TILL I HEAR YOU SING CROWNED AS PHAN FAVOURITE SONG

Deal the cards! Let them fall! A month ago we started a series of polls to choose Love Never Dies fan favourite musical number. If you're following us on Twitter, you must have seen how your favourites have been heading to the next round over the last month, and today is the day we can finally announce a winner! 

Beneath a Moonless Sky and Till I Hear You Sing made it to the final round, and it has been rather fun to see how both songs made it to the top just to be topped by the other over the last three days. For half the time we had the poll running, both songs were winning 50/50%! And then, the last three days they kept topping one another again. But there can only be one winner! Finally, in the last hour before the poll closed, and just by two votes of difference, Till I Hear You Sing got on the podium as the most beloved song, followed extremely close by Beneath a Moonless Sky.

Thank you to anyone who participated, we know some of you struggled to vote one song over another, but in the end, it's been a fun month altogether, and this week we'll be celebrating through our social media (Twitter and Instagram) with #TIHYSWeek. So follow along to get peeks of every production's rendition of Till I Hear You Sing and walk down the memory lane with us.

For now, enjoy these official music videos of different Love Never Dies productions, starting with the actor who first originated the role in the West End, Ramin Karimloo at the Adelphi Theatre.

One can never have enough music videos of this song, RIGHT? Here's another music video of Ramin performing TIHYS, Phantom clothes on and mask off. 

  

Ben Lewis' performance was globally recorded for purchase as a musical movie. He originated the role in Australia after the reworked musical premiered at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne in 2011. You can find him now performing as The Phantom in the original Phantom of the Opera production in the West End.

Gardar Thor Cortes played The Phantom in the German production of Love Never Dies at Hamburg's Operettenhaus Theatre in 2015 and then revisited the role in the US Tour this year. He may not be performing anymore in the Tour (the role is now performed by Bronson Norris Murphy), but we'll always have this gem to listen to over and over again!

Follow us to get peeks of these performances as well as other actors from different productions across the world, such as Tam Mutu (who took Karimloo's role in the West End), Thomas Ambt Kofod at the Denmark production at the Det Ny Theatre in 2012, Drew Sarich at the Vienna concerts that were held at the Ronacher Theatre in 2013 and Masachika Ichimura and Takeshi Kaga, who performed The Phantom at the Japanese production at the Nissay Theatre.

WHAT IS THE MOST BELOVED SONG IN LOVE NEVER DIES

Deal the cards! Let them fall! We are determined to find out Love Never Dies fan favourite musical number. To do so, we decided to create a series of polls to know what song will be the winner... Any guesses?

Head over to Twitter to vote for your favourite song to head to the next category, the first series of polls is ready for you to vote! Every week we shall announce the winners and we'll proceed to the next knockout, every week we'll be closer to know the one and only winner!  / Vote for your favourites here!

DENMARK ENDS PERFORMANCES

Love Never Dies played its last show yesterday at Det Ny Teatre, Denmark. It's a shame that the production has ended so soon, but here I give you this fantastic video I found. On it we can see some new scenes for this production and some cast interviews.

Besides, Katharina Englisch, faithful follower of the musical, has written to us this wonderful text reviewing how was the experience of watching, hearing and feeling the Denmark musical, not just once but six times!

Now it´s over - Love Never Dies ended in Copenhagen :(. It was a phantasic production. A new version with some parts of London and Australia but in a different way. I´ve seen the show 6 times and I loved every minute. I had all the time Louise Fribo as Christine. She was her, her singing was pure and clear. She gave me the feeling of her Christine 10 years before. Phantasic in every way! Tomas Ambt Kofod and Bo Kristian Jensen were my Erik´s. Both are great. Tomas is a brilliant actor! Bo gave me many wonderful moments too. One special night something happend...at the end of act I, a kiss. It happend so tender and lovely. It was wonderful. The whole cast including Christian Berg as Raoul, Camille Catherine Rommedahl as Meg, Martin Loft as Gangle and so on...were so amazing. High level cast as I say. I love the passion and love in the version, it´s clear Erik loves Christine and she loves him in return. The version is/was more familiar and personal. The end is much more tragic, Christine´s cry at the end when Gustave leaves her and Tomas had so a sad cry when Christine died. It breaks my heart every time. Beneath a Moonless Sky, Once upon another time...are so moving. They touched so much. They wanted to be near. Devil take the hindmost was brilliant and I love to see Erik and Raoul played cards. The scene was typical for men. Louise as Christine made the title song so wonderful, so moving and it was a gold version of the song. She gave her soul. She was alive again. Really alive. All what she has missed over the years came out. The connection, the passion, the love.....for him. So wonderful!

MUSICAL EXPERIENCES OF LOVE NEVER DIES PHANS

We start this posts about those who have seen the musical and want to share their experience, opinions, and memories. This is Irene Adler's experience. She saw the musical on August 11th, here some of her impressions.

In comparison with The Phantom of the Opera, this piece has less spectacular scenography effects, and a slower pace. This is compensated, though, with the emotion showed with its scenes, especially within the second act. And with the beauty of the score, which matches up with The Phantom of the Opera.

Love Never Dies has been only performing since March, and still keeps improving: for instance, "That's the place you ruined you fool" has been totally suppressed from the show. 

"Heaven by the sea" has been removed in its totality. "Only for him/Only for you" beginning adds a few Meg lines, while the theme that plays at the end of the show with Meg and Gustave plays in the background (with this addition, Meg's unhealthy obsession with The Phantom is way more reflected). "Beautiful" has been removed too, those lines when Coney's Freaks are taking Gustave. A new reprise, mixing "Heaven by the sea" and "Only for him/Only for you" has been added, shortly after starting the second act. The Phantom refers to Gustave as "little Vicomte".

And not just there's a wonderful score, but the emotion showed onstage is enhanced: a song that isn't particularly striking, such as "Love Never Dies", becomes such an exciting moment on stage! This is a highly recommended experience: don't let yourselves be fooled with bad reviews. If I had to be picky, just one thing can be faulted and that's the scenography, which could be way more elaborated.

Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggees: Incredible. Ramin Karimloo: perfect voice. His "Till I hear you sing" rendition doesn't leave you indifferent. And his acting, with anger when is needed and gentle when the moment requires, makes believable his violent side and his tender and romantic, almost paternal, side. Sierra Boggess: she's all elegance and softness, with a beautiful voice.

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Empezamos este bloque de entradas de experiencias de todos cuantos hayan visto el musical y quieran contar sus opiniones y recuerdos. Esta es la experiencia de Irene Adler. Vio el musical el 11 de Agosto, aquí alguna de sus impresiones:

En comparación con El Fantasma de la Ópera esta obra tiene menos efectos escenográficos y un ritmo menos trepidante, pero lo compensa con creces con la emotividad presente en la obra, sobre todo en el segundo acto, y con la belleza de la partitura, que está a la altura de El Fantasma de la Ópera. 

Love Never Dies lleva en cartel sólo desde Marzo, y todavía están mejorándola: por ejemplo, "That's the place you ruined you fool" se ha suprimido en su mayor parte.

"Heaven by the sea" ha sido totalmente eliminada. La primera parte de "Only for him/Only for you" ha sido eliminada: directamente "Only for you" y unas frases de Meg con la misma música que luego oiremos cuando habla con Gustave mientras intenta ahogarlo (en las que queda más reflejada su obsesión malsana con el Fantasma). También se ha cortado el inicio de "Beautiful", cuando los Freaks se llevan a Gustave. Se ha añadido un reprise que mezcla "Heaven by the sea" y "Only for him/Only for you", poco después de empezar la segunda parte. El Fantasma se refiere a Gustave como "el pequeño vizconde".

Y es que si ya la partitura es una maravilla, su emotividad en el escenario se acrecienta: una canción que no llama especialmente la atención, como "Love Never Dies", se convierte en un momento emocionante en el escenario. Una experiencia más que recomendable: no os dejéis convencer por las malas críticas. Siendo quisquillosa, sólo se le puede poner una pega y es la escenografía, que podría ser más elaborada.

Ramin Karimloo y Sierra Boggees: Increíble Ramin Karimloo. Voz perfecta, su "Till I hear you sing" pone los pelos de punta. Y su interpretación, igual: con garra cuando hace falta y con suavidad cuando el momento lo requiere, hace creíble el lado violento y el lado tierno, enamorado, y hasta paternal, del Fantasma. Sierra Boggess: una Christine toda elegancia y suavidad, con una voz bonita. 

TILL I HEAR YOU SING TRADUCIDA

Os presentamos la letra y traducción de una canción que al oírla, sea por primera, segunda o milésima vez, hará que te estremezcas y aguantes la respiración. La música, la letra, la interpretación, el desgarre, el dolor, la desesperación... Y aún así se mantiene la esperanza.

Hasta Oírte Cantar

El día comienza y el día termina.
El tiempo apenas pasa.
La noche avanza a paso lento.
Los momentos se arrastran.
Y aun así no puedo dormir
hasta oírte cantar…

Las semanas pasan, 
los meses pasan.
Las estaciones cambian 
y tú no apareces en mi puerta.
Y en la bruma, cuento en silencio los días
hasta oírte cantar… una vez más.

Y a veces, en la oscuridad, 
sueño que estás aquí.
Pero despierto abrazando nada más 
que el frío aire de la noche.

Y los años vienen, los años se van.
El tiempo se agota y todavía me duele 
en lo más profundo de mi ser.
Mi alma está herida,
no puedo vivir ni sentirme completo…
Hasta oírte cantar una vez más.

Y la música, tu música.
Susurra en mi oído.
Me doy la vuelta, desaparece 
y tú no estás aquí.

Que se vayan las esperanzas,
que se vayan los sueños,
¡Que se mueran!
Sin ti ¿Para qué sirven?

Siempre sentiré 
que no fue real más de la mitad
hasta oírte cantar una vez más.