Andrew Lloyd Webber launched “Love Never Dies,” his sequel to “The Phantom of the Opera,” at a press conference in London in October. While the composer pointedly refused to discuss the budget for the new show, It has been suggested the figure could reach £13 million, and that’s just for the London production, which will open on March 9th 2010.
The US Broadway production, set to open in November 2010, perhaps at the Neil Simon Theatre, will probably cost even more, almost matching the enormous $45 million budget spent on “Spider-Man”, the most expensive Broadway show of all time.
Here are a few examples of where some of the money is flowing out:
- The concept album of “Love Never Dies” used a 95-piece orchestra. Listening to it one afternoon, Andrew Lloyd Webber suddenly decided he didn’t like the orchestrations in the second act. So he brought all the musicians back into the studio and re-recorded half the album.
- There have already been several lavish workshops of the show, including one last month that was just to develop some special effects and cost almost £250,000.
- The first round of sets didn’t meet with the lord’s approval, so everything was scrapped. Designer Bob Crowley was brought back to redo the entire show.