Musicals: Love Never Dies
Never let it be said that I am unjust. I have to admit that Love Never Dies is not as bad as I expected, although my expectations were subterranean. I'm not saying that it wasn't absolutely awful, mind you. Just that watching it was not quite as bad as it might be, and it did have potential. Wasted potential. Still, I'm glad that I have seen it and can now be critical from a position of greater knowledge.
So in brief:
* Some of the music is really good, if you like that sort of ALW music, which I do.
* The broadcast was of the Australian version, which reworked the London production to an extent and remembered that the Phantom is in fact a baddie. It thus works better in parts, while still terribly in others, the problem being the fundamental premise.
* The child actor was very good indeed, especially given the significant demands of his role.
* The staging is excellent, and the filming was much better than you see in a lot of musicals.
* The ending goes on forever, features the Phantom as the world's worst hostage negotiator, and fully earns the Paint Never Dries sobriquet.
* RAOUL WOULD NEVER!!!!!
* Beneath A Moonless Sky (The One In Which They Remember the Sex) was exactly as excruciating as I expected, I was watching from behind the metaphorical sofa. It would probably have been helped if there had been any chemistry whatsoever between the leads.
* The real moral of the story is that if you lend/give somebody money you should ensure you have a proper contract that entitles you to a large share of the ownership of an profits from the assets of you theme park. Especially if that someone is a multiple murderer obsessed with someone who is not you.
*Ultimately, if one accepts the basic premise that The Phantom of the Opera is a musical in need of a sequel (which, as you can tell, I don't) then the music showed genuine potential at times. There was stuff here that could have been worked with. But it failed not simply because of the premise, but because the execution of an already flawed premise was so self-indulgent. It needed someone to take a long-hard look at what would work not for the creators, but for the majority audience with this story.
Today's viewing is the National Theatre Twelfth Night, which I expect to be rather better. This entry was originally posted at https://nineveh-uk.dreamwidth.org/293945.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
So in brief:
* Some of the music is really good, if you like that sort of ALW music, which I do.
* The broadcast was of the Australian version, which reworked the London production to an extent and remembered that the Phantom is in fact a baddie. It thus works better in parts, while still terribly in others, the problem being the fundamental premise.
* The child actor was very good indeed, especially given the significant demands of his role.
* The staging is excellent, and the filming was much better than you see in a lot of musicals.
* The ending goes on forever, features the Phantom as the world's worst hostage negotiator, and fully earns the Paint Never Dries sobriquet.
* RAOUL WOULD NEVER!!!!!
* Beneath A Moonless Sky (The One In Which They Remember the Sex) was exactly as excruciating as I expected, I was watching from behind the metaphorical sofa. It would probably have been helped if there had been any chemistry whatsoever between the leads.
* The real moral of the story is that if you lend/give somebody money you should ensure you have a proper contract that entitles you to a large share of the ownership of an profits from the assets of you theme park. Especially if that someone is a multiple murderer obsessed with someone who is not you.
*Ultimately, if one accepts the basic premise that The Phantom of the Opera is a musical in need of a sequel (which, as you can tell, I don't) then the music showed genuine potential at times. There was stuff here that could have been worked with. But it failed not simply because of the premise, but because the execution of an already flawed premise was so self-indulgent. It needed someone to take a long-hard look at what would work not for the creators, but for the majority audience with this story.
Today's viewing is the National Theatre Twelfth Night, which I expect to be rather better. This entry was originally posted at https://nineveh-uk.dreamwidth.org/293945.html. Please comment there using OpenID.