Love Never Dies - Prepare to Believe Again

The Phantom of the Opera is regarded as the single most successful piece of entertainment in history, establishing new standards across the planet for attendance, profit and enjoyment. More than 100 million people have seen the show in its many incarnations throughout the world.

Now, prepare to believe again. LOVE NEVER DIES, continues the story of the Phantom and his love, Christine Daae and opens in Melbourne next month.

Melbourne’s Regent Theatre will host the first new Australian production of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in almost 20 years.

Following the West End premiere in March last year, LOVE NEVER DIES is being brought to life with an award winning creative team, including director Simon Phillips (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – the Musical), Choreographer Graeme Murphy (Sydney Dance Company)  and Designer Gabriela Tylesova (Opera Australia). Andrew Lloyd Webber’s connection with the Australian creative community has always been a special one, dating back to collaborations on Jesus Christ Superstar.

More than 900 of Australia’s finest performers auditioned for coveted roles in the show. Andrew Lloyd Webber has had the score in development for 15 years. Following the premiere in London last year, he and the creative team have refined the show further, resolving crucial parts of the story and introducing a new direction.

Ben Lewis will create the Phantom. He says it is “impossible not to be daunted,” by the opportunity to play the most famous character in threatre, but is utterly delighted. “I first saw The Phantom of the Opera in my teens in London’s West End – I was scared,” he says. “But I love to tell stories, and this is one of the best.”

Ben has previously won hearts on stage in productions such as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – the musical, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Urinetown with Sydney Theatre Company and The Odyssey for Black Swan and the Malthouse.

Ben is joined by award-winning classical singer Anna O’Byrne, playing Christine. Anna was only five years old when her mother saw The Phantom of the Opera and told her the story – “I was just transported when I saw it,” she says.

Anna is reprising her role as Christine, having found great acclaim in a previous Australian tour of The Phantom of the Opera.

Anna has also performed in The Threepenny Opera, in works by Mozart, Puccini and Ibert for the Victorian Opera, Victorian College of Arts and the Victorian Youth Opera.

Ben and Anna are relatively unknown, but enormously talented. They recently performed two of the highlights from LOVE NEVER DIES, the title track and ‘Til I Hear You Sing and brought the house down.

Both performers say in the world of musical theatre, “it doesn’t get any better than an Andrew Lloyd Webber production. We are going to give it our very best and can’t wait for audiences to see the show. It is a great creative team.”

LOVE NEVER DIES is set in New York in 1907, ten years on from the Phantom’s disappearance from the Paris Opera House.  He has escaped to a new life where he lives among the screaming joy rides and freak-shows of Coney Island. In this new world, he has found a place for his music to soar. All he needs is his love – Christine Daae.

Meanwhile, Christine is now regarded as one of the world’s finest sopranos. Her marriage to childhood sweetheart Raoul is struggling, and she jumps at the chance to travel to New York and perform at a renowned opera house.

One of the world’s greatest love stories continues when the Phantom lures Christine, her husband and their son from Manhattan to the glittering world of Coney Island…

The score of LOVE NEVER DIES has been described as ‘superbly haunting’ an ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber at his musical best.’

For more information on LOVE NEVER DIES, including ticketing, visit www.loveneverdies.com.au

For more information on Melbourne or Victoria please visit www.visitmelbourne.com/nz

Article courtesy of Jane Matthews.

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