It has seemed like a very long haul for all concerned, but last night saw the first public performance of Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre.  The show is now in preview until the official opening night on March 9th which is when the press get in to see the show and give their verdicts.

There was a small technical hitch after the first number, and then director Jack O’Brien took to the stage to assure the audience “that’s not it… !” and ”that has NEVER happened before” before he asked for a little patience as the crew worked behind the curtain to fix the issue.  After only a few minutes the show was ready to restart (it had all gone so swimmingly in the afternoon’s dress rehearsal too!).

With the show back in full swing the audience reaction was, on the whole, positive with many people rising to their feet to give the cast a standing ovation at the end.  Not bad at all for a first preview!  We obviously don’t want to give anything away but we did ask a few audience members for their initial reactions during the interval and at the end of the show, see the clip below.

After the final curtain we asked the two leads for their views.  Ramin Karimloo, who plays the Phantom, was ecstatic about performing in front of an audience at last.  “We were so ready for that”, he grinned, “you can work through the scenes systematically, but there is nothing like getting the sense of pace you gain from audience reactions.”  He added that “it was great to get a few laughs too”.  With typical gallantry he referred to his leading lady’s performance (ignoring the fact that his rendition of ‘Til I Hear You Sing’ in the first act had also provoked a rapturous reception) “Did you hear the reaction Sierra got for her aria (Love Never Dies)?  God, it was amazing, they couldn’t get enough…insatiable!”.

And indeed she did both look and sound fabulous.  Sierra herself was unable to stop grinning widely… “Wow, I am in the West End!” reality was hitting clearly hitting home.  I asked how she was feeling, having missed the first dress rehearsal on Saturday. “I feel great, it was so weird, it literally came from nowhere and just knocked me out, I suddenly developed a temperature of 103″, but clearly Sierra is right back on top form having been given a thorough check up from the doctor “he was stunned by how quickly I had recovered, the fever disappeared as quickly as it arrived, he had never seen anything like it!”

If you are lucky enough to be one of the first to see the new show, share your review with us here!

Do you ever think video blogs are a bit like buses?  You wait ages for one to turn up and then two or three come along in rapid succession….?

We have delved into our archives – in actual fact only a couple of weeks ago but so much has happened along the Love Never Dies production process that it seems like AGES – to bring you a clip of the landmark day when Ramin Karimloo, our Phantom, met his make up, wig and mask for the first time.  We were there to capture the moment on our trusty Flip camera to try and give you a little teaser into what the Phantom now looks like.

So let’s go back to the end of January as the cast near the end of their stint in the rehearsal space and prepare to move into the Adelphi… and in another West End theatre a specialist team gather to create the Phantom’s look…

In our previous Disfiguring the Phantom blog post you will have seen the first stage in the process to create the make up and prosthetics which will transform Ramin into the Phantom.

This week saw the culmination of all the effort by Neill Girton, who made the prosthetics,  Naomi Donne, who has created the make up, Campbell Young, the Wigs Supervisor for the show and Ivo Coveney who has created the Phantom’s iconic mask.  For the first time all the team gathered in a dressing room at The Palace Theatre with Ramin, to apply their handiwork for the first time.  Neill prepared Ramin and began applying the prosthetics.  For Love Never Dies the prosthetics will be made in silicone rather than the foam used for The Phantom of the Opera.  This material – although slightly heavier than foam – allows the actor much more freedom for facial expression and also looks much more “skin like” in texture.

As Neill worked he gave a running commentary on the process so that Sandra O’Brien (Biddie) who will be Wigs Mistress on Love Never Dies and Debbie Goodship (Lolly) her Deputy, could take notes and photographs.   The process at this early stage takes well over an hour, but Biddie and Lolly are confident that over time they will be able to complete the make up in around 45 minutes.  Before Naomi took over to put the finishing touches to the make up, Campbell stepped in to apply the wig and complete the transformation.  Then Ramin was helped into his costume and led to the stage so the final look could be tested under the lighting.  Oh… and sitting in the auditorium to witness this was Andrew Lloyd Webber, Director Jack O’Brien and key members of the creative and production team

Obviously it was a time of great excitement for all, as the months of hard work became a reality.  It is safe to say that everyone involved was thrilled by the result.

Check out our exclusive video clip for a little teaser of the make up process and a few words from Naomi and Campbell…

This afternoon we popped down to the Adelphi to track down a few more members of the Love Never Dies cast for our weekly video blog and in the meantime thought we’d share a few observations from our seats in the Dress Circle – and below is another little video blog of exactly what is going on behind the scenes as rehearsals are now well into their final week…

We arrived as the cast and crew were about to begin the technical rehearsal of Act Two’s ‘Bathing Beauty’ as the track ends and runs into the next scene.  After making our way along a maze of corridors (backstage at the Adelphi, like lots of London theatres, is a bit of a labyrinth) with the smell of varnish hanging in the air as members the finishing touches are put to vital props and costumes, we found our way to auditorium where members of the cast including Summer Strallen (Meg Giry) were running through the scene as the rest of the cast, crew and creative team watched from the seats in the stalls.  As Jack O’Brien and Jerry Mitchell joined the actors onstage to physically walk through and “block”   the scene, the team of swings and understudies (check out our latest rehearsal update for more about them) took notes on the scene from the Dress Circle before sharing their thoughts on the process with us in our latest video blog (which you can see here).

We moved to another vantage point in order to witness Musical Supervisor Simon Lee going through some very unusual limbering-up techniques, which you can see in our video clip below…!

Having watched various stages of the rehearsal process, the show is now really coming together as the cast are now virtually all fully costumed, wigged and made up in order to fully test the effect of the lighting.  The lighting team under the close scrutiny of Paule Constable, the Lighting Designer, were running through some of the astounding and innovative illuminations that will really bring this already fantastic set to life.  The lighting looked so beautiful as it struck the gorgeous colours of the ensemble’s costumes that it prompted Jack to declare that they looked “good enough to eat.”

As we’re less than a week away from the first preview now the excitement is truly building. With an extra day of rehearsal now available to them, the cast and crew are working flat-out to make sure this will be one hell of a show.  And from where we were sitting – it certainly will be.

Our video clip gives you some idea of what’s going on at the theatre offstage as the crew gear up for the show…

A couple of days later than usual, but here is the latest instalment in our weekly rehearsal update.

As the cast get ready for their first ever performance of Love Never Dies in front of an audience next week, we caught up with the often unsung heroes of the show – the understudies and swings – as they wait in the wings (or in this case, the auditorium!) for their moment in the spotlight…

As you know from our previous blog entry, a majority of the cast arrived at the Adelphi from the rehearsal rooms last week.  But our Phantom and Christine made their entrance a couple of days later and we were there to capture their initial reaction on camera – as they saw the stage and set for the first time.

After they were both taken aside for a Health and Safety induction, we popped up to visit them in their palatial dressing rooms (more about those a bit later) where we learnt about microphones, found out what was in store for them on the first day of rehearsals in their new home and witnessed how Sierra helps Ramin with his preparations…  

Adam Pearce (aka Squelch)’s latest blog…

Hey bloggers, sorry it’s been a while. Rehearsals have been busy busy busy!! We had our final run of the show, infront of the Lord, last week and thankfully got his seal of approval!

So,  I am pleased to say that we are now in the theatre that is the Adelphi! Our home for the next year!! In the auditorium, there’s hardly anywhere to sit, it’s taken up with tables, wires, props and quite a few people. It’s only now I realise how many people are involved with this production!! I’d say, there are around 7 giant tables that have been placed in the stalls with at least 6 people round them, and that’s just the heads of departments. Lighting, creatives, stage managment, costume, design, orchestral, LX, etc. So those 40-odd people have all got teams who are also running round the theatre, as well as over 30 cast members!! Craziness!!

As some of you know, I am very lucky to be making my hat-trick at the Adelphi after appearing in Evita from 2006-2007 and Joseph from 2007 until 2009. To my surprise and delight the management at Really Useful have renamed my dressing room as The Adam Pearce Suite!! How amazing is that!! Well chuffed!!

And also with Pip Jordan, who is also making her hat-trick after appearing in the same shows! So a big thank you to all those at RUG!

So me and Jami are sharing dressing room 7, which is great, he doesn’t know it yet, but I’m a very messy bugger!! We have also met our dresser Gary, now he is going to be looking after just Jami and I through out our time in Love Never Dies!! Gary has worked on tons of shows, so we are in good hands!! Off to a sound check now with full cast and orchestra!! Can’t wait!!!!

Speak soon, Squelch

Adam Pearce's dressing room

I know we have talked about the electricity surrounding the show… but the scale of the buzz increased ten fold as the cast said farewell to their temporary rehearsal space and gathered at the Adelphi at the end of last week for the first time.  This marks a major landmark in the build up to first preview and the rehearsals gather momentum as the cast start to work through the show on the actual stage.

The auditorium was filled with technical, production, crew and make up personnel, pouring over dozens of computer screens at makeshift desks as everyone arrived and the intake of breath was audible.

Our regular bloggers Niamh Perry (Fleck) and Adam Pearce (Squelch), together with the third member of their trio, Jamie Reid-Quarrell (Gangle) fill us in on the initial reaction.  We also collared other members of the cast who are rendered almost speechless by the surroundings…and Head of Wigs and Make Up Sandra (aka Biddie) who talks about getting the Phantom into make up for the first time!

Today, as the cast prepare to move from the rehearsal space into the theatre, we paid a visit to the workshop where Nicola Killeen and her textile team are busy bringing to life some of designer Bob Crowley’s fantastic costumes, including a gorgeously extravagant – and very long – garment that one of the characters will wear in one of the show’s key scenes.

With costume such an important part of this and any musical theatre production it is pretty incredible to see the amount of work that goes into creating what we will see onstage in a few short weeks. You would not believe how much energy is involved in making just one item of clothing – albeit in this case, one item of clothing that looks like it’s going to be a real showstopper.

Although for many stage plays costumes and fabrics can be sourced from specialist or vintage shops, or in some cases are hired in from theatrical costumiers, when the production is a large scale spectacular period piece such as Love Never Dies  the costumes are designed and created as unique pieces.  This often requires the fabric itself to be created and specially printed, painted, stencilled or treated which is where Nicola’s team step in. 

Working from Bob’s original drawings, Nicola and her colleagues liaise closely with Irene Bohan – Love Never Dies’ costume supervisor who oversees the process of getting Bob’s designs from page to stage – by preparing the fabric that will then be turned into a wearable costume. This particular item is the biggest piece Nicola has ever created so working out the measurements, selecting the appropriate material  and then preparing the panels of fabric are all time-consuming jobs. Nicola’s first meeting with Bob Crowley was in early December and the fabric is only now in its final stages of being put together, after samples were created and tested for length and colour.  The fabric also needs to be able to withstand the daily wear and tear and constant handling that a theatrical costume endures and yet fall correctly and be in keeping with the period look of the piece.  

Because this particular garment is so large, it is being created in several panels. Each panel is prepared separately, with the fabric being digitally printed (by an amazing piece of equipment which is a huge specialist version of your every day colour printer ) before it’s steamed dry and further decoration is added. Nicola then has to work out how the panels will fit together, although these final stages are done in the costume workshop, where this beautifully prepared fabric makes its final transformation before it will appear onstage…

It’s a wee bit late this week, but we slipped down to the rehearsal space on Friday to find out what has been going on down there…

As the cast prepare to move into the theatre for the next stage in the rehearsal process it is a very busy time for everyone concerned but during a very quick two minute tea break we cornered Ramin (The Phantom) and Sierra (Christine), witnessed a very brief appearance by Summer (Meg), got fed by Jo (Raoul), were surrounded by very vocal Gustaves and asked Adam (Squelch) about his new look.

She is a very busy lady at the moment, what with performances on the South Bank Awards Show squeezed in between Love Never Dies rehearsals, but we managed to get Sierra Boggess to sit still for a few moments while we asked her a few questions about her introduction to The Phantom of the Opera, and why other cast members think of her as the Grandma of the company…

Last night, the last South Bank Show Awards included the first live performance of the Love Never Dies title track as Sierra Boggess (Christine) performed ‘Love Never Dies’ accompanied by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Louise Hunt on two grand pianos.

Our exclusive video footage shows the three in rehearsal along with the show’s Musical Supervisor Simon Lee as they prepared for their performance.

You can watch Sierra’s full performance on our YouTube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/phantomloveneverdies.

Meanwhile, Andrew writes about the song in the CD booklet:

“When at last I had a story, I made a decision. It would be daft not to occasionally have a flavour of the original show. But only very occasionally. I decided that none of the main melodies of The Phantom of the Opera would appear in Love Never Dies. After all the story is set roughly ten years on and, with one short exception, I have stuck firmly to my rule.

However there is one of the new melodies whose history I should explain before someone else does. It is ‘Love Never Dies’ itself. This was the only tune I wrote at the time when I first thought of continuing the Phantom and Christine’s story.

It was recorded by Kiri Te Kanawa under the title ‘The Heart is Slow to Learn’. Even though I had given up on the new Phantom, some second sense told me not to release the Kiri Te Kanawa recording, although it did subsequently appear on a limited edition compilation.

But with the Phantom sequel definitely abandoned in my mind, I used the chorus of the melody in The Beautiful Game, the musical I wrote with Ben Elton. Frankly I felt it stuck out like a sore thumb from the rest of the score, and it was eventually cut and replaced by ‘The Boys in the Photograph’, now the title of the show when it is revived. However the dramatic situation in the story of Love Never Dies is exactly the same as the one that I had originally composed the melody for and I was always proud of the moment. Once I had the new plot, I restored it to what I hope is its rightful home.”