(seen at the afternoon performance on 22nd August 2023)
From the early part of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s career with their “Evita In Concert” three weeks ago, to one of his most recent. Fourth Wall Live and The London Musical Theatre Orchestra present another spectacular event far closer to full-scale musical than poster title “Love Never Dies In Concert” might suggest.
Under Freddie Tapner’s always capable baton – and excusing the flautist wiping away her tears at the show’s climactic moment – the richness of the originally denigrated score has us assessing the show in a very different light.
Designer Rebecca Brower and Lighting Designer Tim Deiling go all-out to give us the Phantom’s new American home. Gaudy stage-props litter the sides of the stage, gaudier lights are strung from the boxes and behind the on-stage orchestra, and there's a lovely flickering chandelier nod to the original in one corner.
The power and magic of theatre make three actors and a plank the grand organ on which a child reveals musical talent. The circus-style outfits and neatly revealing dress point up the seaside tat, the restrained fine gowns and suits a link to better days in the opera house; a stunning gold mask the bridge between.
Director Shaun Kerrison works with Choreographer Joanna Goodwin to animate what, even in full production, was once static into a sweeping epic which spreads lavishly across the broad Drury Lane stage. A slightly larger company of actors, a few extra small properties and this is a full-run musical proposition.
The show, though, belongs to its cast. From the moment Norm Lewis is reduced to a stutter during “Til I Hear You Sing,” this velvet-toned Phantom is unforgettable. The Parisian dictator has been humbled by time, new qualities are coming to the fore. He attempts to save life and discovers its meaning through a child.
When Celinde Schoenmaker’s Christine Daae re-enters his life, both their circumstances have changed, but it is clear their feelings have not. Schoenmaker’s magnetism holds both Phantom and husband in thrall from King’s side and Prince’s side boxes respectively as she muses that “Love Never Dies.”
As a mother, her relationship with young son Gustave (Cian Eagle-Service) is in tender contrast to boorish husband and father Raoul (Matthew Seadon-Young). Seadon-Young knows how not to deal with American reporters, and has an excellent bar-room duel of status and wit with the Phantom.
Eagle-Service could be a young man to watch for the future. Already experienced on stage, his voice is clear with a wide range, and he brings the pain of emotional rejection movingly to the fore.
Of the rest of the old Opera House gang, Sally Dexter and Courtney Stapleton as mother and daughter Madame and Meg Giry are loyal to the Phantom, both making the most of their new lives and neither forgetting what they went through or the debt they feel owed to them.
Dexter’s icy predictions to close the first half and justified seething at the returnee changing circumstance are a natural extension of the character in the original.
Stapleton finds a fragile optimism, and her actions after her dreams are crushed by events understandable. Dealing with a lovely throwaway “Bathing Beauty” number and minutes later her attempted suicide is quite remarkable concentration.
Words too for her comrades in seaside show. Charles Brunton’s Mr Gangle, Nic Greenshields Mr Squelch and Lucie-Mae Sumner’s Fleck. A sort of chorus of courtiers, each has personality and makes the very most of their crucial linking moments with finely tuned voices and timely asides.
A well-drilled ensemble of six augment them, the big dance numbers as well-executed with equal characterisation as the lead performers.
The only slight disappointment is that the show had to use the revised rather than original production as its base. Understandable but it would be rather good to have the opportunity to see the first iteration again. Still, there is always next year for “Love Never Dies – the original formula - In Concert” of course.
As it stands, for the second successive year, this organisation has scored a huge triumph in its August musical theatre concert schedule. We must hope, as does the Phantom, for a much anticipated “Arrival of the Trio.”
5 stars, standing ovation given.