Love Never Dies

Most of us know that The Phantom of the Opera musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber is so successful that it still achieves full-house ticket sales for performances anywhere in the world after more than 2 decades. However, not many people especially in Singapore are aware that there is another musical known as Love Never Dies which is a sequel to this greatest love story in the previous century. As an avid fan of musicals, I want to share with fellow fans of the Phantom musical who aren't aware about it.

 
Before I share the storyline for this Love Never Dies musical, lets recap the ending for The Phantom of the Opera musical.

Main Characters:

• Erik (the Phantom) who was known as "Angel of Music" to Christine.
• Christine Daae, the young Swedish soprano singer at the Paris Opera House whom the Phantom fell in love with.
• Raoul, Christine's childhood friend who eventually became her husband.
• Madame Giry, the mistress of the Opera House.
• Meg Giry, Madame Giry's only daughter who is also a ballet girl in the Opera House

The previous story ended with the Phantom capturing Christine and when Raoul tried to rescue Christine, he was captured too and almost killed by the Phantom. After Christine finally kissed the Phantom to declare her love for him, he was so touched and remorseful that he decided to free the two of them. The Phantom managed to escape and only his mask was found.

The story continues as Raoul and Christine eventually got married. Thereafter, they had a son called Gustave who was also a gifted soprano boy. The Phantom fled to Coney island (unfortunately not the one in Singapore!), somewhere near New York, USA in which he opened Phantasma, a palace of circus-like curiosities and entertainment. Patrons and performers knew him as "Mr Y".

The Phantom thought of Christine almost everyday and wanted her to sing for him again. In the musical, this scene was depicted by the song "Till I Hear You Sing" which is one of my favourite. It was sung by Ramin Karimloo who played the Phantom in this musical at West End (London).

The MTV version of "Till I Hear You Sing" by Ramin Karimloo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47dUc4iMAvQ

The West End Musical version of  "Till I Hear You Sing" by Ramin Karimloo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2PcUa79u8w

Madame Giry and her daughter, Meg followed the Phantom to USA as Giry hoped that Meg would be able to inherit the Phantom's fortune. However, when the Phantom anonymously invited Christine Daae to sing for him as the star attraction of the summer vacation season, Giry's hope was dashed.

Christine, Raoul and their 10 years old son, Gustave arrived in Coney island without knowing the true identity of Mr Y who invited them over. When the Phantom met Christine, he reveled himself and confessed that he still love her and wanted to be with her. The more shocking truth was that the Phantom actually had a sexual affair with Christine a night before her wedding in Paris. The desperate Phantom then challenged Raoul about Gustave's paternity and Christine's affection. He decided to end the confrontation with a bet; if Christine sings on stage, as agreed, she belongs to the Phantom; if she refuses, Raoul has won.

Once again, Christine was torn between the Phantom and Raoul and she knew her decision would determine the future for her and Gustave. As the stage awaited Christine, she appeared and sang for the Phantom. Knowing that he had lost Christine, Raoul returned to Paris without bringing Gustave along. Meg Giry, on knowing that she would lose her inheritance to Gustave, had snatched the boy and taken him to a point at the water's edge known as "Suicide Hall," where she planned to drown him. The Phantom and Christine managed to find her. During their confrontation, Meg revealed the gun which she was carrying. A stand-off occurred and ended with an accidental gunshot. The victim was Christine. At the time of dying, she shared a last kiss with the Phantom and revealed that Gustave's biological father was the Phantom. Gustave found it hard to accept the truth at first but eventually accepted the Phantom as his father.

Watch the scene of Christine singing for the Phantom till the ending of the story here. I believe this is the Australian production of the musical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEOQ6ecHb8

The theme song for this musical (the one that Christine sang for Phantom on stage) has the same title. I simply love the version of this song sung by Sierra Boggess (the pretty soprano who played the role of Christine in the London production of this musical) with the compose Andrew Lloyd Webber playing the piano.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_4fo5KSnQk

Unfortunately, if you are an avid fan like me who wanted to watch this musical so much, I think it would probably take 10 years before coming to Singapore. It was first shown in West End (London) theatres in 2010, followed by Melbourne and Sydney in 2011 and 2012 respectively, Copenhagen in 2012 and 2013, Vienna in 2013 and Tokyo in 2014. Like all other musicals, Singapore is always the last few countries where such new musical performances are held. In Asia, cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong are ahead of Singapore for musical performances. I believe the reason is because of the small market base we have here due to our small population size and also generally people in Singapore do not appreciate western musicals as much. Even my favourite British singer, Sarah Brightman (as mentioned in one of my previous post) seems to receive more support in China and Taiwan rather than Singapore. Hence, as far as I know, Sarah never holds any concert here. By the way, Sarah Brightman once played the role of Christine Daae in the earliest production for The Phantom of the Opera.
 
What are your thoughts regarding this storyline for the sequel of the world's greatest love story? Perhaps you would like to leave some comments ...

Australian Production
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOUFflTzYnM
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwCVw1WdR5A
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzDJgQMe34g
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEOQ6ecHb8