Bardic Knowledge: Love Never Dies

First off, a reminder that I will be starting my top 100 list tomorrow. That is something that I am going to try to stick to and it should be up sometime in the afternoon at the latest.

That said, a rant. I am a fan of musicals. I am gay after all, it's hardwired in there plus I do have a past in theater. That said, sequels tend not to be so good in the theater world. So, hearing that a truly great musical like Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is getting a sequel, Love Never Dies. Really? Yeah, it's happening. After close to a a decade of threats, it's finally happening in 2010.

The plot follows something like this: The Phantom has escaped to New York where he has basically became the designer of Coney Island's many famous attractions. The Giry's are also there for no good reason. Anyway, The Phantom lures Christine, Raoul, and their son to New York and hijinks ensue. Now, I have problems with this plot. First off, let's assume Christine is still one of the leading Divas of the Opéra Populaire. Why would she do a gig at a relatively unknown overseas landmark? She can do much better, at least doing The Met.

I have some problems with Lloyd Webber overall. The man ruined Broadway for many years and his works are kinda overrated. I am a huge fan of Phantom and Sunset BLVD. but the second one is partially because of my feelings on the source material. Other than that, they helped set in place the British mega-musical where spectacle was always a good substitute for a great show. This feeling has continued to this day. Even great musicals like Wicked have gimmicks. When you think of Phantom, you think of the Chandelier, Miss Saigon had that helicopter, Wicked has the Time Dragon, and Les Mis had the spinning wheel of actor nausea.

Overall, Andrew Lloyd Webber has been going down hill for a few years. None of his shows have lasted all that long since Phantom. Sunset was the last one to actually experience a realm of critical success. Overall, it's kinda annoying to me that a man can be treated like a success all these years when he has a few huge successes then the second half of his career has been rather unremarkable *cough*Coppola*cough*. Where was I? Oh yeah, anyway, I'm reserving judgment on this piece of something but I'm not going to be counting on something perfect.