I really regret watching Love Never Dies because ALW horrendously butchered the characters just to make a "fanmade sequel" to Phantom. Love Never Dies is a crappy non-canon fan fiction in my mind. It is nothing more than a stupid, insipid soap opera that gets more grotesque and harebrained by the second. It is an awful, awful musical, flawed on so many levels I can't count them, funny when it's not supposed to be, entertaining in much the way that Plan 9 from Outer Space is entertaining. I bet my review is going to be complicated and slightly incoherent because there are so many flaws on so many levels at so many points.I don't like this musical. Sure, I like the idea of Erik and Christine being together, but this musical doesn't succeed in its delivery of that. The plot is bad, characters that we previously liked (minus in Raoul's case...poor guy) are turned into jerks, and some of the songs are so awful, you can't help wanting to throw up.The whole productions seem to be rather goofy (the whole thing looks like a Tim Burton fever dream staged by Cirque de Soleil), but the Phantom screaming "TEEEEEN YEEEAAAARRRRSS OOOOOLLLLDDD" has to be the most ridiculous, cringe-worthy thing I have ever seen in a musical.I don't know what Webber was thinking when he penned this pile of muck, but he should be ashamed of himself. If you love The Phantom of the Opera - then please DON'T WATCH LOVE NEVER DIES. SIGH!!! I look forward to being able to forget Love Never Dies exists.

I won't talk about the plot, It was just horrible and unnecessary. POTO ended with Christine choosing Raol, end of the story. The music of LND is very good, i like many songs - "'Till I Hear You Sing", "Beneath the Moonless Skye", "What a Dradful Town", "Beauty Underneath" and of course "Love Never Dies".There are things, that didn't work for LND. First - location. I mean move it from Paris, one of the most romantic cities on the world, to New York? I don't find New York very romantic. There are many European cities more suitable for romance - Venice, Prague, Wienna, Budapest... And the shift from opera to... what? A circus. It could have worked in the opposite way, not this way.And the characters...Raoul: Maybe he was spoiled, but to turn him into drunkard? I don't think even him was so reckless, plus, he loved Christine.Christine: She may have loved Phantom, but in the end, she was more frightened of him, though she took a pity on him, but searching for him and have a child with him? Really?Phantom: He may have burned the opera down, that's like him, but I don't think he could ever be chased down by the mobs? And he was hiding from the world and now he works in public normally? ALW lost his mind.And the Giry's...Madame Giry: She loved Christine in POTO "I think of her as a daughter also" was the movie phrase. She did care for her. And now? Nothing. She led Raoul to Phantom's lair to rescue Christine and now she blames her, for choosing him? What a nonsense. And she also feared Phantom and wanted to stop him. Now she loves him and idolize him? Seriously? That doesn't even make sense.And Meg, poor, sweet Meg: She was a dancer, not a singer, really. And her trying to impress Phantom was pathetic. But the revelation, she was sleeping with rich men... just awful. Not to mention she shot Christine.

Much of the problem that I had watching this was to do with Love Never Dies itself. I am one of those who has appreciated Andrew Lloyd Webber overtime, especially as Phantom of the Opera is so good, but Love Never Dies is my least favourite musical of his by quite some way. Two or three of the songs are nice, Til I Hear You Sing Once More, The Beauty Underneath and Look With Your Heart, but the rest are completely forgettable. The story is also a mess, it is nowhere near as cohesive as Phantom of the Opera, is very bad soap-opera-ish and didn't engage me emotionally. The characters seem off, especially Raoul, and one plot strand(the one revealing when Gustave was conceived) actually distorts them, while the ending is ridiculously anti-climatic. This production is a slight improvement by excising that one plot strand, but other than that it does nothing to change my perception of the musical. The production is certainly not bad, the costume and set designs are just exquisite with beautiful lighting. The orchestral playing, chorus and conducting are also first-rate. And I thought the two leads were fine. Ben Lewis has a magnificent voice, and does his best making Phantom charismatic, edgy and tortured, it's not his fault that Phantom in Love Never Dies is too much of an obsessive businessman with a dark past, a much watered-down version of his former self really. Anna O'Byrne struggles with the title number- hardly surprising seeing as the song itself isn't that good anyway- but her voice is very angelic and rich with an unbelievable range, she also does elegant and diva-ish very well. The rest of the cast aren't as effective, good voices but dull. Well Simon Gleeson does have flashes where he allows Raoul to be dashing, but there is strong emphasis on flashes. It doesn't help that the drama is so overly-melodramatic, dull and emotionally cold, or that the relationship between Phantom and Christine is as tawdry as it is. And if you're struggling to believe that they actually hooked up, I don't blame you. The choreography was well danced but lacked drive and sparkle for my tastes. The camera work was a big, perhaps even the biggest, issue. There are too many close-ups and medium shots that are moved so fast, this approach is the very opposite of intimate(which I believe was intended), further ruined the dramatic flow and actually cried for a more expansive use of the stage and live-performance spontaneity. Overall, lavish but also disappointing. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Okay, so, I watched this reasonably soon after having watched the Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary performance--so a) it was fresh and b) I might be a little harsh. The camera work was a little...interesting. There was only one shot (before the curtain call) that showed any of the audience, so it was easy to forget you were watching a play in a theater--except that you kept seeing stage lights in shots. Not a bad thing, but not ideal. The music is good, but rather weak in comparison to Phantom. Phantom is soaring and operatic... LND had me asking if Webber composed it in collaboration with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The big thing for me, however, is the continuity disasters between LND and Phantom that fundamentally change the apparent story in Phantom. Full-disclosure, I think Love Never Dies would be perfectly fine in it's own right, but as a sequel to the awesomeness of Phantom of the Opera... I was a bit disappointed. I did appreciate the sporadic musical references to Phantom of the Opera in the score, however.