Australian Production Sets, Costumes, Cast

[phantomstudent]

Well, I'd like to be the first to jump start this discussion. Since I've seen LND in London a few times and compare it to the creative team in AU, I'm a bit blown away by the changes.

Minus the story, I have to say I love the attention to detail, the buried symbolism, the throwbacks to the original, etc. are pretty nifty. It has an overall darker Gothic theme, and Ben Lewis' Phantom presence seems to do quite well.

Some of the items I enjoyed seeing in the production pictures were:

1. The Beauty Underneath and the use of mirrors/prisms. Reminds me a bit of Leroux and the mirrored chamber.

2. The candlestick the Phantom holds while looking at Gustav. Nice MOTN touch.

3. Christine faints when she first sees the Phantom and he picks her up and carries her to the chair. Another throwback.

4. The costumes are brilliant in colors and designs.

From what I've heard in feedback it's almost overwhelming and takes more than one sitting to catch all the little nuances. Wish I could see it. I have a guest blogger coming soon who saw the production and met Ben, so I'm going to pump him full of questions. If you have any, you might send them my way and I'll pass them on.

[ErikaLeroux]

I love the Leroux touches but the thing with those touches is that the only wrinkle my feather evens more when I hear the sequel { I've only been able to hear a recording of one of the shows on youtube so far but still } because the sequel is so off canon from Leroux and so OOC from Leroux that to put those touches in only serves to remind me how much better this sequel COULD be if the plot were different. Starting out the show with the organ made me wet my pants with Phantom happiness but he could play the organ through the entire show and as long as the plot stays the way it is I still wouln't like the sequel. Also putting in Leroux touches is nice and all but this isn't supposed to be a sequel to the Leroux { the last chapter makes that pretty much impossible in the original book } it's a sequel to the Lloyd Webber version so the Leroux touches are kind of a waste of time. A nice touch I'll admit but they would be nicer in the original musical and then put touches specific to the musical in the sequel. Thing is the aussie production from what I could hear in the recording could stand to put a few less original touches in so that while it's a sequel to the original it isn't letting touches of the original take over half the show the way they did. It's kind of hard to explain.

I can't say much about the candlestick since I haven't seen the footage for the Aussie Beauty Underneath yet but the pics look nice I guess.

Christine fainting when she first sees the Phantom explains that one picture I saw so thanks! At least she has a viable reaction to seeing him.

I like some of the costumes but Phantom needs to stop popping his color because it makes him look like Dracula or Jareth from Labyrinth.

[droney]

I'm a little indifferent about the Leroux additions to the show in Australia because Love Never Dies is a sequel to the Phantom of the Opera stage show, not to Gaston Leroux's original book. However, mirrors are always a good thing when it comes to Phantom; I was a little disappointed that the only one we see in the London production is the one in Christine's dressing room, in the "Before The Performance" song.

Looking at the costumes in Australia, I like what they've done to Christine's hair. I always thought it a little odd how they do Christine's hair in London; it makes her look like she's cut it, or that it's thinned out and straightened out in "10 long years" (which, I imagine is not unlikely). However, her dressing gown lacks the intricate details that the London production has. I miss the frills and the long train. I do, however, like her dress in "Christine Disembarks". Christine looks good in red.

The Phantom...meh. I'm undecided about his costume. While I don't really approve of the Phantom's wardrobe in LND in London, I'm not terribly fond of the idea of putting him back in a cape. It's been 10 years. He really needs to get over the cape. I find the addition of a cape -or anything similar to it- in the Phantom's wardrobe in the Aussie LND to be a rather pathetic attempt to tie LND back to the original POTO.

All in all, I don't really have a problem with the color issue. It is, after all, Coney Island; there needs to be color.

[ErikaLeroux]

Oh goodness I just realized a spelling oops in my post. I meant collar not color *facepalm*.

As I've said before the Leroux touches are nice and all but they would have been better in the original where the show is based on the book. LND you can't possibly base on the book and still have the Phantom in the story so the Leroux touches are kind of a waste. They're nice I'll admit but they're still pretty much a waste.

As far as the cape is concerned as much as I love the cape { it's so swooshy } it's not a huge loss to me if it doesn't show up in the sequel just please don't give him a Dracula and Jareth's love child style trench coat please.

[droney]

Exactly. Since Love Never Dies is sequel to the stage show, it doesn't really matter if there are Leroux touches in it or not. It would make more sense to add more Leroux into the original stage show since it is based on the book, rather than add them in to Love Never Dies (which is based on a book that openly mocks Leroux, and is a sequel to the stage show).

My thoughts on the cape are the same as the thoughts I had when the first TIHYS video came out starring Ramin and Sierra: It's been 10 years. Christine doesn't need to have the same hairstyle. Likewise, the Phantom needs to outgrow his cape.