What did Andrew Loyd Webber do to the Phantom? Love Never Dies!

Okay!!!Umm... I have a  lot to say about this! If you've never heard about this, let me inform you. This show, Love Never Dies is the sequel to Andrew Loyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. Sounds pretty awesome at first. Say what! A sequel to one of the best shows ever on Broadway! But don't be decieved...

Now I am probably one of the biggest fans of The Phantom of the Opera. I love that show, I grew up to it... I would listen to the music over and over again, sing to it, and dance around the room to it. At one point I'm sure I had every word memorized, and could still sing along with the entire show. Unfortunately I've only seen it twice in the theater, but I absolutely love it. The movie is okay, but the musical is amazing! Today Shara, my sister, told me about Love Never Dies, and we were talking about this, and why it is such an abomination to the original.

First: This is why The Phantom of the Opera is so good!

The Phantom of the Opera has so much passion, raw emotion, and turmoil; it's characters are dynamic and mysterious and the music is absolutely amazing from the first second! Now, I've pondered a lot about why this show is so appealing to me. I'm mostly curious as to why I feel this pity for the Phantom. Why is there this allure to his character that I can't really explain? I mean the Phantom is an evil man, he is a cold-hearted killer, he's selfish, manipulative, and in the real world he would be a TOTAL and COMPLETE creeper!

Why then is Christine and every woman that watches that show drawn to him?  He is consumed by his own selfishness, and hate for everyone around him, except Christine, with whom he's consumed by lust. But, he doesn't know what LOVE is! He was raised alone, and with hatred because he was treated with creulty and like a freak, so in a way he's a product of his environment. He's become a creature of the night. But you pity this man, you pity him because you know what he's been deprived of, and why. And you know it's not fair. He just wants to be loved, and that has eluded him his entire life! Anyone with an open heart would pity that.

And that's what Christine is feeling for the Phantom, she doesn't love him...she can't love him, because his soul is black, and sucks life and love out of everything around it. But she is a young, naive, woman, who is loyal to her dead father's memory and love of music. She is confused by him because she first see's the Phantom as an angel of music! The answer to her prayers and a miracle from her father! As she learns what he really is she then see's a pitiful creature, that she wants to help, but can't. A man that just wants love, but who has turned into a monster from the inside out. (Well, actually, in his case maybe it's more like outside in.)This becomes more and more apparent as he starts killing people and she starts fearing for her safety.

In my opinion this is the dilemia of Christine, and the REASON that this musical is one of the best, because although the Phantom is the "bad" guy, you're still kind of rooting for him to find love, You're drawn in by his intrigue just like Christine, I mean... when he starts singing, wow, I was speachless watching it! But in the end you can see that he's really dangerous.

Now I'm going to contrast that with her feelings for Raoul, this is a man, she grew up with, and looked up to for years, in fact he's her childhood crush. She trusts him, he is what he says he is. He's straight forward, there's no mystery about him. He's also handsome and wealthy, which adds to his dreamboat appeal! But besides this, the most important thing about him is that he just wants her happiness. Throughout the story, he is striving to protect her. (But to be honest his character is not nearly as inticing as the Phantom.)He's pretty much the opposite of what the Phantom is. You know that he wants to bring her out of this shadowy world of the night and into the light, while the Phantom wants to keep her with him in his personal "Hell". In many of the lyrics you notice this, the Phantom is always associated with darkness and night, while Raoul talks of light. I love the line where he says, "No more talk of darkness, forget these wide eyed fears. I'm here, nothing can harm you, my words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears, I'm here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you." His love is safe and selfless. And I might take this one step further and say he's her "salvation" figure.

In the climax of the Phantom of the Opera, Raoul is willing to sacrifice his life so she can have freedom! That is such a dramatic moment, and the music is phenomenal, hearing all 3 sing they're desparate, raw, emotions. Then Christine chooses to stay with the Phantom in order to save Raoul. I know I'm getting cheesy, but honestly, isn't this the most beautiful love story! It's Christine and Raoul's love that is selfless!!! That should be the highlight! When Christine kisses the Phantom It's not cause she loves him, but it's to save Raoul, in the only way she knows how. The Phantom finally realizes that she doesn't love him, and in that moment when he finally feels some compassion from another human, he gains some and lets them go so he can wallow ALONE. You're left with a happy ending on the lovers side, and a sad ending for the Phantom, and although he is the bad guy, the interesting thing about this musical is you STILL feel for him, because you know what it's like to love without return. And that is always sad, but he doesn't deserve her love. He's an evil, selfish person. In the movie, the credits have the song, Learn to Be Lonely, I feel like this epitomizes the Phantoms life.

Ok, so I love this musical, for the dynamism, and emotion, the beauty and honesty of these feelings that are brought out in the music. The intrigue of the Phantom, and the purity and love of Christine and Raoul.

WARNING: There are Spoilers in this section:

So, when I read the plot for Love Never Dies, I was like, what? Are you kidding me! This can't be. In writing this Andrew Loyd Webber undermines the genious of the Phantom! His characters aren't consistent at all with what he created in the original. Here we have Christine who actually slept with the Phantom sometime during the first musical and has his child, and of course she never tells Raoul. We have Rauol who's a drunk, neglectful father. The Phantom is made out to be this misunderstood man, he was never really evil, just frustrated my his love. Nevermind all the people he heartlessly killed.  He now helps out other circus freaks in Coney Island (so charitable), he still loves Christine, of course, and he just wants to hear her sing for him again. So he anonymously invites her to come sing at his show, Phantasma!!! Gee, great name...and of course she unknowingly accepts.

When she gets there and finds out the Phantom is behind it he threatens to kidnap her son unless she sings for him, and then makes a bet with Raoul that if she sings for the Phantom then he will leave without his wife and son, if she doesn't sing, then they'll all leave together. Rauol then tries to persuade Christine not to sing. Gee, what's a mother to do, choose between her son or her husband?  And grow some balls Raoul, you're gonna leave your wife and son over a bet you made with a with a derranged psycho! So of course, she sings!  And apparently that means she loved the Phantom all the time, cause she sings Love Never Dies! Raoul just LEAVES! Can you believe that!

Then, some other characters come into play, Madame Giry, and her daughter Meg Giry, who were great characters in the first one, they weren't evil. Madame Giry helped the Phantom escape his cruel life as a child and hid him in the Opera house, but she didn't know what he would turn into. She wasn't a greedy hag, which is how she's portrayed in the sequel. Meg was Christine's friend, kind and quiet, but now she's a prostitute and they're both working with the Phantom for money. Meg gets jealous of Christine, kidnaps her son and tries to drown him!  So the Phantom is no longer the true nemesis, it;s Meg Giry that's the villain in this show! There's a tussle and guess what! Christine gets shot and dies, but before she dies she tells her son who his real father is. (ahem... Star Wars!) Then the Phantom actually raises thier son! Raoul just leaves him behind and goes back to England!

I'm just SOOOO mad at Andrew Loyd Webber right now! Seriously! This is dumb, I can't believe he would ruin the Phantom like this! I mean, the characters are totally different! They wouldn't have acted that way. Sometimes you've just got to leave a good thing alone! Sequels are not always the answer! I love the way the Phantom ends, because although it's somewhat sad to see a pitiful creature never get the love he desires, life can be that way.

Welp, now I'm going to go watch the movie, and bask in the glorious-ness of Gerard Butler! Hahaha.