Love Never Dies, Till I Hear You Sing

When I was younger, I was a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber. After all, it was his Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that inspired what would eventually become my still-to-be-truly-profesionally-staged musical, Follow The Light. And I loved his earlier works, especially Jesus Christ Superstar (even its cheesy 2000 filmed version), Sunset Boulevard (1993, yes, but with Glenn Close? Awesomeness!), and, of course, Phantom of the Opera, which my folks, little Jo and I saw in Singapore in 2007 (and the feature film of which I resented because the Butler couldn't do it).

I've kept up with his later works such as Whistle Down The Wind (which I actually liked, and which spawned the Boyzone hit No Matter What, led by the late Stephen Gately — and, more significantly, has had rock legend Meatloaf covering one of the songs; that alone, my friends...); The Women in White (forgettable, though oddly riveting when you view it in Japanese), and The Beautiful Game (a soccer musical, similarly oddly riveting when you view it in Hungarian, not to mention in Korean, and nothing to do with the locker-room scene, ok?? :P). Sadly, the quality hasn't been quite the same. And even It's My Time, the song he penned for the Eurovision Song Contest this year with lyrics co-written by award-winning songwriter Diane Warren, wasn't great in my opinion (two words? Horrible lyrics). For a full list of ALW shows, complete with info, click here.

So I wasn't terribly enthused when it was recently announced that ALW has been working on a long-awaited sequel to Phantom, titled Love Never Dies. (Side note: all the links lead somewhere, folks!) First reaction? "Jeez, the pressure!" After all, Phantom has been billed "the single most successful piece of entertainment in the world", having debuted in 1986 and, till today, still running. It's the biggest money-making piece of musical theatre ever, and the longest running in Broadway history.

Not to mention the fact that, as far as I know, never ever has there been a sequel to a musical (at least not onstage; Grease 2 was only a movie, and one that many say shouldn't have been produced to begin with!). What would happen if Love Never Dies tanked, after being so highly-anticipated and being the follow-up to the most widely-performed and widely-seen musical of all time? Good luck, sir!

I think it was only earlier tonight, literally about an hour or so before I started writing this blog post, that I began to feel rather excited about the Phantom sequel. And not just from the buzz that has already begun (mainly in the UK); just about a week ago they previewed a song from the show, titled Til I Hear You Sing, and to me, it sounds like classic ALW, with all the right touches: a memorable melody, a soaring climax, and absolutely beautifully arranged and performed. Nothing terribly original in the sense that it's still very much signature-style ALW; but I'm really liking it and I think it holds a lot of promise... which is just as well, given how much promise this show has to fulfill and deliver.

Lord Lloyd Webber was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, but reportedly in its early stages and he's expected to make a full recovery. So here's hoping it all goes well. I'll write more on the show and on ALW and musicals in general, but till next time, here's a video clip of that stirring song, Til I Hear You Sing, from Love Never Dies. Oy. How much did I sound like a radio deejay just then? :P