Blu-ray Review Love Never Dies Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Love Never Dies is the long-awaited sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s biggest stage hit, The Phantom of the Opera.  Even were it not burdened by this, it would still have problems.  The further adventures of the Phantom and Christine Daae just don’t have much to offer other than a retread of themes already played in the first musical.  And there are no songs here to match the majesty of “The Music of the Night.”  That said, there are some interesting visual ideas, with the play being set in a carnival show in 1905 Coney Island, and a few of the songs are at least interesting.  But there just isn’t enough here to justify more than a curiosity rental, in spite of a good HD presentation of the picture and sound.

Studio: Universal/The Really Useful Group

Year: 2012

Length: 2 hrs 1 min

Genre:  Musical Melodrama

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

BD Resolution and Codec: 1080p, AVC @ 32 mbps

Audio:  English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (@ an average 2.0 mbps), English Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French Canadian

Film Rating: Unrated (Simulated Violence, A Bit of Risque Business)

Release Date: May 29, 2012 (Theatrical Release May 23, 2012)

Starring:  Ben Lewis and Anna O’Byrne

Music by: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lyrics by:  Glenn Slater

Book by:  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton with Glenn Slater and Fredrick Forsyth

Additional Lyrics by:  Charles Hart

Film Directed by: Brett Sullivan

Film Rating: 2 ½/5

Love Never Dies really does try to play up to its legacy as the follow-up to one of the biggest theatrical spectacles of the twentieth century.  The play finds the Phantom (Ben Lewis) running a strange carnival show in Coney Island, ostensibly 10 years after the events of the first play.  He is able to lure his old flame, Christine (Anna O’Byrne) into his clutches once again to make one last play to win her heart.  Complicating matters are the needs of his own people at the carnival, and the needs of Christine’s husband and young son, who winds up being more important to the plot than one might initially think.  There are some great moments of spectacle here – including the early reveal of the carnival, an interesting Act 1 phantasmagoria of mirrors and images, and an Act 2 striptease that benefits from some quick editing by the filmmakers.  And yet, it’s all a bit hollow.  The plot does little more than replay the last beats of the original play, and many of the songs seem to be trying to replay the beats of the best-loved songs.  The acting and production are well-presented – providing the viewer with what I believe to be the second revision by Andrew Lloyd Webber of this work since a disastrous opening in London in 2010.  There is still a possibility that an American production may be done, but one has yet to be announced.  In the meantime, this film is being presented in movie theaters on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 as a preview of the DVD/Blu-ray release.  Fans of the original play will want to rent this, to see the next chapter of the story, as may more casual musical theater fans.  Other viewers may find this to be a bit too long with a bit too little material to sustain their interest.  I note that while this is ostensibly a film of a live performance from September 2011, there are several moments that clearly have been shot and edited in a non-live manner.  So this could best be seen as a live performance with a few added shots and some enhancement.

Love Never Dies will be released next week on Blu-ray and DVD.  The Blu-ray is graced with solid HD picture and sound, and a short “Making of” featurette.

VIDEO QUALITY  4 ½/5

Love Never Dies is presented in a 1080p AVC 2.35:1 transfer that presents this musical in its best possible light.  The costumes, makeup and sets all benefit from  the closer view the viewer gets here.  There’s a lot of darkness in the presentation, appropriately enough, and the black levels are satisfying and solid.

AUDIO QUALITY  4/5

Love Never Dies is presented in a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix and a standard definition Dolby Digital 2.0 mix, both in English.  The 5.1 mix gives the musical score some punch while the singing is fairly clear.  Some of the dialogue is a bit hard to understand but this is not a problem with the mix.

SPECIAL FEATURES   2/5

The Blu-Ray presentation of Love Never Dies comes only with a short featurette on the making of the Australian production.

The Making of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies (14:31, 1080p) – This featurette covers the making of the Australian stage production, and it includes interviews with Andrew Lloyd Webber and both of the show’s leads.  Webber discusses a bit about his original ideas for the production, and the cast express some gratitude to Webber for being there for their opening night and actually taking a bow with them.

Subtitles are available for the production and the featurete in English, Spanish and French Canadian. A full chapter menu is available for the production, with the chapters marked by song.

IN THE END...

Love Never Dies can’t live up to the reputation of the original Phantom of the Opera, but that would be a tall order in any case.  As it is, there are some interesting songs here, but nothing that can match the best material of the original.  The performances are all solid, as is the HD presentation on the Blu-ray.  But the production itself may not be enough to hold even a die-hard Phantom fan’s interest.

Kevin Koster

May 22, 2012.

Equipment now in use in this Home Theater:

Panasonic 65” VT30 Plasma 3D HDTV – set at “THX” picture mode

Denon AVR-3311Cl Receiver

Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player

PS3 Player (used for calculation of bitrates for picture and sound)

5 Mirage Speakers (Front Left/Center/Right, Surround Back Left/Right)

2 Sony Speakers (Surround Left/Right – middle of room)

Martin Logan Dynamo 700 Subwoofer

This version was filmed at a restored late 20s(1929) moviehouse which has a smaller theater in the basement in Collins Street/Melbourne. The Regent is opposite Melbourne's Town(City) Hall. The city owns the site which was burnt down and originally rebuilt in the late 1940s. The underground house, the Plaza, had been the Cinerama theater and both supported pipe organs. Both abandoned for many years, the Plaza spent years full of water and rats and adjoined what is now the City Square. The operation of the theaters has been owned by Hoyts Theatres who were for many years owned by 20th Century-Fox. MGM converted a concert hall a little further up the street for their Metro Collins Street, one of two they operated downtown. Most of Melbourne's downtown theaters still exist(but not all) and are still used for entertainment purposes. There are many newer houses downtown and in the inner areas competing for the entertainment dollars available.

Kevin,
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the material. I wanted to like it. I did. I yawned at the original incarnation (of which, I must admit, I have only seen a bootleg and heard the recording) but had hopes for this latest revision of it, as the original at least had some flashes of interesting ideas and I'd heard the newer version substantially improved upon the original. To give credit where credit is due, the production itself is top-notch. The sets are detailed and lovely, the costumes and makeup are gloriously gaudy, and the singing, staging, and choreography are all quite good. The problem is that the story starts with a resounding "Huh?" and continues throughout with a "Yawn!" I've heard the show snarkily referred to as "Paint Never Dries". Sadly, the nickname is apt. There is such a lack of drive and momentum in the material that I found myself paying more attention to the sets and costumes than to the plot. That's never a good sign. PHANTOM certainly has its detractors and, I must admit, it doesn't hold up as well for me as it did when it first appeared, but it's still a well-produced bit of overly-sincere fluff. The songs are still lovely and, if you give yourself over to the melodrama, it continues to be utterly enjoyable on many levels. LOVE NEVER DIES, I'm afraid, tarnishes the reputation of the original. The romance and pathos one feels for the characters are gone, replaced by their regret and bitterness. It's a huge, though not completely unexpected, disappointment.
In summary, I'd say it's worth watching for the physical production, but realize going in to the viewing that the content of the show is rather dull, at best, and potentially damaging to one's memories and feelings about PHANTOM at worst. Definitely a rental.