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.”

Our two originating actors for Love Never Dies, Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess starred in the Phantom of The Opera 25th anniversary show at the Albert Hall this month.

The performances took place at the Royal Albert Hall London on October 1st and 2nd 2011 with Ramin Karimloo playing the Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine. The pair, who performed together in the Adelphi Theatre’s Phantom sequel Love Never Dies, performed one show on October 1st and a further two shows on October 2nd.

Karimloo and Boggess were joined on stage by Barry James as Monsieur Firmin, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry, Gareth Snook as Monsieur André and Wynne Evans as Piangi as well as special guests and a 200-person-strong supporting cast and orchestra.

Producer Cameron Mackintosh said:

“It is amazing to think that the extraordinary success of The Phantom of the Opera is about to celebrate 25 years. The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary. One of the great strengths of The Phantom of the Opera is that being set in an opera house, its production is totally theatrical. So we felt that there could be no better 19th Century theatrical auditorium in London for this occasion than the Royal Albert Hall.”

Royal Albert Hall

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.

The Love Never Dies London cast changes tonight 9th March 2011 at the Adelphi Theatre.

David Thaxton, who is nominated in this year’s Olivier Awards for his role in Passion, replaces Joseph Millson as Raoul, Celia Graham takes over from Sierra Boggess as Christine and Haley Flaherty will replace Summer Strallen as Meg.

Ramin Karimloo stays on as the Phantom.

From the 5th March 2011, Love Never Dies gets a new Raoul in the form of David Thaxton taking over the role from Joseph Millsom.

David Thaxton

Sierra Boggess is also leaving the cast, to head for Broadway where the former Christine will star in Master Class with Tyne Daly.

The role of Christine in Love Never Dies will be taken over by the current Christine’s understudy, Celia Graham.

Other changes are that Celia Graham (who is currently Christine’s understudy) will take over the role from Sierra Boggess who is heading to Broadway to star in Master Class with Tyne Daly.

Ramin Karimloo stays on as The Phantom extending his contract for an undsiclosed period, but he’ll be one of the few Love Never Dies originators since Summer Strallen  is also leaving to go on a tour of Top Hat the Musical with Tom Chambers.

Haley Flaherty (Rocky Horror Show, Mamma Mia, Follies, Grease, Chicago, Saturday Night Fever) is taking over as the new Meg Giry.

Another great set of photographs by Estefania y Arantxa Álvarez, this time of Ramin Karimloo who plays the Phantom in Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London.

Love Never Dies the new Phantom musical will open in London on Tuesday 9th March, just one week’s time.

So what will the critics and press reviews make of it? Well in many ways, it doesn’t really matter because, having seen one of the early previews and loved it all, especially the score, I’m certain that the great British musical theatre going public is going to really enjoy this musical extravaganza. It’s a modern production that builds on the language of musicals and delights the eye and ear, while twisting the emotions appropriately as the plot unfolds. There were one or two effects that didn’t work quite as well as others, but from all accounts the show had already improved considerably on the first preview, and it’s now a case of tweaking a show that is ready for the world rather than implementing any big last minute redesigns.

Maybe if you go and see Love Never Dies in three months time, for a summer theatre break, it will be a more mature production, perhaps with a new final ensemble or something to smooth over any slight disappointments, but the characters are set and most importantly, the music is a final piece that holds together very well. I’ll be throroughly recommending Love Never Dies as a new musical top choice choice for London theatre breaks.

As the build up to the official opening of Love Never Dies gathers pace, Andrew Lloyd Webber has been on TV promoting the new Phantom musical with not one but two soprano Divas over the weekend. On Friday Night with Jonathan Ross he accompanied Sierra Boggess, the leading lady from the Adelphi Theatre London where previews are currently underway. Sierra sang the title track “Love Never Dies” beautifully again, and then on ITV’s “Dancing On Ice” show, Lord Webber played the piano again but this time with acclaimed classical soprano Katherine Jenkins singing her own unique interpretation of the now more familiar “Love Never Dies” song.

The performance was also interpreted visually by none other than Ice dance superstars Torvill and Dean.

Well here it is, Sierra Boggess singing the theme song to Love Never Dies at the last ever ITV South Bank Show Awards on Sunday Night, January 31st accompanied by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Louise Hunt on two grand pianos.

So what did you think?

I was struck by the performance style of Sierra Boggess being reminiscent of the Sarah Brightman who was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s inspiration for the original Phantom of The Opera. The flourishing crescendo of that operetta style is a bit much for my taste just for a few moments but I did recognise a great show tune in there which will have a strong emotional appeal when seen live at the theatre in just a few weeks tine when Love Never Dies opens in London. I did actually start humming the tune the next day after only having heard it once.

More of the casting for Love Never Dies has now been announced and it includes one Niamh Perry from the BBC 1 TV search for a star to play Nancy for Oliver the Musical, “I’d Do Anything”.  Since Niamh Perry left I’d Do Anything she starred in the West End production of Only the Brave and is currently in the London production of the highly successful musical, Mamma Mia!

Love Never Dies will receive it’s world premier on the 9th March 2010 at the Adelphi Theatre and Niamh Perry joins the already announced cast list which includes Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom, Sierra Boggess as Christine, Summer Strallen as Meg Giry, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry and Joseph Milson as Raoul.