Tag Archives: Phantom of the Opera

Review: Phantom of the Opera – 25th Anniversary Stage Recording

After watching Love Never Dies with a friend of mine months ago… I realized that I never got around to watching the 25th Anniversary Concert / Production of Phantom of the Opera. So I borrowed her DVD completely forgetting two things:
1: her version was a non-U.S. DVD region
2: I already purchased my own DVD in the U.S. region

So since I had already watched Love Never Dies with the Australian cast… I had a bad habit of comparing the Australian cast to their Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary counterpart roles. Interesting thing to note is that three of the roles in the 25th Anniversary Production of Phantom of the Opera were portrayed by the same actors that were in the original West End production of Love Never Dies when it opened:

CHARACTER ACTOR / ACTRESS
The Phantom Ramin Karimloo
Christine Daaé Sierra Boggess
Madame Giry Liz Robertson

There is no denying it, Ramin and Sierra are absolutely amazing vocally and character-wise in their respective roles. Sierra’s voice is absolutely exquisite as Christine, she gives that innocent iridescence to the role and provides the growth necessary as she makes a choice between the two men that she had come to realized that she has loved in her young life.

Here is Sierra as Christine as she slowly acclimates herself as the lead soprano in the aria “Think of Me”

And again when she runs to her father’s family tomb to “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”

Ramin is strong and powerful and is able to give that sense of vulnerability when the one thing he has ever wanted he realizes that he would never have and let’s Christine go in the end. There is something about Ramin that is just absolutely mesmerizing and there is no denying it.
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Review and SPOILERS: Love Never Dies (Australian Cast)

If The Phantom of the Opera was considered a project of the composer’s love to his muse at the time, then Love Never Dies could be the composer’s desire to return to those glory days knowing full well it could never happen.

For over two decades, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber (he was knighted in 1992 and became a life peer in 1997 with the title of Baron Lloyd-Webber, of Sydmonton in the County of Hampshire and sits in the House of Lords) had mentioned the possibility of creating a sequel for the beloved musical Phantom of the Opera that he created in 1986. He started working on the sequel as early as 1990 but did not start composing until over a decade and half later, but lost the score in an announced cat-astrophe, convenient and suspect to be sure.

Three years later the production, Love Never Dies, opened in the West End in London to mixed/negative reviews. During the previews the production was tooled and retooled and retooled again in hopes to garner positive reviews from critics and/or audiences but closed in 2011 after a mere eighteen month run.

The production team, taking what they learned from the West End, redesigned the musical and opened in Melbourne, Australia in May 2011. This time the musical garnered much more positive reviews, it was at Melbourne that they taped the show for DVD and eventually the production moved to Sydney for a limited engagement.

Over the course of the past couple of years there was much hype leading into the opening production with Katherine Jenkins singing her rendition of the title track:

Ramin Karimloo also created a music video of the Phantom’s opening solo of the production featuring the original Christine of Love Never Dies Sierra Boggess:

The original intent of opening Love Never Dies simultaneously at the West End, New York, Shanghai never really materialized with the production in New York to be delayed indefinitely and the Shanghai development ending in favor of opening an Australian production. However, some of us Phantom Phanatics wanted to see the production: Love Never Dies, and were granted a reprieve when a DVD version of the show was to be aired on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) just a day or two after the DVD officially released in the U.S.

A week or two ago I finally found the time to sit down and watch this DVD… after having heard the soundtrack within months after the initial released I was curious enough to see what the production entailed. Curious to see why it worked in some places and not in others.
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