NEW YORK – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s much-awaited sequel to “The Phantom of the Opera” is called “Love Never Dies,” but the musical defied its title: after a short life in London, it died. Now he hopes it can be resurrected.
Lloyd Webber has quietly helped rework the musical for a current stage production in Australia and Americans unable to go Down Under will have a chance to see it when a filmed version hits movie theaters this month.
It’s vastly improved work, coherent and visually beautiful, with a darkly haunting score. The composer hopes the film of the musical — available at hundreds of movie theaters across the U.S. on Feb. 28 and March 7 — will spark new interest in the work, even from Broadway producers.
“I’m very pleased with it. One just hopes that now that we’ve got that, maybe this production can come here,” Lloyd Webber said during a recent interview high above New York in a Columbus Circle hotel room. “I think the production is as good as one could hope it to be.”
Backed by a 21-piece orchestra, the revitalized “Love Never Dies” production captured at The Regent Theatre in Melbourne features a 36-person cast, including Ben Lewis as
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