Grandiose and grotesque, lush and lurid, strange and familiar, “Love Never Dies” lets its phantasmic freak flag fly through Sunday at The Bushnell.
The romantic potboiler is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to “The Phantom of the Opera.” The show has been reimagined since its 2010 London debut by Australian director Simon Phillips, and has yet to have a New York production. This extravagant first North American tour makes a good case for the show, which stands on its own as a gripping, glamorous and ghoulish stage spectacle.
With a book by Ben Elton (based on a novel by “The Odessa File” author Frederick Forsyth), lyrics by Glenn Slater and additional lyrics by original “Phantom” lyricist Charles Hart, “Love Never Dies” takes major and minor characters from the earlier show in such bold and dangerous new directions that it renders any further sequels extremely unlikely. (And that’s as much of a spoiler alert as you’ll get from me.)
Nobody’s safe here — and nobody’s the same as they were in “The Phantom of the Opera.” Ten years have passed since rugged Raoul saved opera diva Christine Daaé from the clutches of the crazed composer known affectionately as The Phantom. Raoul has gambled away his fortune, turned to drink, and sings a whole song about what a jerk he is. His wife Christine is all he has left, so they’ve come to New York so she can perform and rebuild their bank account. They end up at a Coney Island vaudeville house owned by The Phantom, who still carries a torch for Christine. Yes, instead of haunting a theater, The Phantom’s now running one — assisted by another returning character, the ballet mistress Madame Giry.
There are also children involved: Madame Giry’s grown daughter Meg seems on the verge of stardom — until Christine shows up and muddles her big break. Christine and Raoul have a young son, Gustav.
(If you need a refresher course on the plot of “The Phantom of the Opera,” a synopsis of that show has been slipped into “Love Never Dies” programs. You should be kicking yourself now for not catching the fine new tour of “Phantom” that was at the Waterbury Palace in November.)
The familiar faces (one of them masked) are supported by over two dozen other cast members, who serve as freakshow performers, chorus girls, journalists, bartenders and other Coney Island denizens. Unlike “The Phantom of the Opera,” which takes place in and around a single grand opera house, “Love Never Dies” travels from the vaudeville stage to a hotel room to the Coney Island boardwalk. Gabriela Tylesova’s scenic design is tricked out with a revolving stage, scaffolding, multiple platforms, a grand piano, a ramp/slide and lots of backdrops and brightly lit backgrounds. (“From out of ugliness, such light,” one song goes.) The vaudeville routines are elaborate shows-within-shows. The freakshow performers do acrobatics but also provide mysterious mood enhancements.
Like its “Phantom” forebear, “Love Never Dies” lets Christine and The Phantom’s first-act encounter swirl into a multisong, shifting-set lovestruck showstopper. Christine gets a smashing solo opportunity in the second, where backstage drama and assorted subplots coalesce around her operatic rendition of the show’s title song, lifting it into the musical-theater stratosphere.
Tuesday’s opening night performance starred Bronson Norris Murphy, who has played both The Phantom and Raoul in “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway, as The Phantom and Meghan Picerno as Christine. At other performances, you might see Gardar Thor Cortes or Rachel Anne Moore in those roles, which are so demanding that alternates as well as understudies are part of the tour. Jake Heston Miller (who was on Tuesday) and Christian Harmston alternate in the role of young Gustav, who implores in angelic voice that “Father never plays with me.”
Murphy and Picerno command the stage independently and have just enough chemistry to drive home their lovey-dovey duets. As Raoul, Sean Thompson (who’s played Joe Gillis opposite Glenn Close in Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard”) has a lot to sink his teeth into: a well-bred lout who’s seeking redemption, but still makes some bad bets as his world is falling apart. Karen Mason and Mary Michael Patterson, as Madame Giry and Meg, get several smart mother-daughter scenes to themselves.
“Love Never Dies” turns the “Phantom” story on its head. It gives The Phantom’s special brand of sociopathic love a second chance. It turns a Prince Charming (Raoul’s a viscount, technically) into a flawed, flustered wreck. It keeps Christine singing, and making tough choices. It extends the romance to a second continent, and to a second generation.
The audience that might dig “Love Never Dies” the most might be the musical theater cineastes who went wild over “The Great Showman.” That Hugh Jackman film has a lot in common with this show, from its sideshow freaks to its operatic concert sequences and its constant struggles regarding money, love and loyalty.
“Love Never Dies” is “The Greatest Showman” plus Grand Guignol. It’s gorgeous and garish and ghoulish and good old-fashioned fun.
ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’S LOVE NEVER DIES plays through June 3 at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $22.50-$129.50. 860-987-5900, bushnell.org.
