO score than anything else in LND. But I just can't get over what it's about enough to enjoy it as a song. I tried listening to it a second time and still couldn't take it. The third time, when I saw the Melbourne production, a little bit of the egde had been taken off by the fact that I'd sat with the knowledge of it for a while, but it was still rather squicky, and I don't know that I'll ever like it. (And yes, the lyrics on my icon are in fact from this song, but Ramin and Sierra are so pretty together in the photo! And at least it wasn't the 'I took you again and again' line! Don't even get me started!!)
"Devil Take the Hindmost" - Another love/hate song for me. Musically, I think it's just great; the counterpoint is full of tension and really provides a chance for the actors playing The Phantom and Raoul to sing at eachother with a strength and gusto that must be as fun for them to sink their teeth into as it is for us to listen to. But unfortunately, this is the song were the Phantom and Raoul are fighting over Christine (in a bar, no less) which really dampens the fun. There's nothing less attractive than when men argue over which one 'owns' a woman, so to have them haggling over Christine like she's an object makes them both seem pretty objectionable specimens. It's just too much macho crap; at any point in this song, I kept expecting one of them to be like "Alright, I'll get a tape measure and we'll settle this once and for all!" It all feels very juvenile and silly.
"Why Does She Love Me?" - This one is another song I hate, in which Raoul nurses drink #12 at the bar and ponders why Christine would love a drunken, nasty, gambling wastrel like himself. The cheesy saxophones are agrravating enough, but this portrayal of Raoul is the real problem. It's way too easy to just say "oh well, Raoul's not really a nice guy, and the Phantom really is!" There is nothing in the original story to support this portrayal; if Christine knew Raoul when he was a kid, there's no way he could be like that without her knowing. And either way, whether they're saying she knew and just chose him because he's handsome and rich, or that she was too stupid to figure out what he was really like, diminishes her character horribly and unjustly.
"Dear Old Friend" - Love/hate again. Musically this is a lovely, old-fashioned quartet with much pretty singing (and in the Melbourne production, seeing it on stage with four actors in lovely period clothes promenading about to it's jaunty rhythm was delightful) but sadly, it's just a cover for Christine, Raoul, Madame Giry, and Meg Giry, to passive-aggressivley bitch at eachother while all hating eachother's guts. These were the characters we liked in PotO, don't mess with them, please. We want them to be happy and stay BFFs. Don't ruin it just because you can.
"Love Never Dies" - eh, it's there. Not really objectionable in any way from a storytelling standpoint, but musically and lyrically undistinguished. It's so standard issue it could be sung by any character from any show, anywhere. This is the first thing I ever heard from this score, and I was so underwhelmed by it, it convinced me that LND wouldn't be worth a first glance. Certainly it's one of the weakest songs in the score, which is disappointing considering it's supposed to come as the emotional high point of the story. (And doesn't it sound like a mash up of lots of different songs we've all heard before? A little of "You Must Love Me", a little "Some Enchanted Evening", and overall it feels a lot like Magnolia singing "After the Ball" in the second act of Show Boat. Doesn't it?)
Well, that's it for the songs, but as for the plot itself... to be continued once again! It'll require a whole other post to tackle that!