London Love Never Dies

Tonia saw Love Never Dies before she left for Calgary and kindly left her programme for us. We were reading it at lunch. A border along the bottom of the page traces some of the history of Coney Island” 1) the word coney means rabbit, since the early settlers found rabbits there; 2) one of the old posters advertized: 10 cents for ten hours of fun; 3) “mix bathing is frowned on” at Coney Island. And yes, is a great scene about public bathing, but no men get on the stage.

I thought he first scene was sinister, with warnings that disaster was about to happen, I thought referencing Tod Browing’s “Freaks” (1932). But the show did not go as dark as that movie.
Wyona saw the peacock motif right away: the brilliant eye seen in the centre of a peakcock feather in the dress of one of the circus performers, then in a costume that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and again in a whirly-gig effect to the costume of one or the acrobats. Soon we were seeing elegant bird feather icons everywhere – on the plume of Christine Daaė’s hat, and in a bejewelled necklace during one of her stage performances for example. The proscenium arch also quotes a peacock feather with stylized feathers on the outside and in the viewing area, the shape of the centre of the feathers.

We saw the show this afternoon, a brilliant mix of genres: musical theatre, cinema, opera, Hollywood film music, with smoke, sleight of hand, a glass coach, acrobats, women on swings and a man on stilts thrown in. And when the show was over while the audience was leaving, the orchestra played a long reprise. Perhaps 5 minutes. Stay in your seats when the show is over. If you put your coat on and head right out,you will loose your chance to hear some of the best music of the show, tied up with a nice ribbon for you.

At the performance Tonia attended, the show stopped after the first 4 minutes and someone came on stage to tell the audience that a glitch that had never happened in the rehearsals had happened now. Then the show went on, none for the worse.

The most interesting song title in the show is called “Devil Take the Hindmost”, a saying I have never used. The title is a proverbial phrase indicating that those who lag behind will receive no aid. The line was first recorded in print in Beaumont and Fletcher's tragic/comic play Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding, 1611:
"They run all away, and cry, 'the devil take the hindmost'."

I hope I never have occasion to warn anyone with the phrase. And I loved the touch of having the bad guy (Raoul) dressed in white and the good guy (Mr. Y) dressed in black. Nice reversal for those of us who like reading images.

Beautiful show. But no spoilers for you in this review.

Two and a half hours of musical and visual pleasure. A little bit of vaudeville, some amazing costume changes and some opulent staging set against scenes with the minimalist simplicity.

Since the Phantom has been running for 25 years, I think the sequel will be around for a long time. The show is also coming to the stage in Australia and in New York, so it will be at a theatre near you (or at least in one country close to you) before 2011 is over.

Arta