READ THE REVIEWS:

March 10, 2010

To think that all this time that poor old half-faced composer hasn’t been dead at all, just stewing in his lust for greater glory. Being the title character of “The Phantom of the Opera,” the most successful musical of all time, wasn’t enough for him. Oh, no. Like so many aging stars, he was determined to return — with different material and a rejuvenated body — to the scene of his first triumph. So now he’s back in the West End with a big, gaudy new show. And he might as well have a “kick me” sign pasted to his backside.

READ THE REVIEW
The Guardian
BigThumbs_MEH

Michael
Billington

March 10, 2010

There is much to enjoy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical. The score is one of the composer’s most seductive. Bob Crowley’s design and Jack O’Brien’s direction have a beautiful kaleidoscopic fluidity. And the performances are good. The problems lie within the book, chiefly credited to Lloyd Webber himself and Ben Elton, which lacks the weight to support the imaginative superstructure.

READ THE REVIEW
Entertainment Weekly
BigThumbs_DOWN

Mark
Shenton

March 10, 2010

Love may never die, but Andrew Lloyd Webber’s eagerly awaited sequel to The Phantom of the Opera never flies, either. (The show opened at London’s Adelphi Theatre; a Broadway production is scheduled to open on Nov. 11.) Already retitled ”Paint Never Dries” in some online quarters, Love Never Dies inevitably invites comparisons with its predecessor, a global phenomenon that is still running in London after 24 years, remains the longest-running show in Broadway history, and has become the highest grossing entertainment of all time (outstripping even Titanic and Star Wars).

READ THE REVIEW
Telegraph
BigThumbs_UP

Charles
Spencer

March 9, 2010

I must admit I attended Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-awaited sequel to his world-conquering Phantom of the Opera with a degree of trepidation. Sequels often prove pale shadows of the original work that inspired them, and trail a disagreeable odour of the opportunistic cash-in. More ominously still, many of Lloyd Webber’s most fervent admirers appear to have turned against the new show.

READ THE REVIEW

March 17, 2010

This Phantom of the Opera sequel wants to be a tragic romance but it’s simply torpid.

READ THE REVIEW