Phantom??

OK I promise I'll post my thoughts on the Oscar winners at some point. But after last night I felt compelled to blog about this.

As most of you (maybe all though maybe not) probably know, I'm a BIG musical theater fan. I blame Emily - she's done theater since she was 5, I was the younger sister who had to be just like her older sister, so I did too. I LOVE musicals. I love Rent. I love Les Miz. I love Wicked. I love Hairspray. I love A New Brain. I love Legally Blonde: The Musical. I love Altar Boyz. I love Mary Poppins. I love Pump Boys and Dinettes. I love Spamalot and Avenue Q. The list goes on and on and on! One of my favorites is definitely Phantom of the Opera. It's a classic. SUCH beautiful music (I ADORE All I Ask of You and am still jealous that Emily had it at her wedding cause now I may not be able to use it). Wonderful story. Beautiful dancing at parts. Just... awesome. And the way it ends is sad and yet right and good and just... I don't even know what to say besides well done Andrew Lloyd Webber!

Well now the sequel craze has apparently hit Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber has written a sequel to Phantom of the Opera. It's called Love Never Dies. Now upon first hearing about it, I thought ick but then OOOH maybe we'll finally find out what happens after the Phantom disappears! But then I rad the plot on Wikipedia. Here's a cliffs notes version. I'll try not to spoil the ending -

It's 10 years after Phantom of the Opera. Madame Giry and Meg, who has gone from Christine's sweet little ballet dancer friend who sings the "Where in the world have you been hiding" part in Angel of Music to a slutty can can dancer called the "Ooh La La girl", work at Phantasma in CONEY ISLAND, run by Mr. Y. Mr. Y is the Phantom. Meg wants the Phantom to notice her every time she sluts it up on stage. He doesn't because he's still in love with Christine. He invites Christine and her family to Coney Island so Christine can sing. They show up, Christine and Raoul now have a 10 year old son, Gustave. Raoul is a drunk. Christine and the Phantom meet again and recall a night, just before Christine's wedding to the man the Phantom sent her off with, when they thought they could be together... and were... bam chicka wah wah... Could the Phantom actually be the father of Christine's son??? The Phantom shows up as a bartender to a schwasted Raoul and bets him that Christine will sing, and if she does then Raoul has to leave, but if she doesn't then the Phantom will pay off all of Raoul's debts (gathered from Raoul always getting schwasted). Will she sing? Won't she? Will Meg's insane jealousy separate the two lovers once again? Find out in... LOVE NEVER DIES.

I'm sorry. This is not Phantom. This is a SOAP OPERA. And that's pretty sad, considering it's coming from someone who has been addicted to soaps since kindergarten.

Now admittedly I have not seen the show. It could be really good. But the plot just makes me go "Seriously?" Plus I heard some of the music on youtube - "Till I hear you sing" and "Love never dies". It's pretty. I'm still wanting to hear Meg's song "Bathing Beauty" which is apparently a big belter Vaudeville number. But from what I've heard, the songs are no "Phantom of the Opera" or "Music of the Night" or "All I ask of you" or "Past the point of no return" or even the simple "Angel of Music"! Also, apparently the climactic aria "Love Never Dies" is a RECYCLED melody. Come on Andrew, let's be original!

Anyway that's my rant. The end.

In other news, Nantucket said no. That's OK. Still waiting on others. Still applying. Here's hoping for something.

I promise I'll post my thoughts on Oscar winners soon