Regarding Love Never Dies
I've been thinking about Love Never Dies lately, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera sequel. Generally I've been supportive of it, as I tend to support anything canon over fan-written, but I have to admit that there are a few things that just feel wrong.
Two things I stubbornly avoided in fanfic are a) Christine and Erik have a kid in spite of her marriage to Raoul; and b) Raoul is a bad guy. At least, without very good supporting plot.
They just generally seem so out of character for everyone. As much as we all may wish it was so.
So of course I had a good laugh when LND used both of these, in the WORST fanfic-y ways.
As to the first. I could believe that Christine went back to look for Erik on last time before her wedding, especially if there was a huge newspaper article about him being dead...though at least from he soundtrack, I didn't see any explanation as to WHY she went back. But what made them spend the night together? And the lame excuse for Erik sneaking away in the morning was that he was embarrassed? Blah.
Once Upon a Moonless Night comes SO CLOSE to being an awesome phantom-esque song and then just...flops miserably. "And I touched you"? "And I felt you"? ALW, c'mon!
As to Raoul being a drunken gambler....randomly? Hello backstory? Does he suspect his son isn't his? Is his noble family upset wig him for marrying an opera girl? Whyyyyy the drastic personality change? We get nothing.
Now, I do love that Mme. Giry and Meg have a larger role, and though Meg's personality change is tragic, at least it's plausibly explained. And Erik is still awesomely awesome. I LOVE the scene where he realizes Gustave is his son.
And yeah, the plot was a bit predictable, like seeing the movie-version of a book. You know the story, but seeing how it's brought to life is still magical. And terrifying, as you wonder which parts will get butchered.
Once again, it's SO CLOSE to being what a Phantom sequel should be.
Now it's Broadway debut is inevitably delayed for revisions. What will LND 2.0 look like, I wonder? Better...or worse?
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