Love Never Dies | The Phantom of the Opera Sequel

In last night’s post, I could hardly believe it when I heard a whisper of there being a sequel in the works to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.  Indeed, I prayed that it wasn’t true.

This morning I had to find out for certain, and spent my first waking hour looking up all I could find on the subject.

An Understandable Doubt

Remakes and sequels seem to be the way of it now-a-days.  All anyone is concerned with is how much money can be milked out of any one project.  I understand this, I just wish they’d leave some of the great things alone.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d have to worry about Phantom suffering from this plague.  It just isn’t done on the stage.  I thought it was a joke when I first heard about Phantom II.

Then I found Love Never Dies, the official website of the Phantom sequel.  Not only was this serious, but Webber was behind it himself!  I thought, how could he do this to his fans?  I also remembered how tragically the 2004 film version of Phantom failed to live up to the play and Webber’s involvement in it’s demise, realizing that no, it wasn’t so far fetched.  Webber was certainly capable of such a foolish enterprise.

Love Never Dies

This was one of the first things I found this morning:

First off, I want to disagree with Webber here.  The ending of Phantom isn’t unsatisfactory in any way!  Sure, all us phans wish Phantom won Christine over Raoul, but their story isn’t boring.  This is a lame reason for wanting a sequel.  Christine is supposed to be with Raoul.  By all accounts, the Phantom is barking mad.  He’s just a hot and sexy maniac.  Like Charles Manson.

So, the premise!  I’m pleased and vexed (because that means I can’t complain about it) to say that it is more than plausible.  Set in Coney Island ten years after the events of Phantom, a new attraction is about to open: Phantasma.  Christine has married Raoul, and they have a son, Gustave.  Christine is still singing, and receives and anonymous invitation to headline this new attraction in the U. S.

Couple the above with Til I Hear You Sing, Phantom’s first song in the show, and you’ve got me on the edge of my seat, waiting for more.  All of a sudden, the idea doesn’t seem too scary anymore.  I’m intrigued.  Ramin Karimloo, who is currently playing Phantom in the West End, will be playing the same in the new production.  If you listened to the song, then you also know why I’m excited.  This guy has SUCH a great voice.  Sierra Boggess will be playing Christine, she’s also played the part in Phantom.  I know her from the original Broadway cast of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, where she played Ariel.  Her pipes aren’t to shabby either.I can’t believe I have to wait until March to hear the rest of the score.  *sigh*  We’ll resume this discussion then.

A Theory

So, Rhiannon read this before posting, and still isn’t convinced of the premise.  After writing this article, I can understand how anyone (who isn’t me) wouldn’t buy it.  I’ve had a long-standing, but little talked about, obsession with Coney Island.  It was the epitome of the creepy freak show carnival.  I’m sad that not much of it is left, and I can’t wait to see what Webber et al have done with the material.

Phantom on Ice

Still sick folks, but cognizant enough to post another something silly.  I randomly got in the mood to listen to The Phantom of the Opera movie soundtrack when I got home from work tonight.  So I put it on, promptly remembered all the faults in the movie, and why I usually prefer to listen to the original Broadway cast.

Before I finished listening tonight, I came across a blog by a pal and fellow WriMo, Kat with a K, entitled The Music of the Night… Being a lover of synchronicities, I tromped on over, and watched this nice video:

It’s Phantom on Ice!  Nice medley of Phantom of the Opera, Music of the Night, and All I Ask of You (Reprise) (the part of the reprise used in the figure skating was originally the music the chandelier fell to … and I still imagine it that way, even though they kept the music in the movie, but removed the falling where the music occurs … which I always thought made no sense.  Why keep the music if you’re gonna move the chandelier?).

There are many reasons why I didn’t like Phantom the movie.  Rhiannon may murder me for saying this on the website, but I thought Gerard Butler was a soul-less Phantom.  There was nothing intense about him.  Sure, he was loud–shouted a few of the best notes in the score–but loud can still be hollow.

I remember the last time Rhi and I saw Phantom at the Boston Opera House a few years back.  It was amazing.  The way that Phantom’s voice quavered during the All I Ask of You (Reprise) gave us both a case of Niagara Falls.  Just thinking about it gives me chills.

Anyways, this was supposed to be short.  Thanks Kat, for the inspiration!

P.S. For the record, I love most of Gerard Butler’s other work.  In general, I find him smoking hawt, and I wouldn’t mind waking up in a bed with him and Hugh Jackman … now there’s a stud with a voice!

Also, I should commentate The Phantom of the Opera, the book.  Twas a great read.

P.P.S. While looking for that pic of Jackman/Butler, I saw this article about a Phantom Sequel.  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, is this for freakin’ real?  I hope not.  That’d be really lame.  Can’t find anything about it on imdb, so it looks like no movie is being made of it.  I might like to hear the music though.  Especially if they got Jackman.  Anyone know anything else about this, please let me know!

Mental Dumpster

As I sit here, thinking about what I should put in this genius-ly designed series of articles for today, I discover everything that comes to mind everybody and their mother has already talked about.  Is it important to have near original content in a blog?  It seems to be – at least in my head.  However, I’ve already admitted this to myself, it’s impossible to have an original thought.  So let’s just take it as it comes.

Lady GaGa…

…is one of my favorite artist at the moment.  Everyone is talking about her.  Her style of music is very much club oriented (not my scene really) with lots of nice bass and most of her songs have catchy melodies with few words in the refrain making them ideal for mental lodging.

I’m obsessed with her whole debut album.  Her team was very smart in how they presented her music, even down to the order of the songs.  I tend to get into an entire album where Rhi selects a few key songs from an artist.  “The Fame” is a great album.  It has progression; it tells a story.  I love it, and its rare for me to love this brand of music.

That being said, has anyone else noticed how much she is promoted by Disney companies?  I’m a huge fan of the daytime talk show “The View.”  Let’s not discuss why I watch that show (Whoopi Goldberg mostly).  Early this summer, “The View” went to DisneyLand and broadcast outside for a week.  I saw our friend Lady GaGa for the first time on “The View.”  For those of you who DON’T know, ABC is a Disney company…or Disney is an ABC company.  I’m not sure how it works directly, heh.  This was just the first of many appearances Lady GaGa made on ABC.  We have the same kind of phenom with Amy Adams.  I’d never heard of her until “Enchanted” (great movie) came out, and now she’s everywhere.

I’m not saying anything against Disney or any of it’s affiliated organizations.  On the contrary, I love Disney.  I grew up a Disney kid.  Sure, I get peeved every now and again at the fact that there has been no real brilliant animated films from them in a long while, but I’m still a fan.  It’s interesting to see how much influence they have.  This is an entirely subjective thought – I have no idea if the world was in love with Lady GaGa before she came on “The View.”  It was that whole week Lady was all over ABC.

In any case, if Lady GaGa is the product of Disney, I think this is a good thing.  She writes her own music, has a fun sense of style, and seems an honest artist in her performances.  If you haven’t listened to her yet (or if you’ve only heard the hits on the radio) I suggest going out and listening to the album, because some of her best songs come in-between the hits.  “Summerboy,” the last song on the album is one of my favorites…and usually gets me to start the album all over again.

Hair…

…is stirring up Broadway right now.  A few weeks ago, when the Tonys were on, I’d known that yet another revival of the musical was on stage.  I pulled up Rhapsody and listened to my favorite songs from the show to compare them with the original cast.  I admit, I wasn’t too impressed.  Then I saw them perform “live in HD!”  I’m became desperately in love with the cute little red-head.  She looks so innocent and totally hippie.  The whole cast (tribe) looks like they could have been the real thing.  And from that I gave the cast recording a second chance.  This time listening to the whole thing…awesome sauce is all I have to say about it.

Huh.  I told myself I’d have an hour to write this.  I apologize for not writing in a while.  I’ma try harder, I promise.  Anyhow…I think I’m going to reread this, edit a bit, then post it.  It’s the right thing to do.  Until tomorrow…or whenever.

Wicked – The Movie

Since the major successes of “Moulin Rouge” and “Chicago,” Hollywood has been busy making musicals again.  We all knew it was only a matter of time before they took advantage of the smashing success of “Wicked!” Although, this news has been taken both with excitement and dread.  The stage show is hailed as the next “Phantom of the Opera,” and we all know what kind of mess that turned out to be as a movie.

Wicked, the Movie?

So, America wants to be sung to again.  But should they really take every precious gem from the streets of Broadway and gamble making a mediocre movie just for the almighty buck?  The theater lover in me says that “Wicked” was only intended for the stage.  I would very much look forward to seeing a straight version of the movie (without music) based more heavily on the Gregory Maguire book.  This would also leave them open to making the sequels “Son of a Witch” and “A Lion Among Men.” Seeing as Hollywood is just loving their trilogies these days, that would seem the more lucrative avenue.

Those of us who are thrilled that FINALLY a movie is being made out of this brilliant musical, are not without our worries either.  There have been murmurs around the internet of them considering Reese Witherspoon [edit: these rumors are unsupported by...anyone really] over Kristin Chenoweth for the part of Galinda.  A loyal fan would be up in arms about this, however, I am a huge fan of Witherspoon.  I would be torn about liking or not liking this change.  It would be a stab to Chenoweth, that’s for sure.  She’s been trying so hard to make it big in the movies.  It’s too bad she is only cast for crappy character rolls.  With how star-crazy Idina Menzel is, I’m sure she’ll have no problem getting the part.  I can’t wait to hear how she finishes the movie soundtrack.

MOO!

The movie is slated to come out in 2010 [edit: now 2016...why do they torture us so?], but as of yet, the only thing certain about the movie is the producer, Marc Platt (responsible for the “Legally Blonde” movies).  Now we see how the rumors about Witherspoon got started.  It seems the production company is good at comedy, so this will be interesting at worst.  I say, let it happen.  For the true lovers of the stage, it won’t stop them from seeing the show.  Speaking of Idina, any loyal “Rent” fan knows the show SO out ranks the movie [edit: and I include Idina's performance in the "Rent" movie in that assessment].  Relax people, it’s a good thing.