Tuesday, November 6, 2012

My Review of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s: Love Never Dies


            The film Love Never Dies finds the characters of the Phantom of the Opera ten years later, against the backdrop of Coney Island, New York. Carnival lights, clowns, broken roller coasters, and fallen signboards set the atmosphere as viewers witness the bizarre and Gothic macabre that is the Phantoms Aerie. Christine Daée, now an accomplished Prima Donna, returns to the story by way of Australian born Soprano Sarah O’Byrne whose voice successfully encompasses the role of the original character audiences remembered her by at the end of Phantom. O’Byrne’s character finds herself on the other side of the Atlantic with her husband Raoul, played by Simon Gleeson, and their ten year old son Gustave, played beautifully by Kurtis Papadinis. Christine is once more lured into the Phantom’s hands, portrayed by accomplished baritone Ben Lewis.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ac38Yp0E_YElAS6npohkfFjGBNXU0ycV29IxWnI0dGbl2n0Bt69qxdJ4Z3v_Zx0ZRReG98bkzV4H41wIXmRF4zEKhbmE_FWObdfIY8bLkdscFjQHkMepxgf-CtMiMxPgTPG_pUlKak4/s1600/Carousel.jpgLove never dies is a beautiful new piece by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber that stands more as a musical of its own than it does the sequel to Webber’s 1986 hit Phantom of the Opera. The musical portrays distinct aspects of each character and focuses on the alter-egos of the original characters from the original show. The setting is no longer a nightmarish opera house but instead an outlandish replica of New York’s Coney Isle. Unlike many sequels, Webber successfully avoids mooching off of his previous work and instead develops new themes, new settings, and in a sense, new characters. Love never dies has entirely new music; however, Webber cleverly and meticulously articulates segue and major musical interludes from his original work such as opening chords to the overture and hints of Twisted Every Way and Think of Me, into this new work that both Phantom “Phans” and laypersons can easily recognize and enjoy.
Dissimilar to its predecessor, this sequel does not draw deep emotions nor does it achieve the sense of peril, awe, mystery, and sadness from its audience. Nonetheless it contains worthwhile new insight into a potential ending to the story of the Phantom and satisfies the need for an ending for those who despise cliffhangers. This new work lacks the thrill, pyrotechnics, and illusory props of the Phantom: there are no crashing, plunging chandeliers on fire, foggy boat rides on fantastical underwater caverns are also not employed in this new work, flaming staffs that spew fire are apparently passé and floating candelabras on wires are replaced with well-stabilized carnival lights.
Although Love Never Dies can never attain the popularity and level of admiration that Phantom of the opera did, it is a beautiful well thought out production worth the watch. Sublime duets, lovely choreography, breathtaking costumes, and extravagant arias are only a few features this show has to offer. Finally, the show concludes with bang that is to say, a highly unexpected ending that is both tragic and triumphant.      

My Research Paper/ Mon Papier de Recherche




So, for my senior research paper in high school, I decided to write a paper on "Masks in Literature" and centered, of course, on the Phantom of the Opera. I have been meaning to post it for quite some time but I totally forgot about it until recently. When I remembered I could post my Love Never Dies review as well, I finally remembered my paper. So sooner or later, I will be posting my entire research paper which you have the option or reading or not as it is quite lengthy.

Donc, pour mon travail de recherche au lycée, j'ai décidé d'écrire un papier de recherche sur "Les masques dans la littérature" et c’est centré, bien sûr, autour le Fantôme de l'Opéra. J'ai eu l'intention de le publier pendant un certain temps, mais j'ai totalement oublié jusqu'à récemment. Lorsque je me suis souvenu que je pouvais poster mon avis de Love Never Dies, je me suis finalement souvenu de mon papier. Donc, tôt ou tard, je vais poster mon travail de recherche complet qui vous avez l'option de lire… ou pas car il est assez long.

A pre-post to the posting of my upcoming review, Love Never Dies./ Un Pre-post pour mon avis sur Love Never Dies


It's been quite some time since I last posted a review of phantom related material (the last being a complete synopsis of the novel, OK, so maybe more of a book report...there are spoiler alerts if you haven't read it yet! One of these days I will type it out and get rid of the scan, promise!) Anyway, a recent assignment in my composition class required me to write a review on a product/film of my choice and naturally, I chose to write about Love Never Dies. As opposed to seeing Webber's sequel as something to be shunned and despised, though I admit it didn't hold up to his original work, (nothing ever really does, at least, not for most people) I decided to look at it through an insightful lens. Perhaps Webber wanted to make the Phantom story even more personal than he did in his original musical afterall, he didn't write the novel. I couldn't begin to cite the reasons why he chose to create a sequel (and the NPR interview wasn't too helpful) however I do know that any work holds a piece of the author within no matter what so it would be foolish of me to reject it. It is in my best interest to at least examine Webber's new work which, I must confess, I enjoyed very much (and now it has a place on my iPod playlist! Speaking of this, they should really do an Australian Cast Recording!!)

Je ne traduis pas la plupart de mes postes car j’ai pas temps, mais je vais faire cette fois ci car j’ai rien d’autre à faire (quelque chose qui est vraiment rare).Ça fait longtemps dont j’ai écrit ma première évaluation du matériel autour du fantôme (le dernier fois était un résumé complet du roman, il y a beaucoups information dedans qui peuvent ruine votre expérience littéraire si vous n'avez pas encore lu ! un de ces jours je vais tapé sure l’ordis, promis!). Quoi qu'il en soit, un devoir récente dans ma classe de composition m'a obligé à écrire un avis sur un produit / film de mon choix et, naturellement, j'ai choisi d'écrire un avis sur Love Never Dies. Au lieu de voir cette suite comme quelque chose qui doit être évité, j'ai décidé de le regarder avec une opinion ouvert. Peut-être Webber a voulu rendre l'histoire du Phantom encore plus personnelle avec cette suite car il n'a pas écrit le roman. Je ne pouvais pas commencer à citer les raisons pour lesquelles il a choisi de créer une suite (et l'entretien NPR n'était pas trop utile) mais je sais que tout travail tient un morceau de l'auteur dedans donc sa serait insensé de moi de le rejeter. Il est dans mon intérêt de moins, examiner ce nouvelle travaille de Webber qui, je dois l'avouer, j'ai beaucoup apprécié (et ce qui est maintenant sur ma liste de lecture sur mon iPod! En parlant de cela, ils devraient vraiment faire un Cast Recording australien!)



Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Requiem Mask (from Deviant Art ) by Iron-Gibbet

Click below to read the phantom of the opera comic written by deviantart's iron-gibbet group. I've read the whole thing so far, it's interesting:





OR (I know, tough life decisions and too many choices)
Actually, the link below leads you straight to the comic page viewer whatchamadoodle and the picture above leads you to the overall website. Your choice!)


Click on this link below:
http://justsitback.deviantart.com/?rssQuery=gallery%3Airon%2Dgibbet%2F3112684&s=8%2C3%2C0

Sunday, April 1, 2012

I just learned this today...

         In the 2004 movie "The Phantom of the Opera" with director Joel Schummacher, Emmy Rossum was 16 years old when she auditioned for the part of Christine Daee and she was 17 while filming the movie. In other words, she's 17 years old in the movie!!! She's such an amazing singer! Patrick Wilson, the guy who played Raoul was 31. Anyway, I was in shock when I learned of Emmy Rossum's age, it never occurred to me!! I thought this should be shared with other Phans!!



Random Fact: She's the niece of Vera Wang by marriage.