West End Critics' reaction After
Love Never Dies opened on 9 March 2010 in London, it received mostly negative critical reviews. In stark contrast,
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times gave it zero stars, calling the production "a big, gaudy new show. And he might as well have a "kick me" sign pasted to his backside. ... This poor sap of a show feels as eager to be walloped as a clown in a carnival dunking booth. Why bother, when from beginning to end,
Love Never Dies is its very own spoiler." Other positive reviews included
Charles Spencer of
The Daily Telegraph, who raved, "this is Lloyd Webber's finest show since the original
Phantom, with a score blessed with superbly haunting melodies and a yearning romanticism that sent shivers racing down my spine." He gave the show four stars out of five, but cautioned that "The show may ultimately prove too strange, too dark, too tormented to become a massive popular hit, but I suspect its creepy allure will linger potently in the memory when frothier shows have been long forgotten".
Paul Callan of the
Daily Express also gave the show four stars, writing that
Love Never Dies "is an elegant and clever sequel to
Phantom and deserves to have the old Adelphi Theatre filled every night with Lloyd Webber's core, usually middle-class, audiences. It is a great night out." In
The Guardian,
Michael Billington gave the show three out of five stars, commenting, "There is much to enjoy in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical. The score is one of the composer's most seductive." However, Billington said, "The problems lie within the book ... which lacks the weight to support the imaginative superstructure." He continues, "the staging is a constant source of iridescent pleasure. But, as one of the lyrics reminds us, "diamonds never sparkle bright unless they are set just right". ... With a libretto to match the melodies, this might have been a stunner rather than simply a good night out". Tim Walker of
The Sunday Telegraph praised the production for "what are undoubtedly the most impressive special effects to be had in the West End" and said the principals sang "with gusto, charisma and sexiness." Still, he found himself, "yearning after a while for the big showstopper ... but it never came." In
The Times, critic
Benedict Nightingale gave the show two out of five stars and recommended audiences see the still-running
Phantom at
Her Majesty's Theatre, saying, "Where's the menace, the horror, the psychological darkness? For that I recommend a trip to Her Majesty's, not the Adelphi." Another unenthusiastic review appeared in the
Evening Standard, where critic
Henry Hitchings wrote that "while Lloyd Webber's music is at times lavishly operatic, the tone is uneven. There are no more than a couple of songs that promise to live in the memory, the duets don’t soar, and the ending is insipid. Admirers of
Phantom are likely to be disappointed, and there's not enough here to entice a new generation of fans". Hitchings also commented that the story "is largely predictable—and flimsy. The chief problem is the book. ... It lacks psychological plausibility. Worse, it lacks heart. There's little pathos or emotional tension. There is also scarcely a moment of humour [the] lyrics are prosaic, and the flickers of light relief are merely confusing." Similarly, David Benedict of
Variety wrote that the show "wants to be a tragic romance, but it's simply torpid. Only a radical rewrite will give it even the remotest chance of emulating its predecessor."
Susannah Clapp of
The Observer was also critical of the book and called the show "drab" and "about as tension-filled as winding wool." Even the musical numbers, she wrote, "never meld with the visual splendours, never give the effect, which is Lloyd Webber's gift, of the music delivering the scenery." Sam Marlowe of
Time Out London gave the show one out of five stars, calling it "ghastly" and "an interminable musical monstrosity". She observes: "With its sickening swirls of video imagery, pointless plot, and protracted, repetitive songs,
Love Never Dies ... is punishingly wearisome." Other negative reviews appeared in the
Financial Times,
Entertainment Weekly,
The Arts Desk, and many others.
Audience and other assessments Dave Itzkoff of
The New York Times reported on fan reaction: "How is the new Phantom faring with theatergoers who have seen it in previews? Not so well. ... Elsewhere online, 'Love Never Dies' has even spawned a Facebook protest group called 'Love Should Die', which declares in its mission statement: 'We feel strongly that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest musical ... is a completely misguided venture that is a detriment to the story of the original
Phantom of the Opera novel and musical of the same name'. ... Virtually everything about the show strikes us as illogical, irrational, offensive and—frankly—stupid." A barbed reworking of the show's title from
Love Never Dies to
Paint Never Dries was originated by the London-based theatre bloggers,
The West End Whingers. It has subsequently been picked up and repeated by a multitude of journalists, both in print and on screen. Columnist Barbara Ellen of
The Observer ridiculed the pomposity of some of the unfavourable reviews in her column on Sunday 28 March 2010, in a jokey "Open letter to London's famous Adelphi theatre".
Australia The reworked production received mixed reviews during its engagements in
Melbourne and
Sydney, Jason Blake of the
Sydney Morning Herald said, "Phillips's production steers clear of "chandelier moments", favouring sustained invention, seamless flow and an engulfing sense of nightmare. There's wow factor, of course (a galloping carousel is an early highlight) though quieter scenes are realised with the same attention to detail, particularly the recreation of a Coney Island bar to frame Raoul's saloon song feature (Why Does She Love Me) and his face-off with Mr Y (Devil Take the Hindmost). An inspired, often ravishing production for sure, though of a sequel that doesn't make a strong enough musical or narrative argument for its own existence." In the
Daily Express, Mark Shenton commented, "Now under the new leadership of director Simon Phillips, and with a fresh creative team, there is a new vision to the show in Australia and here, at last, is the masterpiece that was always crying to be let out...The new production has a spectacular Gothic theatricality that heightens, deepens and darkens those emotions." Kate Herbert of the
Herald Sun gave the show four out of five stars and wrote, "With its vivid design, eccentric characters and mystical imagery, this is a ravishing spectacle that captures the dark mystery of a perilous fairground (circa 1907) and should convert even a die-hard Phantom fan." She also said, "Lloyd Webber's score (conducted skilfully by Guy Simpson) intermittently and elegantly reprises the original Phantom, connecting the two stories" but she did feel that, "several songs, with trite lyrics, lack punch. A bigger problem is the unsatisfying story. There are unnecessary Red Herrings and too many villains." William Yeoman of
The West Australian wrote, "With book by Ben Elton and lyrics by Glenn Slater and Charles Hart,
Love Never Dies is a curious mixture of gothic romance, vaudeville and verismo, with Lloyd Webber's lush, romantic score spinning like a fairground ride from Puccini to Pulcinella to driving rock to delicate aria as the tragedy unfolds. Under Simon Phillips' unfailingly cogent direction, the cast too manage to transform the most unpromising material, if not into gold then at least into silver." Cameron Woodhead of
The Age gave the show three and a half out of five stars and said, "Between Gabriela Tylesova's set and costumes, Nick Schlieper's lighting, and Graeme Murphy's choreography, you’re in for some spectacular stagecraft. After the Phantom pines for Christine and ascends to the gods ('Til I Hear You Sing), the scene breaks into an elaborate circus (Coney Island Waltz). Introduced by a trio of freaks, the amusement swells into a crowd of acrobats and stilt-walkers, fire-twirlers and magicians, with Luna Park-like plastic heads, a portable big-top, and rows of carnies singing from rollercoaster tracks suspended mid-air. It's breathtaking stuff, and not the best of
Love Never Dies dark illusionism. That honor belongs to a scene, deeper into Coney, where transparent obelisks caging eldritch wonders—including a gilded mermaid—rotate across the stage." Rebecca Saffir of
Time Out gave the production two stars, calling the show "an act of such glorious hubris", "incredibly weak material", and "sentimental, nonsensical, ideologically conservative drivel". Echoing complaints from the London critics, Saffir criticised the plot ("so thin it should be put on a cheeseburger diet") and the inconsistencies between the characters as depicted in the original
Phantom and their motivations as presented in
Love Never Dies. US tour Critical reaction to
Love Never Dies during its 2017–18 US tour has been mixed, although leaning towards the negative. Perhaps the most positive review to date came from the
Detroit Free Press, which called the show "lively, lavish and way over the top as melodrama" and gave it three out of four stars. The
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praised the production's spectacle but expressed reservations about the "hand-to-forehead drama". Similarly,
The San Diego Union-Tribune complimented the set design (although noting "it lacks the grandeur of the opera house") but concluded that the "melodramatic direction" and "weak script and score" made for a "disappointing" evening. Although it had praise for the sets, the
Star Tribune complained that the show felt stale, comparing it to "a salad with the last of the Thanksgiving turkey".
The Oakland Press considered the musical "hugely uneven", the first act being a "turgid mess" but the second act "far superior" and "more concise". Both the
Chicago Tribune and the
Daily Herald gave only two and a half stars out of five to the production, the former considering it
"not even remotely on the same plane
" as the original
Phantom, with the latter finding that it "comes across like mediocre fan fiction". The
Chicago Sun Times found the musical "a disappointing world apart from the original on almost every level", while the
Houston Chronicle deemed it "unbearable" and "impossible to believe". Complaints about the show's plot and characterizations, which have plagued it since the original London premiere, continue to be voiced frequently, with both
Orlando Weekly and
Orlando Sentinel describing the show and its narrative as "misguided". Similarly,
Cape Cod Times's
review stated that, "for the longtime Phantom fan, the plot just does not add up", commenting that it "makes all of the original show’s characters far less likable than before and completely throws out its timeline", although it did praise the physical production and performers. The
Los Angeles Times, observing that "the storytelling requires viewers to make leaps of logic and to reassess several beloved characters", concurred with this view and accused
Love Never Dies of "messing with the original in ways that will taint some fans' memories. That's a dangerous thing to do with such a valuable property." Although praising the show's sets, the
Buffalo News opined that the "story is just an absurd mess, a ridiculous, self-indulgent, hastily written, on the back of a napkin, kind of stupid, silly mess". The
Charlotte Observer similarly complained that "Ben Elton’s book makes nonsense of its antecedent and no sense on its own."
The Providence Journal criticised the show's "cheap histrionics" and deemed it "an embarrassment, an overblown tearjerker". Sharing this sentiment, the
Cleveland Scene panned Love Never Dies as "a misbegotten attempt to cash in on the popularity of the Phantom franchise". The
Tribune Chronicle's reviewer lamented its "truly bizarre choices to get out from under
The Phantom of the Opera's shadow", ultimately concluding: "I can’t think of a national tour [...] that I enjoyed less". Boston's
WBUR-FM summarized
Love Never Dies as "a highly stylish, colorfully rendered mess", adding that "the whole thing is just schmaltzy and preposterous". The
Las Vegas Review-Journal accused
Love Never Dies, "a hand-wringing, heart-clutching melodrama so overdone it invites unintentional giggles"
, of "besmirching fond memories" of "its illustrious predecessor".
Houstonia also compared
Love Never Dies unfavourably to the original
Phantom. In February 2018, the
Chicago Tribune reported that the
Love Never Dies tour was discounting tickets, with seats "widely available on weeknights". An interview with Glenn Slater in March 2018 suggested that there are no current plans for
Love Never Dies to play Broadway. However, Randy Buck, the tour's musical producer and CEO of Troika Entertainment, said the following month that a limited-engagement Broadway run is "certainly a possibility."
Academic reception The most extended piece of scholarship on
Love Never Dies is by David Chandler in a piece included in
The Oxford Handbook to the British Musical. Although opining
The Phantom of the Opera, together with
Jesus Christ Superstar, to be "at the summit of Lloyd Webber's achievement", Chandler considers
Love Never Dies "badly judged" and "one of the oddest sequels in theatrical history, shaped by a peculiar love-hate relationship to its original. On one hand it shores up the position
The Phantom of the Opera occupies as Lloyd Webber's central, defining musical; on the other it seems intent, in a rather Freudian way, on displacement, on destroying the authority of the earlier work". Chandler takes issue with the incompatibility of the plot and character motivations expressed in
Love Never Dies vis-à-vis those in the original
Phantom of the Opera: "As sequel and original are erected on such different imaginative premises they cannot both be true". == Awards ==