Love Never Dies

I recently purchased the OST of this musical, which is a sequel to Phantom of the Opera, talking about what happens after 10 years. It's set on Coney Island, which with its "carnival" setting, makes it a good place for magic and of course, the phantom to use his talent. Before I go on to my review, the album was pretty well-packaged, as it comes with the libretto, where one could follow through the whole production and a DVD like a "making of" video.

When I first started playing it, I was honestly disappointed by what I was hearing. You must understand that I really loved Phantom, the magic, the music, etc. (I watched it twice and listened to the original cast recording dozens of times) and this production wasn't like it. It was more "modernised" in terms of the music at the start and I would say, a little "American" initially. I guess it's because it was set on Coney Island. You can say I was a little "culutre-shocked" as I was not expecting that. However, on playing it a second time, it sounded a bit better, as I overcame my perceptions. Slowly, there is still a little semblance of the musical style, as the songs progressed. There are actually some repeated musical sequences like the end of the track "Before the Performance" where it had appeared in Phantom.

I didn't really like the story as it kind of "destroyed" the original love element. Furthermore, I have actually read the original book by Gaston Leroux, where you will know that the phantom was actually an escaped criminal/murderer. The characters were also much changed from the impression given in Phantom. The story was more "typical" in a way and I felt the magic was lost. Partly maybe because the music wasn't as "surrounding" as Phantom, if you know what I mean. In Phantom, the whole show was more driven by the music and the mystique of a phantom "haunting" the group. But it isn't in this case. I don't really know how to explain it.

Maybe you can call me biased, but I think it couldn't live up to Phantom's expectation or Andrew Llyod Webber's standards as that. Well, maybe I'll feel different if I ever get to watch it.