In our first fan blog, Phantom fan James gives us his take on the Love Never Dies press launch…

From the outside:

8th October 2009

I am one of the many fans eagerly awaiting the start of Love Never Dies and I was lucky enough to be chosen to see the Press Launch. I have also booked to see the first preview in February so am keeping a blog of what I have seen and my thoughts.

I arrived on the launch day nice and early carrying my Original Phantom Cast LP as it still looks so perfect and atmospheric. It also helps to show that I really am a fan! I signed for my special “Phan Pass” which let everyone one know that I am genuinely connected to the event (but I was a little worried that someone would say that it was all a mistake and take it off me.)

We were then all interviewed on camera about our Phantom experiences. We all see people being interviewed so often, but it feels very different when you are on the other end of the camera lens. I tried to fashion a few interesting words out and not sound like an idiot. I spotted a group of others who were also wearing something around their necks and correctly guess they are fans too. They were all very excited too. We swapped stories and hopes for the day ahead. I felt very connected to them even though we’d only seen each other for a few minutes.

We were lead into some of the best stalls seats in the auditorium. It felt really odd to be there at that time of day rather than in the evening. There was a real tension and expectation as the lights went down and we watched the video footage of the current Phantom, listing all the highlights and awards the show has achieved so far. It set the mood and reminded us of how high the stakes are for this show. Andrew came out and took us through the background to the piece and the story. The Conley Island influence and waltz seems a logical leap to make and captured everyone’s attention. The new song sounded really powerful and fresh, it worked really well on a stage.

All too soon it was over, and the stage cleared. There were reporters asking what we thought, so we all got broken up and for the second time that day we faced the microphones, including recording our thoughts to camera against a backdrop of the freshly revealed artwork of Love Never Dies.

After exiting the theatre, I met up again with a small group of my fellow fans I’d seen earlier in the day. We left the theatre wondering what we should do next as it seemed wrong to just go straight home. After a bit of chatting we decided to go to the Adelphi Theatre as that’s where things will be happening this year. Of course when we went, one by one we decided to book for the first preview in February as we don’t want the experience to end here…

Thanks to James for his blog. If you would like to submit a fan blog, email online_team@reallyuseful.co.uk with the subject heading ‘Love Never Dies fan blog.’ Please note that blogs will be edited by the editorial team for length and content and we unfortunately cannot guarantee that all submissions will be used.