My Book of Broadway

Love Never Dies Rant

As requested by Epius1832, (thank you so much) I'm going to do a rant about the musical Love Never Dies! This will basically be everything I don't like about Love Never Dies so if you like the musical or you haven't seen it, I suggest stopping here!

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Okay so to start let me just say that this is just for fun and it's not to be offensive and I don't have a problem with those who love the musical! These are solely my opinions! There is absolutely no hate!

Okay, that being said I'll start with the characters.

I literally hate all of them. Even Erik. They ruin everything that the characters become in the original musical! And I get that it's 10 years later and people change but there's no explanation or reason as to why they change so drastically. For example, Christine is so strong by the end of the original musical, and in Love Never Dies she's just a pet who doesn't ever stand up for herself. And then of course there's Raoul who for whatever reason goes from hero to zero for no apparent reason! Madame Giry becomes awful for again no apparent reason. And although Erik doesn't change as much as the others he's still pretty awful. Not that he was a good person in the first one, but that's what made him so great. And depending on who plays Erik in Love Never Dies he's oddly nice. Like he wouldn't have changed that much in 10 years! Especially without Christine in his life! If anything I'd think he'd get worse over time. And yes I know they 'did it' and one could argue that this was all he wanted and then be finally felt accepted and whatever but that brings up another point with Erik's character. If he finally could get Christine and she finally accepted him, why would he run away? It's not like he cared that it was the night before Christine and Raoul's wedding! Since when did Erik care about doing the right thing? I just find it odd that he would runaway from the one thing that he ever wanted. I still like some parts of Erik's character, like depending on certain actors he still has that sense of teetering violence and anger that he did in the original. And the fact that he can no longer write decent music without Christine, that's a nice little detail. Other than that I think they took everything that made Erik amazing away. Okay, and last but not least Meg. There actually is a bit of closure on why she kind of goes nuts. She needed attention from her mother and Erik. That makes sense. I mean it doesn't make sense why her mother would prostitute her or why Meg would need that from Erik so badly considering both of them were so afraid of him in the original. It doesn't make sense. Of course there's 10 years in between but we would need to know what happened in those 10 years for the entire characterization of everyone to actually make sense.

Next! Let's talk plot.

The plot is weird. I don't mind that Erik would try to lure Christine back after 10 years of being miserable without her. I think that makes a lot of sense. What doesn't make sense is that Raoul is a horrible person so Christine has a baby with Erik but doesn't tell anyone so Raoul thinks it's his kid and Erik runs away so he doesn't know about it. As I said before there's no reasoning behind any of this and I don't like the idea of Christine going back and deciding she loved Erik because I don't think she did. It was just an awkward plot point to make fans happy I think. And just to send that point home even more Raoul becomes a drunk and everything. It's actually the weirdest thing ever. It's basically just fanfiction. Not that I have a problem with fanfiction! I love it! Just Love Never Dies is a very poorly written fanfiction with a lot of plot holes. For example, the fact that Erik figured out that Gustave was his kid because he was ten and can play the piano. Well wow. That's must mean that Gustave is his son right? Because it was completely implausible that Raoul and Christine had a 'beneath a moonless sky' moment 10 years ago and that Christine taught him how to play the piano. *please note the sarcasm* Another weird plot point is that at first when Erik takes Gustave down to his lair and shows him all of his creepy mechanical creations and then he figures that Gustave will be okay with his face, he takes off his mask and Gustave screams and runs away - which in itself is the most cringe worthy thing ever but not my point - and then later when Christine is dying she tells Gustave that Erik is his father and he screams and runs away. Then he comes back and he's totally fine with it. I don't know but it doesn't make sense to me because a kid Gustave's age would probably need process everything before he was just accosting of it. Especially since his mom just died too. There's no way he'd be all that accepting right away. Don't get me wrong that moment when Erik is crying and Gustave takes off his mask and puts his hand on his deformity is so sweet and I always cry but logically I don't think it makes much sense. My last point about plot that I want to discuss currently is the entire last scene at the docks. Like I sort of understand why Meg takes this desperate of a measure but I still need more closure on why she cared so much if Erik payed any attention to her. She was so afraid of him in the original. And just Madame Giry's neglectfulness is absurd too. But even if you get over all of that Erik's stupidity is what kills this scene (literally!) Why would he go "we can't all be like Christine?" That's the stupidest thing to say ever! You don't say that to someone who's an inch away from killing herself or someone else! And I get that Erik's social skills aren't up to par but I think it was just a lame excuse for Meg to shoot Christine. Andrew Lloyd Webber just needed a more tragic ending than the first musical so that's how he made it happen. And it's not even as tragic as the first one. Yes, Christine dies but in the end it just doesn't rip open my heart like Phantom did. And I think the reason being is that Erik gets to have Gustave and I'm sure afterword Erik treats Meg a little better or at least Madame Giry would care to her. Gustave is completely okay with going with Erik and the only one who ends up with nothing.... except for Raoul. But Raoul was a drunk so we should care about him at all right? It's not like he just lost his wife and son and has to go home alone!? So if I think about Raoul I think it's a lot sadder but Raoul has no sad moment, you don't get to see or hear his pain. I think if they added something like that it would be sadder. And don't get me wrong, those last movement when Erik has a dying Christine in his arms and they kiss for the last time and then she dies and cries over her dead body are so depressing. But the last moments in the first musical just have a different and more emotional impact for me.

And last but not least the music.

I like a lot of the music. 'Till I hear you sing' is probably my favorite song ever and the song 'Love Never Dies' is gorgeous. I love the more intense songs like 'Devil Take the Hindmost' and 'The Beauty Underneath' and a lot of the duets are just beautiful. I love the creepiness of the circus bell music and the energy of songs like 'Heaven by the Sea' and 'Dear Old Friend'. That being said, this music doesn't reach out and hypnotize you like the original music. I don't get that overwhelming sense of joy and excitement that I get when I listen to any song from the original soundtrack. And I know it's a bit unfair to compare it to the first musical because the first one is so genius but it is a sequel so it should be in the same range and I really don't feel that it is. Again, I really really enjoy a lot of the music it just doesn't have the same effect as the original.

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Okay so that's my rant on Love Never Dies. All of that being said I think it's is enjoyable to watch! Also please remember that these are just my opinions and they are not meant to be offensive in any way! If they come across that way I'm really sorry! Also note that I respect everyone who was involved with Love Never Dies and I respect it as a show! As I said it's enjoyable. I also respect anyone and everyone who does love this musical!

Also thank you guys so so much for all the reads! I appreciate it so much!