Love Never Dies - Phantom of the Opera Sequel Review

The sequel to The Phantom of the Opera - did you know such a thing even existed? I hadn't heard of this, but saw a preview for its Fathom Event during Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Sexy Nerd and I saw it last night.

The stunning chandelier scene? It has been replaced with a gunshot.

I won't go so far as to say that if you enjoyed the original, you are going to love this. Actually, quite the opposite is true. Andrew Lloyd Webber recreated the characters you know and love and threw them under the bus. He took the humble ballet performances and elegant masquerade ball and revved them up into the kind of Cirque du Soleil spectacular he must have thought his audience wanted. I just wanted to see The Phantom of the Opera.

The most crucial element to the plot is based on something that I am fairly certain did not happen during the original!

That said, I'm glad I saw it and I recommend you see this if you enjoyed the original. It was fun to see how the characters turned out 10 years after the original story, even if I no longer liked them. There are new songs, some of which were wonderful (though, I left the theater with All I Ask of You playing in my head, which was nowhere in this new show). The highlight of our evening was how much fun we had bashing Love Never Dies after the show. It's the kind of performance you enjoy once, then never want to see again.

There is just one more showing of Love Never Dies in the theater, which is on March 7, 2012. If you would like to see it, I recommend getting your tickets through Eversave, which is currently selling two admissions for only $14.

I'd love to hear what you thought of the movie/musical after you see it! Oh, and Sexy Nerd and I are rooting for a third Phantom production. We're certain that kid, Gustav, is going to grow up to be one screwed up and scary supervillain!

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