September 01, 2021

LOVE NEVER DIES CONCERT ENGAGEMENT AT THE FINNISH NATIONAL OOPPERA & BALLETI

 

The Finnish National Ooppera & Balleti has added to their schedule a two-day engagement to perform Love Never Dies at the Ooppera Baletti, in Finland. Tickets are now on sale for both dates, November 9th and November 10th. The full cast has been announced on the official website, starring John Martin Bengtsson as The Phantom, Marjukka Tepponen as Christine, Kevin Greenlaw as Raoul, Helena Juntunen as Madame Giry and Jesofin Silén as Meg. Conducted by Nick Davies.

Both concert engagements will be performed in English, with Finnish and Swedish subtitles. 

More information is available on oopperabaletti.fi

September 18, 2020

Jonathan Roxmouth releases 'Phantasm', featuring Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies

Jilson Tiu


Phantom of the Opera's World Tour lead Jonathan Roxmouth is about to release 'Phantasm', his latest album featuring music from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera & Love Never Dies.
"Ever since I first donned the mask as The Phantom in the South African revival production of The Phantom of the Opera, I have wanted to record more of the score for posterity. Having been part of the latest successful World Tour again, the idea has resurfaced but with a little extra. In the meantime, there has been a sequel to Phantom: Love Never Dies. Between these two shows, the Phantom saga has been extended with more songs and lush music. Phantom and Love Never Dies are connected in terms of the love affair between the Phantom and Christine. The songs tell their story. The songs are pieces of the puzzle. These songs belong next to each other."


'Phantasm' will feature original South African Christines, Robin Botha and Magdalene Minnaar; original international Christine, Claire Lyon and alternate Christines from Phantom of the Opera's World Tour, Clara Verdier and Caitlin Finnie. The tracklist includes both tracks from Phantom of the Opera and its sequel, Love Never Dies. Arrangements for the 40 piece orchestra are by James Bassingthwaite and Adam Howard.


The album includes these following tracks: The Overture / The Phantom Of The Opera / The Music Of The Night / All I Ask Of You / Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again / The Point of No Return / The Coney Island Waltz / ‘Til I Hear You Sing / Look With Your Heart / Beneath A Moonless Sky / Once Upon Another Time / Love Never Dies / Learn To Be Lonely.



You can pre-order now the full album through Jonathan Roxmouth's site. / Cover picture by Jilson Tiu.

June 29, 2020

RAMIN KARIMLOO PODCAST 'THE HANG' FEATURING SIERRA BOGGESS, PHANTOM AND LOVE NEVER DIES


Original Love Never Dies West End lead and former Phantom Ramin Karimloo has been podcasting his own show with lovely interviews with fellow actors and singers and recently posted a collaboration he recorded with original West End Christine, Sierra Boggess. You can hear them discuss and walk down memory lane as they remember their experience during the 25th Phantom of the Opera Anniversary and the West End Love Never Dies run. 
This podcast gives you a front row seat to inside conversations between Ramin Karimloo and his guests. In the world of theatrical performers, Ramin Karimloo is known as one of the most formidable talents in the industry. Heralded for his portrayal of leading roles Jean Valjean in Les Miserables and the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, Karimloo is a musical force unlike any other. In fact, it was his unbridled reputation that led to his performance in the recent Oscar tribute to Les Misérables.

Ramin has posted PART 1 & PART 2 of his collaboration with Sierra Boggess, you can listen to both Podcasts here! Part 2, in Sierra's words: "This time we really dive into POTO [and Love Never Dies]". They both reaffirm how they would love to reprise their past roles again, as they feel ready to do so, and we couldn't be happier about that! Show your support and how badly you want them to perform Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies again.

We are going to highlight two bits of the podcast (although you really should listen to them in full if you love Phantom, Love Never Dies, Ramin and Sierra!). The first one is a fun fact. At the end of the original West End cast recording, you can hear Sierra Boggess delivering a Meg line, after the gunshot: "No, I didn't mean to!" Sierra remarks: "They said they'd fix it, but then it never got fixed!"  Have you ever noticed? Now, we'll never be able to listen to that sentence the same way!

And the question we've all been asking: Would Sierra and Ramin perform their characters, again, in a Love Never Dies production? This is what they have to say:

[Ramin]
Now, has that ever come across you again to do? 
[Sierra]
Love Never Dies? Yeah, back when the Tour was happening, it was gonna open in such a grand way, but then everything, everything changed.
[Ramin]
So would you like to do that part again?
[Sierra]
I want to do it with you, on Broadway.
[Ramin]
You think it's ever gonna go to Broadway?
[Sierra]
I've no idea, who knows anymore? You know what I'd love to do? In the afternoon you'd do Phantom, and in the evening you'd do Love Never Dies. 
[Ramin]
I think they should double cast it like that! That would be so interesting.



Also, we wanted to share a couple of videos both Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo shared over lockdown, where they both perform "together" Love Never Dies' Once Upon Another Time. You can find them here: Once Upon Another Time Lockdown Video & Once Upon Another Time Backstage at Ramin's Subculture show.

June 26, 2020

WE ARE TURNING TEN YEARS OLD!


Earlier in the year, Love Never Dies turned ten. Ten years since the show premiered in the West End! Following the date, now it's our turn... We're turning ten! We've been sharing news, generating content and creating this friendly environment for Phans around the world to share, express our feelings and gush about Love Never Dies' productions, cast and crew. We can finally say that Love Never Dies News is TEEEEN YEAAAARS OOOOOOLD! (We couldn't help it, those lyrics fit so perfectly! Now we share age with our dearest Gustave).

So this post is a thank you letter. Thank you for walking this ride with us. For the love that you show to the musical every day, to the cast and crew & the Phan community. When we started Love Never Dies News, we were just two sisters who had fallen in love with The Phantom of the Opera and fell in love again with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies. We first heard of Love Never Dies when it was about to premiere in the West End. By the time the musical came out, we had listened, sung our hearts out and not so rhythmically hummed to each song of the show. We wanted to share our love for the show, and gather together everything this musical had to offer. By the time we started this project, we had no idea that the blog would grow and become a community, joining fans together from around the globe.

'Love Never Dies News' was born, grew and we got the chance to meet Phans from around the globe, near and far, to meet, interview and chat with cast and crew members. And for that, we’re forever grateful. Thank you for being part of this journey and supporting the show and its human team, and thank you for supporting us, it means the world.

💙

May 18, 2020

THIS IS LOVE NEVER DIES A PLAYLIST SET THAT BRINGS ARTISTS TOGETHER


We love music. We love Love Never Dies. And we've spent these past years browsing for performances from different singers, actors and performers around the world. There's something quite magical about listening to your favourite songs performed by an artist you never heard before; you feel there's something slightly different about it, something way more personal. That is why we love finding new versions of songs we are overly familiar with. You get to experience that very same song for the very first time and get astonished by the way every performer makes that song their own, how they perform every note, every emotion in a different, unique way. We had this thought in our minds often, and wondered if we should gather them all together so people could get that astounding experience and enjoy them the way we do... and the answer was a heartfelt YES!

We joined Spotify! You can find us by searching "Love Never Dies News" (or by following this link over here). These lists will be updated with new finds, and this little project of ours will keep growing as artists keep sharing their work! If you're an artist and you have your own Love Never Dies track, please do share: we'd love you to be part of it!


Our channel right now includes playlists with hours of Till I Hear You Sing, Love Never Dies, Look With Your Heart, Once Upon Another Time & Beneath a Moonless Sky, and we also wanted a place for these lovely songs as Orchestrations and accompaniments, and a favourite of us we'd love to see grow over the years: Non-English tracks with performers from over the world!

Join us! (We'd love to find you there!)

April 28, 2020

PHANS AROUND THE WORLD SHARE THEIR LOVE FOR LOVE NEVER DIES


Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Shows Must Go On streamed 'Love Never Dies' this past weekend. For 48 hours, Phans around the world experienced going to the theatre from their homes and enjoyed the lovely Australian filmed staged production featuring Ben Lewis and Anna O'Byrne perform The Phantom of the Opera's sequel.

We live-tweeted during the full streaming and joined some Phans by sharing our favourite scenes, lyrics and behind the scenes (and trivia, we love trivia!). Our Twitter was on fire during the evening, and we received and read some lovely comments about Love Never Dies that we think should be shared and read, so here we go! Spreading some Love Never Dies love to the world!

"My love for LND started when I got the london cast recording as an early birthday gift. I was still in school so I couldn't afford to go to London to see the show live. Finally once the US tour was announced my mother surprised me with tickets to the first show in Utica NY. I will love the show forever! Plus I got to talk to some of the cast through Instagram and they all were so kind answering my questions. If I could thank everyone for the gift of continuing the Phantom’s story I would." by Desirae Jenks

"I thought the show was a magical delight. The music was beautiful and the cast was superb. This show deserves it due on Broadway. I will never stop loving this show. Team Mr Y!" by Wicked74303

April 25, 2020

LOVE NEVER DIES BEHIND THE SCENES POST STREAMING


Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Love Never Dies' streamed yesterday worldwide as part of The Shows Must Go On initiative. If you haven't seen it yet or you missed it yesterday, worry not! The show will be available through the weekend (48h long from the moment it premiered). For those of you who got the chance to watch 'Love Never Dies' and enjoyed the breathtaking Australian filmed staged production, we thought you may enjoy these lovely featurettes and behind the scenes!

April 20, 2020

LOVE NEVER DIES TO BE STREAMED FOR FREE ON YOUTUBE


The Shows Must Go On is an Andrew Lloyd Webber initiative that gives you a chance to watch musicals online on YouTube (for free!) for a limited time. 'The Shows Must Go On' features a selection of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most known musicals (so far Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatJesus Christ Superstar and The Phantom of the Opera). Now people around the world can experience a taste of the West End and Broadway while they Stay At Home and, most importantly, stay safe. Each show will be available weekly (from 7pm) for a limited 48-hour period online. Last week's engagement was The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall, with Sierra Boggess in the role of Christine and Ramin Karimloo in the role of The Phantom.

As expected, this week the musical choice to be streamed will be The Phantom of the Opera sequel, Love Never Dies.  It will premiere this Friday 24th at 7pm  and remain online for 48 hours. The production of Love Never Dies that will be streamed will be the  staged filmed Australian production  featuring Anna O'Byrne as Christine and Ben Lewis as The Phantom.



Christine Daaé herself, Anna O'Byrne, will join live in the official @loveneverdies Instagram during the #TheShowsMustGoOn streaming! Join us on Twitter (link here!) next Friday on the Love Never Dies streaming premiere for some behind the scenes and trivia along the way.
For fans who wish to make a charitable donation, a variety of organisations will be listed on The Shows Must Go On full-length YouTube channel videos, including Acting for Others, Broadway Cares and Actors Benevolent Fund.

April 07, 2020

10 FACTS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT LOVE NEVER DIES

Love Never Dies premiered ten years ago in the West End and wowed audiences all over the world with productions and special concerts set in Australia, Denmark, Hamburg, Japan, Vienna and a full North American Tour. We've been celebrating all over Twitter and Instagram sharing lyrics, music and behind the scenes videos from the production that started it all.

We already made an emotional post about it (you can read it here), but we wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate this ten year anniversary with some facts you may (or may not) know about Love Never Dies! Did you know that...?

 Andrew Lloyd Webber first began plans for a sequel 
 to his 1986 hit musical, The Phantom of the Operain 1990. 

Following a conversation with Maria Björnson, the designer of The Phantom of the Opera, Lloyd Webber decided that were a sequel to come about, it would be set in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. One of his ideas was to have the Phantom live above ground in Manhattan's first penthouse, but he rejected this when he saw a TV documentary about the Coney Island fairground.



 Frederick Forsyth published his novel The Phantom of  
 Manhattan in 1999, with ideas that he developed alongside 
 Andrew Lloyd Webber for the sequel. 

Lloyd Webber began collaborating with author Frederick Forsyth on the sequel project in the early 90s, but it soon fell apart as Lloyd Webber felt the ideas they were developing would be difficult to adapt for a stage musical. Forsyth went on to publish some of the ideas he had worked on with Lloyd Webber in 1999 as a novel entitled The Phantom of Manhattan.


 The original title for Love Never Dies 
 was 'Phantom: Once Upon Another Time'. 

And we all know where did that title go when the musical finally premiered as "Love Never Dies". Now we can all hum and sing our hearts out to Once Upon Another Time with Christine and The Phantom just after Beneath a Moonless Sky.


 You can hear musical arrangements and orchestrations of the title 
 song 'Love Never Dies' in Our kind of love from 
 The Beautiful Game and The heart is slow to learn

Webber had had in mind a Phantom of the Opera sequel for years, but something didn't felt right yet, so he went on working with other musical productions and you can hear some of his musical arrangement ideas into other of his own productions. Some Till I Hear You Sing notes can be also heard on If not for me for her from The Beautiful Game, and some Beneath a Moonless Sky can be heard in Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera movie adaptation.

 Andrew Lloyd Webber had to reconstruct the entire score 
 after his cat climbed into his piano and deleted EVERYTHING. 

The sequel was delayed because Lloyd Webber's six-month-old kitten Otto, a rare-breed Turkish Van, climbed onto Lloyd Webber's Clavinova digital piano and managed to delete the entire score. Lloyd Webber was unable to recover any of it from the instrument but was eventually able to reconstruct the score.


 The reprise of Love Never Dies sung by the Phantom 
 in the final scene was improvised. 

Yup, we're talking about that last scene of the show, when the audience is in full tears and The Phantom reprises the title song, heartbroken, to Gustave. It happened in the final performance of Love Never Dies in the West End. Ramin Karimloo improvised it all at the moment, and Andrew Lloyd Webber loved it that much that he incorporated it into the Australian production. Thanks, Ramin!


 The fastest costume change is done in under 18 seconds. 

Meghan Picerno herself shared this piece of trivia. The fastest costume change is done by Christine in under 18 seconds. In her words: "As soon as the stagecoach door closes during my arrival scene, I am changing inside and then I step out from the back to assemble the rest of my costume before my next solo". Impressive.


 The Danish production of Love Never Dies has been
 the only official non-replica performed in 10 years. 

The production starred Tomas Ambt Kofod and Bo Kristian Jensen sharing the role of the Phantom and Danish coloratura soprano Louise Fribo as Christine. It featured new production designs by Paul Farnsworth, new stagings by Daniel Bohr, and new choreography by Hayley Franks Høier. Karen Hoffmann, who translated the score of Phantom of the Opera into Danish, was also commissioned to translate this score.


 The Phantom's alias Mr. Y is a play on the word Mystery, 
 literally spelling Mystery as Mister-y (Mr. Y). 

Ok, this one may seem pretty lame trivia. But we're still surprised that most people do not realize this at first. So this one is a lifesaver. If you feel like this one was meh trivia, try this one: The character Gustave is named after Christine's father. Ramin Karimloo was the actor who originated the role in the West End and, coincidentally, he was the actor who portrayed Christine's father in 2004 Joel Schumacher's Phantom of the Opera movie adaptation. So that makes him the only actor (to date) who has portrayed Christine's lover Raoul, The Phantom and Christine's father. All three men in Christine's life.


 In theatre, it is considered unlucky to wear blue, 
 or to have peacock feathers onstage. 

Well, I believe this one works without any explanation. Christine's costume in her last scenes is a blue dress with peacock feathers, and she performs the title song against a blue background with feathers that fill the entire stage. If that ain't calling bad luck, we don't know what it is!

___


Love Never Dies is returning to the UK for the first time since it premiered ten years ago. And we can't stop singing that "TEEEEN LOOOONG YEAAAARS" line from Till I Hear You Sing. Love Never Dies will embark on its first-ever UK tour on September 26th at Leicester's Curve Theatre, where it will play until October 10th, and then it will visit the Manchester Opera House from October 14th to October 24th.

March 09, 2020

LOVE NEVER DIES TURNS 10 YEARS OLD


It was a Tuesday, it was March, and Coney Island's lights lit up the West End for the official premiere that continued one of the most beloved Andrew Lloyd Webber stories of all time, The Phantom of the Opera. With Sierra Boggess, Ramin Karimloo, Joseph Millson, Summer Strallen and Liz Robertson names in the billboard, Love Never Dies started running for people around the world to get the chance to finally know what happened to their favourite characters after the curtain called, when they got to experience The Phantom of the Opera for the first time.

Weeks passed, months passed... Years came and years went, and Love Never Dies premiered in Australia, Denmark, Hamburg, Japan, Vienna and toured the United States.


Ten long yeaaaaaars have passed since those very first Love Never Dies performances in London, and now, as we wait for the World Tour, new dates and venues are being announced (you can check them all -updated- in this post!). If you are feeling nostalgic, we recommend you to head over this post where you'll get to experience the song that was crowned as a Phan Favourite for you guys, by different actors and singers who got to play Mr. Y over the years.

So many special memories shared, so many more to be created! Join the celebration and tell us, what is your favourite Love Never Dies memory? We're gathering them all together and, at the end of the week, we'll share the responses we collect through social media!

With 💙,
The Love Never Dies News Team