In our latest blog, we head back to Ramin’s dressing room to catch up on how he feels about the character of the Phantom, his pet peeves, and how he keeps the role fresh.

To celebrate tonight’s opening at the Adelphi, we bring you an interview with Ramin Karimloo who takes to the stage this evening as The Phantom.

Ramin is no stranger to the role, having played the lead in the original London production for two years prior to reprising the character in Love Never Dies. In this exclusive video Ramin talks of the challenges of the role, the show itself, the music and how the character has changed in the intervening years.

After hearing from James, Jeanette becomes the second person to share her fan blog with us… If you would like to submit a fan blog (whether or not you attended the press launch!) 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.

Jeanette’s blog:

I was also lucky enough to be at the Love Never Dies Press Launch last October, and along with James, I met lots of lovely Phantom fans who like me, were all so excited at being there.  There was a real electricity in the air inside the auditorium of Her Majesty’s Theatre that morning, an almost tangible feel of something truly great about to happenl!  It was fascinating to listen to the outline of the beginning of the story as told by the Maestro, Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I loved The Coney Island Waltz… how it started as a lilting little melody and built up to a wonderful crescendo of instrumental beauty, under the magical hands of conductor Simon Lee.  When Ramin led Sierra to the onstage throne I thought she looked so beautiful and serene as she sat and watched him sing ‘Til I Hear You Sing’, a stunningly lovely song which Ramin sang so passionately.  He received a tremendous ovation and rightly so, as he really did put his heart into the song.  I am counting the days to 20 February so we can hear it for the first time in the show itself!

I just know that Love Never Dies is going to fulfil all our hopes and dreams of another fantastic musical about our favourite character, the Phantom.  From the little snippets of news that are coming our way every day now are slowly building up to the whole magical concept.

I love musical theatre generally, but the Phantom is my darling… I’ve seen him hundreds of times over the past 20 years or so (335 at the last count!)

The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies…. London’s theatreland is going to be an absolute paradise for musical theatre fans… and certainly for us dedicated Phantom phans!

On Saturday 7th November 2009, Ramin Karimloo – who as we all know by now is going on to play the role of our Phantom in Love Never Dies – played his final performance as the  Paris Opera House’s Ghost in the original London production of The Phantom of the Opera.

A trip to Her Majesty’s to see Ramin’s final evening performance was an incredible experience, with a fantastic show from Ramin and the rest of the London cast capped by an incredibly emotional curtain call as the audience got to their feet to give the cast several standing ovations. And following the performance, and after Ramin had packed away all his possessions from the number one dressing room, Ramin and the cast made their way to Stage Door to meet some of the fans. Even the cold evening had not dampened their enthusiasm as the queue for autographs and photos stretched all along the building (that’s quite long…)

After an incredible run at Her Majesty’s – initially playing Raoul, and then for the past two years donning the mask as his nemesis The Phantom – we can’t wait to see Ramin develop the role when he moves into the Adelphi in February for Love Never Dies – but in the meantime we’ll be returning to Her Majesty’s to see Ramin’s successor David Shannon take on the Phantom, not to mention the rest of London’s fabulous Phantom cast.