Line #69 Theatre/LoveNeverDies


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LoveNeverDies_9784.jpg]]
2
3	The sequel to Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's sensationally popular ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''. It takes place on Coney Island, [[TimeSkip approximately ten years after]] the end of ''[[Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera Phantom]]''. Madame Giry and her daughter, Meg, helped the Phantom to escape to America after the events of the first show, and from there made it possible for him to open up a lavish amusement park on Coney Island. Then, without telling either of the Girys, he lures Christine -- now married to Raoul -- to come sing at his park. Craziness ensues. Music was done by Andrew Lloyd Webber, while the book was written by him, as well as Ben Elton, and Glenn Slater.
4
5	The show ran from 2010-11 in the West End. A [[{{Retool}} rewritten]] Australian production ran from 2011-12 and was filmed and released on [=DVD=], and several other countries (Denmark, Japan, etc.) have mounted their own productions since. A Broadway staging ''was'' supposed to launch in New York City in Fall 2010, but has since been lost to DevelopmentHell. A North American touring production launched in 2017.
6
7	Compare and contrast with ''Literature/ThePhantomOfManhattan'', the novel derived from Lloyd Webber and Creator/FrederickForsyth's ideas for a sequel in TheNineties.
8
9	----
10	!!''Love Never Dies'' provides examples of:
11
12	* AdaptationalVillainy: Meg, who was Christine's best friend in the original musical, [[spoiler:shoots and kills her out of jealousy]]. Raoul suffers this, too; although not really a villain, he became TheAlcoholic and picked up a gambling problem that makes him a less-than-ideal husband to Christine, while neither trait was present in the original book or play.
13	** In the revised production, [[spoiler:Meg tries to commit suicide, and Christine is accidentally shot as the Phantom tries to wrest the gun away.]]
14	** Madame Giry as well. In the original musical she pretty skillfully maintained a neutral force between the Phantom and the others. Here, she is a bitter hag who is only helping the Phantom for the reward.
15	* TheAlcoholic: Raoul. This is what he spends his money on along with his gambling addiction.
16	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: The Phantom once was, of course, a psychopathic murderer, yet Christine is still attracted to him.
17	** Meg Giry counts as well, her love for him the result of being brought up by Madame Giry to serve him, and the poor girl trying to find a sense of validation for it all. Too bad he doesn't know any of that...
18	* AlternateContinuity: Veers strongly away from the book on which it is based.
19	* AmusementPark: Phantasma.
20	* AmusementParkOfDoom: The pre-{{Retool}} prologue was set a few years after the play's main action, with Phantasma a mostly-abandoned ruin inhabited only by its freaks.
21	* ArcWords: "Leave the ____ behind".
22	** "Beautiful".
23	* AscendedExtra: Meg, who did next to nothing in the original musical (singing one song, singing bit parts in other songs, and finding the Phantom's mask at the end), is now a major character.
24	* TheBet: The Phantom bets Raoul that Christine will stay and sing that night...
25	* BigApplesauce
26	* BigNo: Two characters each get one in the same sequence: [[spoiler: Gustave when Christine reveals that the Phantom is his real dad]], and [[spoiler: the Phantom himself as she expires]].
27	* BigThinShortTrio: In the Australian version, Squelch is big (he's a strongman), Gangle is thin (he's a barker), and Fleck is short (she's a little person).
28	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Meg kills Christine.]] However, [[spoiler: she dies in the Phantom's arms, and Gustave is willing to accept him as his father in the final moments]].
29	** Depending on how YMMV it could also be considered a DownerEnding, as [[spoiler: Raoul is widowed and alone, his son Gustave is left in the care of an obsessive recluse who might harm him if he does something untoward, and Meg ends up completely broken, thanks especially to Erik lighting the fuse by telling her 'we can't all be like Christine']]. As WebVideo/MusicalHell says, the only one with a true positive outcome is [[spoiler: Erik]], who's at fault for pretty much everything that went wrong in both this and its prequel.
30	* BrokenBird: With all the time and effort she's spent on the Phantom and pining for (and being ignored by) him, [[spoiler: it's Meg Giry ]] who seems to be the most pitiable character in the show, oddly enough supplanting his role in the last show.
31	* CanonDiscontinuity: One has to wonder if Lloyd Webber completely forgot about the prologue to ''Phantom'' when writing this sequel, or anything about the timeline. The bulk of ''Phantom'' takes place in 1881 and its prologue in 1905. ''Love Never Dies'' is set during 1907.
32	** What's more, Raoul's dialogue when buying the music box in ''Phantom'''s prologue is in past tense, implying that Christine may already be dead by the time of ''Love Never Dies''.
33	--> '''Raoul''': Every detail exactly as she said. She often spoke of you, my friend, your velvet lining and your figurine of lead. Will you still play when all the rest of us are dead?
34	** There are also multiple mentions of ten years passing between the events of ''Phantom'' and the events of ''Love Never Dies''. It's actually 26 years (or two, if the prologue is counted).
35	** The recap of the last show's events on the DVD place the events of the original Phantom in 1895, which would be (roughly) ten years prior to the given date. Regardless, this still conflicts with the dates given in the original.
36	* ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction: The "Bathing Beauty" production number is built around this trope, as Meg goes through several bathing outfits in the space of a minute.
37	* CheerfulChild: Gustave is sweet, loving, and excited and curious about the world of Coney Island; the only real concern he has is that his father doesn't care much about him or his mother.
38	* ComeToGawk: Inverted in the Australian production. The Phantom shows Gustave the Phantasma freak show during "The Beauty Underneath", which features a group of pinheads, a cyclops, a winged fairy, a mermaid, a man with never-cut fingernails, etc., most of them housed in mirrored obelisks. However, the setup is rather glamorous (especially when one recalls that the Phantom, who grew up in a freak show, was imprisoned in a cage and [in the movie version] abused) and the sequence is a moment of bonding between the Phantom and Gustave because the latter thinks FreakyIsCool.
39	* CostumePorn: As per its predecessor.
40	* CounterpointDuet: "Devil Take the Hindmost".
41	* CrowdSong: "Heaven by the Sea", before it was dropped; its purpose and status as a crowd song is filled in the Australian production by "The Coney Island Waltz" via incorporating the lyrics from the show's original prologue. Some of its music appears in "Only for You" as well.
42	* CrypticBackgroundReference: In the original London prologue (and the cast album), Fleck explains Phantasma's ruined state as the result of "the fire that destroyed everything". The audience never learns what caused the fire.
43	* CymbalClangingMonkey: The music box from the original ''Phantom'' reappears as an automaton at Phantasma in the Australian version of "The Coney Island Waltz".
44	* DarkReprise: As with the original, positive melodies later reappear in darker forms, most obviously and extremely "Bathing Beauty" in the final scene.
45	* DerailingLoveInterests: Raoul, so that the possibility of Christine and the Phantom getting together can be raised again.
46	* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: Poor Christine, right in the arms of the Phantom after Meg fatally shoots her.]]
47	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Erik ''nearly'' has [[spoiler:an enraged, gun-toting Meg]] calmed down.. then he ''has'' to say "We all can't be like Christine", stepping on [[spoiler:Meg's]] BerserkButton and ensuring nobody is getting out of the situation happily.
48	* DistractedByTheLuxury: The Phantom gives Christine a necklace during "Before the Performance", probably hoping that by reminding her that he is wealthy now (as opposed to the near-penniless Raoul) he can invoke this trope and ensure that she will sing for him again.
49	* DoubleEntendre: Meg says she kept "dying" for Erik. This may sound like she's just talking about putting herself through the wringer, but there's a French slang term for orgasm: "le petit mort", or "the little death". And considering Meg is French and slept with men in high places to "grease the wheels" for Erik's benefit...
50	* DownerEnding
51	* DrowningMySorrows: Raoul does this at the start of Act Two at a Coney Island bar, wondering in song "Why Does She [Christine] Love Me?" Meg even [[LampshadeHanging asks him "Drowning your sorrows?"]] when she arrives.
52	* TheEdwardianEra: The temporal setting.
53	* TheElevenOClockNumber: The title song.
54	* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: Meg Giry's stage career in America seems to benefit from this trope; she is billed as "The Ooh-La-La Girl" at Phantasma.
55	* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: In the London production, Christine's gown for the concert.
56	* EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry: The Phantom gives Christine a dazzling necklace as part of "Before the Performance".
57	* FluffyFashionFeathers: For Meg and her fellow Phantasma dancers.
58	* FreakyIsCool: Gustave thinks so, as established in the songs "Beautiful" and "The Beauty Underneath".
59	* TheGamblingAddict: Raoul de Chagny, which leaves the family TrappedByGamblingDebts and thus accepting the lucrative offer extended to Christine to perform in the U.S.
60	* GlorifiedSpermDonor: [[spoiler: The Phantom. Despite his running out on Christine ''immediately'' after conceiving Gustave and showing no evidence that he could make a decent parent, we're supposed to be happy when he ends up with the kid he's never known.]] At least he's not an alcoholic...
61	* GoldDigger: Madame Giry, in "Ten Long Years", accuses Christine of being this -- why else would she have rejected the Phantom for Raoul?
62	* GorgeousPeriodDress: Most of the characters are either members of the upper crust or performers at a lavish amusement park, so this is a given.
63	* GriefSong: The final stretch of reprises in the show chronicle [[spoiler: Christine's death and its aftermath]].
64	* TheHecateSisters: Meg (maiden), Christine (mother), and Madame Giry (crone).
65	* ICouldaBeenAContender: Meg Giry seems to be an uncharacteristically young example of this trope; back in Paris she had a "promising" ballet career ahead of her -- the stage musical even presents her as the lead of the corps de ballet -- and now she's a burlesque stripper.
66	* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: Meg Giry is this to the Phantom.
67	* IncestSubtext: As described on the YMMV page.
68	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler:It's Raoul who]] makes this decision.
69	* IWantSong: "Till I Hear You Sing".
70	* LastKiss: It is shared between [[spoiler: the dying Christine and the Phantom]].
71	* LittlePeopleAreSurreal: Fleck, an aerialist, is also a little person in the Australian production. (In the London version, she's of average stature but "half-bird, half-woman".)
72	* LoveDodecahedron: Christine must once again choose between Raoul and the Phantom, and then things are further complicated with Meg Giry's interest in the Phantom, as an IgnoredEnamoredUnderling.
73	* LoveMakesYouCrazy[=/=]LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Meg Giry, in the climax.]] "I gave what they would take. I gave it for your sake!"
74	* MeaningfulName: Originally, Christine and company came to the U.S. on the ship '' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone Persephone]]''; this was subsequently changed, but the detail turns up on the soundtrack album. And why didn't she and Raoul suspect anything was amiss when she was asked to perform at a park called ''Phantasma''? (The Australian version changes this plot point -- she comes to the U.S. because she's been hired by Oscar Hammerstein, but the Phantom does some arm twisting to convince her to sing for him instead - unless, of course, the Phantom was impersonating Hammerstein when she was hired, which is probable - he doesn't pick up the de Chagny's from the pier as "he" promised he would, "he" invites Raoul to the bar for a meeting and never shows up, allowing the Phantom and Christine to have some time alone, and most damningly, the Phantom knows exactly how much "he" agreed to pay Christine to sing.)
75	* {{Melodrama}}: As per its predecessor, the characters get themselves into a lather over every little thing. Gustave desperately pleads with his father to look at a ''music box'', and the Phantom entering Christine's room is scored with music that would be more appropriate for a tragic ''ending'' to a show than the halfway point of Act One.
76	* MonsterClown: Subverted in the Australian version with Gangle and the other clowns -- they and their fellow Phantasma performers ''are'' working for the Phantom and come off as strange and menacing in the way they beckon visitors to their stomping grounds, but are not actually bad people.
77	* MusicalisInterruptus: "The Beauty Underneath" is brought to a halt when the Phantom removes his mask and Gustave screams.
78	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Raoul asks himself this when he realizes that he might not win his bet with the Phantom.
79	** Meg also has this reaction [[spoiler: after her gun goes off by accident shooting her best friend in the process. In the London Production the show ends as she tearfully cradles Christine's lifeless body in her arms, as the Phantom comforts Gustave.]]
80	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: At the end, [[spoiler:the Phantom has ''almost'' talked Meg down... only to inadvertently call her less beautiful than Christine. That's enough to make Meg shoot Christine (original production) or attempt suicide and accidentally shoot Christine while she's fighting over the gun with the Phantom (revised production).]]
81	* NotActuallyHisChild: During ''Devil Take The Hindmost'', [[spoiler: the Phantom rebuts Raoul’s claim that Christine loves him more because they have a son by saying that Gustave is not actually Raoul’s son]].
82	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: In the original London cast recording. Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson and Harry Child have of course an English accent, Summer Strallen has rather strangely an American one, while Sally Dexter, like Miranda Richardson in the 2004 movie, has a French accent... albeit not a very good one, which, to be honest, borders more on the Transylvanian accent.
83	* ObliviousToLove: The Phantom doesn't realize that Meg Giry's become an IgnoredEnamoredUnderling because he's preoccupied with Christine.
84	* ObviouslyEvil: Madame Giry was immediately suspected of kidnapping Gustave because of this.
85	* OminousMusicBoxTune: The music box the three freaks give Gustave upon arrival plays the opening strains of "The Point of No Return", alterting Christine to the danger she and her family are walking into. (In the London version, it only played a cheerful march at first, but then "Point of No Return" just before the Phantom enters Christine's room.)
86	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Christine is performing at Phantasma solely to earn money to pay off Raoul's gambling debts.
87	* OpeningBallet: After the prologue comes "The Coney Island Waltz" in the London version. The Australian version turned it into a full song for the Phantom's lackeys and the chorus and set it after "Till I Hear You Sing", which was moved to the top of the show.
88	* PapaWolf: After Christine sings the title song and returns to the dressing room, she discovers Gustave is missing. Needless to say, his father is livid. He is ready to use every bit of his influence to stop the culprit from leaving Coney Island, even threatening murder.
89	* PimpedOutDress: Christine has one for her Coney Island concert.
90	* PowerTrio: Fleck, Squelch, and Gangle, a trio of "freaks" who serve as the Phantom's lackeys.
91	* ProperLady: Christine strives to be this, and works hard to present a proper face to the world despite Raoul's flaws making her and Gustave's life less than ideal.
92	* RageAgainstTheReflection: Before kidnapping Gustave, [[spoiler: Meg Giry]] destroys a dressing room mirror.
93	* ReclusiveArtist: In-universe. The Phantom became this over the ten years separating the two shows -- everyone in New York City knows about the amazing "Mr. Y", but very, very few see him.
94	* {{Retool}}: Due to the less-than-favorable response from both critics and die-hard fans, [[http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/03/love_never_dies_but_it_can_be.html the show was substantially rewritten]] to "tighten it up" at the end of 2010. This revised version was supposed to go to Broadway, but instead was produced in Australia and subsequently filmed.
95	* TheReveal: The show pivots on three big reveals: one, [[spoiler: the Phantom and Christine had a one-night stand]], two, [[spoiler: he's Gustave's father]], and three, [[spoiler: the Phantom's dreams could never have been realized if Meg hadn't been forced into prostitution]].
96	* RightBehindMe:
97	** As Meg leaves the bar, Raoul shouts after her that the Phantom isn't as powerful as she thinks he is, and that he's no more than a "circus freak". Then he turns and sees the Phantom has just arrived...
98	** In the London staging, as Raoul shouts about never having to see that horrible face again, he turns around and the Phantom is tending bar and ''not wearing his mask.''
99	* SanitySlippage: At the end, [[spoiler: Meg undergoes this]].
100	* SceneryPorn: The London version used video effects for this (particularly for scene transitions), and the Australian version was arguably even more lavish.
101	* SequelEscalation: In a fairly clever CallBack to the original, which had [[Creator/CleolindaJones The Chandelier Of Doom And Exposition]] reassemble itself and rise above the audience during the overture, LND has ''Coney Island itself'' go from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WwCPrDuk_I&feature=related decrepit wreck to dazzling midway]] while the chorus sings about its heyday.
102	* SettingIntroductionSong: "The Coney Island Waltz".
103	* SetSwitchSong: "Invitation to the Concert".
104	* TheSongBeforeTheStorm: The reprise of "Devil Take the Hindmost".
105	* SpurnedIntoSuicide: [[spoiler:In one version of the musical, Meg is about to shoot herself because the Phantom doesn't feel the same way she does towards him. He is able to stop her, but she accidentally shoots Christine.]]
106	* StageMom: Madame Giry for Meg.
107	* {{Stripperific}}: Meg's costumes.
108	* StylisticSuck: "Bathing Beauty", a parody of inane, teasing vaudeville numbers.
109	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Towards the end of his big number about "The Beauty within", the Phantom shows Gustave his disfigured face, to which the boy instantly screams and runs off in a fright. While people are capable of looking past appearances, one can't just expect a child to have the emotional maturity to do so automatically.
110	* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: [[spoiler:The Phantom tries to do this to Meg after she loses it. He's pretty successful at it too, until he says "we can't all be like Christine", after which things go to hell.]]
111	* TenorBoy: Raoul, though he's not much of a boy anymore...
112	* [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Three Guys]]: The freaks, Fleck, Squelch, and Gangle. Miss Fleck sort of stands out more due to being a woman and (in the Australian production) a little person.
113	* TitleDrop: Christine does this several times, and not just in the title song.
114	* TookALevelInJerkass: Raoul somehow became a neglectful father and whiny drunk.
115	* TrappedByGamblingDebts: The de Chagnys, thanks to Raoul.
116	* TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside: The show's most harped-upon message, down to the song titles "Look With Your Heart" and "The Beauty Underneath".
117	* TrueBlueFemininity: Christine's dress for the concert in the Australian version; its coloring is modeled after a peacock's, and the stage backdrop of peacock feathers even serves as an extension of her gown.
118	* TrueLoveIsBoring: There's little indication given that Christine and Raoul have ever been happy since they got married.
119	* WhamLine: "That boy... that music.... he plays like me!"
120	** "We can't be all like Christine". Cue [[spoiler:Meg's]] VillainousBreakdown and [[spoiler: accidentally shooting Christine]].
121	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: So what happens to [[spoiler: Meg? We spend all this time watching her heartbreaking descent into madness, she kills Christine, and....no closure on her character]]?
122	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: Meg Giry]] tries to kill Gustave in the climax.
123	** In the revised version, Christine refuses to sing for the Phantom until he threatens to take Gustave from her. [[spoiler:He ends up having a VillainousBreakdown at the end of the first act when he realizes Gustave is his child.]]
124	* WouldntHurtAChild: [[spoiler: Madame Giry]] claims as much. This takes on a darker cast when the audience learns [[spoiler: that she prostituted her ''adult daughter'' for years]].
125	* WritersCannotDoMath: The sequel, set in 1907, is supposed to take place ten years after the original. Whether you go by the stage version (set in 1881) or the movie (1870), this doesn't add up. The opening text on the filmed version of the Australian staging says the original's events took place in 1895! But it also says Love Never Dies takes place in 1905, so it's semi-averted.
126	* {{Yandere}}:
127	** Like in the [[Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera original musical]], the Phantom is still deep in his obsession for Christine and refuses to give up on her and is willing to threaten her to get what he wants.
128	** Meg Giry of all characters has become one for the Phantom.
129	* YourSonAllAlong: At the end of Act One, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Gustave is the Phantom's son, not Raoul's]].

Context Theatre / LoveNeverDies