Love Never Dies - through eyes that are twenty years apart...

It has been a busy week for me, filled with writing and shows. I’ve been working on a feature for a few weeks in regards to theatre at the upcoming Latitude Festival, which was finally completed today. It is up on The Public Reviews website now, so if you fancied checking it out, just click on the link. If you are a theatre or festival fan, then Latitude is a great event, providing a mixture of music, theatre, cabaret, poetry, literature, comedy and pretty much any area of the arts that you can think of! I would highly recommend that you take a look at the Latitude Festival site for more details and a full line-up of acts. Coming to Henham Park Estate, Southwold, Suffolk on 14^th-17th July for its sixth year, it is an unmissable Must-See and you should mark it on your calendars right now!

When writing a blog which circles around the world of theatre, it’s always nice to be able to write just after having seen a show; which is the case this week. Last night I took a little trip back to the Adelphi for Love Never Dies – yes, I have seen it before (three times now), but I’ve not had the chance before now to see the new cast so, in a way, it’s a whole new show!

This is a personal blog, not a review site, so I am not going to give a blow-by-blow account of the show; merely offer some personal thoughts on the nights cast and performance.

Despite it being a Wednesday night, Tam Mutu was on as The Phantom in place of Ramin Karimloo. Last minute, unexpected changes occur all the time in the Theatre-Land – you just have to roll with them. I had yet to see Tam’s take on the role so, while it is always a shame to miss out on the dulcet tones of the talented Karimloo, I was rather pleased to be able to see it for myself after hearing many positive things.

I hate to draw comparisons between stage actors; I find it rather unsavoury and unfair, to be honest so, instead of holding Tam’s performance up against Ramin – which, lets face it, is an unenviable position to be in, for anyone! – I took him on his own merit. Well. Let’s just say, it is easy to see why he was made alternate Phantom earlier this year. Mutu has wonderful stage presence and brings the intensity, darkness and passion that is needed for the role. It is always nice to see a different take on a role and he does a fantastic job of making it his own. In my personal experience, I’ve found that Ramin’s face has become so recognisable to me that even when seeing him onstage in full, unmasked Phantom made-up glory, I sometimes don’t see ‘The Phantom’ just, Ramin in make-up! With Mutu, it was a lot easier to get swept up in the performance without that little piece of reality waving its hands in front of my face and distracting me from the characters and story.

To sum up, if you have not yet seen this very talented individual or have avoided doing so in favour of Karimloo – GO! You will be amazed, astounded and absolutely, definitely NOT disappointed!

Celia Graham was actually my first Love Never Dies Christine; I saw her back in December when she was understudying for Sierra. I was impressed by her then and nothing has changed for me now. Her performance is a more subtle and understated one, but her voice is classically lyrical, beautiful and faultless: a wonderful Christine and completely deserving of her leading lady status.

David Thaxton’s Raoul is a more pompous and reserved one – or perhaps that’s just the work of the returned moustache? Thaxton gives him an air of resignation, tiredness and, dare I say it, patheticness! His Raoul seems to have had all the energy and life drained out of him, unable to put up a worthy fight for his Christine. Again, I am loathe to say better or worse than his predecessor, Millson; that is personal taste, I suppose. I shall settle for ‘different’ instead, which is no bad thing. Performance aside, in terms of his voice you could have no complaints there! A worthy Raoul, but perhaps one which will need to grow on me a little…

Haley Flaherty as Meg brings the ‘little-girl-lost’ act to the character, playing her with a younger, more naïve and simple innocence feel. Rather than unhinged and desperate in the final scenes, her Meg is more reminiscent of a helpless child crying out for help. Flaherty is sweetly endearing with a beautiful voice.

The other new additions of Tracey Penn and Charles Brunton as Fleck and Gangle respectively, were deliciously freakish and I was particularly pleased to see my favourite little cutie, Jack Costello on again as Gustave. Overall, the nights performance was one that would warrant thumbs-up all round! Of course, that’s just my opinion and why should you trust it - taste is a wide and varied delectation after-all and just because I enjoyed the show and the cast, doesn’t mean you will too right? Well, if you won’t believe me, then perhaps you will accept the verification of an extremely trustworthy source: my six year old daughter.

Theatre-goers can, over the years and after dozens of shows, become somewhat immune to the magic and wonder of theatre, focusing a critical eye upon the cast, creatives, sets, lighting and so forth instead. Sometimes, taking a step back and seeing a show through a child’s eyes can be a refreshing and illuminating thing.

My daughter is a huge Phantom fan. She regularly watches the film version, insists on playing the Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies soundtracks on every car journey, pours over George Perry’s ‘The Complete Phantom of the Opera’ book and can be heard singing songs from both musicals on many occasions. She has her own Phantom mask, which she even wore to school once…I tell you; it is the greatest validation as a mother I’ve had so far! ;)

After months of promising to take her to Phantom or Love Never Dies, I got hold of a couple of tickets and broke the exciting news to her. In retrospect, I should have maybe surprised her on the day as I had to endure days of early morning wake-up calls of, ‘five days mummy!’, ‘four days mummy!’, ‘three days mummy!’ and so on. Hmmmmmmm…

Thankfully, the day finally arrived and after picking her up from school, we headed into Theatreland for our ‘mummy-daughter night’. We made straight for the Adelphi to collect our tickets and her reaction to seeing the theatre was priceless. Running around the empty foyer with ‘wow’, ‘wow’, ‘wow’ ringing out put a big smile on my face. With a few hours until opening however, I managed to bribe her out of the theatre with promises of McDonalds ( L ). A lovely little catch-up with my fellow MADTrust-er Anna followed before we headed back for SHOWTIME!

Sitting in the sixth row stalls, we were in the perfect place for her vantage point; not too close that she would miss out on the high-stage action, but close enough that she could see the performers bold as life.

I will never, for the rest of my life, forget the look on her face as the first strains of music began and the curtain rose on ‘animatronic Christine’. If she were a cartoon character, her jaw would have reached the floor and her tongue rolled out like a red carpet. She sat there silently gaping, eyes wide as saucers in pure amazement and, with the ‘dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun’ that marks the Phantom’s first entrance, the delight on her face was so apparent she was practically glowing! It just grew from there: the aerialist/acrobats; the animatronic horse; the first reunion of Christine and the Phantom; the creations in the Phantom’s high-top realm; his unmasking; her ‘oh my God!’ when the Phantom appears behind the bar and her little giggle at his ‘Oh, that’s a good one!’ remark, accompanied by a gasp at Raoul and the Phantom’s fighting action during ‘Devil Takes The Hindmost’…there was never a moment when she wasn’t entranced and absorbed in the show.

Her favourite songs of the musical are ‘Til I Hear You Sing’ and ‘Love Never Dies’ – I am often treated to her version of the latter, as are most people in the street, the park, at school…so seeing her joy at getting to hear it sung live, right there in front of her, was a beautiful moment.

I was rather concerned with how she would deal with the approach of the final scenes: when listening to the soundtrack at home, she often ends up sobbing in my arms because she ‘feels so sad!’. By then, she had given up her seat to her favourite toy horse and was cuddled up with me. I think we were saved from devastation however, by the combination of ‘rolling-head’ man in front of us continually obstructing the view and distracting her, and her timely farting on my lap – broke the mood somewhat! There was some rubbing of the eyes though, but apparently it was just ‘itchy-eyes’… ;)

She was in my arms for the curtain-call, clapping like mad and wildly waving at the cast. Her first words were, ‘I want to see it again!’ I think that is what as known as a success!

As much as I always enjoy the show; being able to witness the pure pleasure and delight of her first theatre experience, free of the tangled complication of the critical view, gave me more enjoyment than I ever thought. It took me back to my first time, seeing the performance with new, unclouded clarity. There is nothing like the joy of a child and hers was spreading to the other audience members around us – a group of ladies behind us couldn’t believe she was only six, commenting on ‘how good she is, just sitting there quietly and watching it!’. They told me how lovely they found it to see a child with such an obvious love of theatre at her young age and I couldn’t agree more. She has a fine appreciation of music and possesses such empathy at such a tender age: it amazes me that she can feel so strongly and get so swept up in the story and emotions. It makes me very proud as a mother, as did her acceptance of the last minute role-swap. She loves Ramin Karimloo and had drawn a picture which she was very excited to give to him. When I saw that he wouldn’t be on that evening, I had visions of tears and disappointment, but she just smiled, shrugged and happily trotted off into the auditorium. I asked her after the show if she had minded Ramin not being there, to which she replied, ‘No, because he (Tam) was very good! And a little bit handsome.’ – out of the mouths of babes…She shows more maturity and understanding at the age of six than all those who recently wrote in to The Stage to complain about understudies.

All I heard afterwards was how much she had loved it and how she couldn’t wait to go again. As I drove home, with her sound asleep next to me, I couldn’t stop smiling with the knowledge that I and the Adelphi gang had been able to give her this experience she will never forget, and hopeful that she was beginning what would be a lifelong love of theatre.