Love Never Dies

Broadcast on ITV1 on December 14th at 7:30 pm

The 2011 Royal Variety Show took places at the Lowry Theatre Salford Keys early December in the presence of HRH Princess Anne.

West End Stars performing included Adam Cooper and the cast of Singin’ in the Rain which had rave reviews at the Chichester Festival Thetre earlier this year and is due to open in London’s West End at the Palace Theatre in February.

Four West End leading men who did not appear in the ITV1 billing also made an appearance:  Ramin Karimloo who has just taken over the role of Jean Valjean from Alfie Boe in Les Miserables:John Owen-Jones who is currently the Phantom of the Opera and is shortly leaving the show to play the role on a national tour which starts next year: Simon Bowman who has played Jean Valjean and the Phantom and Earl Carpenter who has been playing the role of Khasoggi in We Will Rock You and is currently in  rehearsals to take over the role of Phantom from Owen-Jones and also play it in the latter half of the tour.

They were joined by Nicole Scherzinger who was spotted having dinner with Lord Lloyd Webber before the show.  She was introduced by the Lord as “performing alongside the cast of Phantom of the Opera”.  She is known to be a Phantom fan and has made a recording of “Love Never Dies”.  She said: “It was an honour to be in his company. To be asked to sing Phantom Of The Opera is amazing. I’m so excited to be performing again.”

Love Never Dies’ Phantom Ramin Karimloo confirmed his performance schedule in the show for after  the cast change on 5th March.

Ramin extended his contract for six months until 3rd September 2011, but he has a new reduced new performance schedule playing the role of Phantom in Love Never Dies London for six shows a week,  probably with Mondays and Thursdays off.

Ramin also mentioned a record deal and some show dates for his group the Sheytoons.  If you’re lucky enough to have seen them perform you’ll know they are great songwriters.

According to a report by Variety magazine, Cameron Mackintosh is launching a tour of The Phantom of the Opera in 2012, with the tour director for Les Miserables directing the production.

Mackintosh told Daily Variety the Andrew Lloyd Webber blockbuster will be produced in an all-new version. Directed by Laurence Connor, it will feature new sets and costumes by Paul Brown and lighting by three-time Olivier Award winner Paule Constable. Mackintosh said the production will open at a regional UK house.

The tour of Phantom is something that has been mooted in the West End for some time. It is the 25th Anniversary of Phantom in October this year with rumours of a special concert at the Royal Albert Hall. So a tour next year would make sense. Also Ramin Karimloo who has just extended his contract to play the Phantom in Love Never Dies has been tweeting that he has an exciting project lined up for next year

Ramin Karimloo (the Phantom) and Sierra Boggess (Christine) will be starring in a concert on Friday Night is Music Night broadcast on Friday 17th December on BBC Radio 2 from 8:00pm-10:00pm.

If you miss it on the night and you are a UK resident don;t worry because you will be able to log in to the BBC Radio “Listen again” service, the iPLayer – a link to the exact show will be provided here later.

Ramin and Sierra from Love Never Dies sing a selection of music about the masked men of stage and screen with a programme that includes songs from Robin Hood, William Tell, The Masked Ball, Batman and Spiderman.

Andrew Lloyd Webber gets to introduce the pieces from his own shows including The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies with Ramin and Sierra accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Simon Lee.

We have some free tickets for Love Never Dies to give to you as a prize!

Are you free on Saturday night, 9th October? If so you can enter the competition here on the Love Never Dies blog and stand a very good chance of winning a pair of top price tickets for the Saturday Night performance at the Adelphi Theatre on London, with Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess – I’ve seen it and it’s by far the best show in London for the present, with beautiful music, spectacle, and set design. You’ll love it whether you’ve already seen Phantom of The Opera or not, makes no difference.

The top price tickets to this hugely popular musical theatre show have been kindly provided by TheatreBreaks.com

To enter the competition all you have to do is leave a comment here on this blog, saying why you’d like to see Love Never Dies on Saturday. You can post it either on this competition post below, or anywhere else on the blog within the next 23 hours starting from now, Friday 8th October at midday.

At 11.00am on Saturday, tomorrow, the day of the show, the winner will be chosen, notified by email by Saturday afternoon and two Love Never Dies tickets will be arranged to be collected from the box office with the lucky winners’ names on them!