Love Never Dies

One of the more curious aspects of "The Phantom of the Opera" is how little stage time the title character actually has. He is onstage for a half-hour or so in a two-and-one-half hour musical, yet he always seems present. Of course having him appear to walk through mirrors, climb to the top of the proscenium and to vanish when cornered by the Paris police make him appear larger than life. Add his grand operatic musical numbers (such as "Music of the Night") and you begin to understand the appeal of the character and the musical named for him, which is still running in London and New York for some 30 years. It is something of a perfect storm of lush musical theater writing and spectacular staging.

That less-is-more strategy towards the character is missing from "Love Never Dies," the hot mess of a musical sequel that is currently on a North American tour that brought it to Boston's Opera House through February 11. Here the Phantom is no longer the elusive specter haunting the Paris Opera; rather he's a needy stalker in need of a good therapist. What made the Phantom so effective in his earlier incarnation is the conflicted mix of sympathy and fear he elicits. Humanizing in the way he is in this musical only makes him ordinary - an operatic character reduced to a soap operatic one.

"Love Never Dies" may take place 10 years later (1907) and the locale improbably moved to Coney Island, but the central dynamic remains the same: the Phantom is still obsessed for Christine Daa�, the soprano whom he mentored in the hidden recesses of the Paris Opera. But (spoiler alert) apparently much more transpired between the two than just him coaching her in singing scales.

Adapted by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and librettists Ben Elton, Glenn Slater and Frederick Forsyth (from a novel by Forsyth, "The Phantom of New York"), the musical repeats the romantic triangle from the earlier show. Now, though, Christine has married Raoul, the viscount who rescued her from the Phantom's lair; but all is not well in their marriage due to his excessive gambling and drinking. This has led Christine to come to New York for her American debut to pay for her husband's debts. She eschews an offer to sing for impresario Oscar Hammerstein for a much more lucrative deal with the mysterious Mr. V (guess who?). What holds their precarious marriage together is their son, Gustave, a precocious 9-year old with (spoiler alert) surprising musical talents.

One of the smartest moves the librettists take is to bring back Madame Giry, the stern ballet mistress who helped the Phantom escape Paris for New York and continues to protect him and promote the career of her daughter Meg, Christine's best friend who dreams of being the Phantom's prot�g�e. When the Phantom chooses Christine over Meg, resentments come to a head, especially in the busy second act.

As with many sequels, the novelty of its initial outing has worn off leaving just a lot of plot and recycled themes. Simon Phillips' busy direction makes copious use of a spinning turntable and Gabriela Tylesova's imaginative set pieces but lacks the suspense and fun that Hal Prince brought to the original. This isn't so much Phillips fault; he is saddled with a melodramatic script that never connects with the audience, which makes the intended catharsis at its conclusion more silly than affecting. Visually "Love Never Dies" is quite stunning thanks to Tylesova's designs that evoke the period (handsome Art Noveau touches) and the gaudy world of Coney Island. And her costumes are equally fetching, adding to the spectacle.

Kudos to the cast as well: Bronson Norris Murphy (replacing the ill Gardar Thor Cortes) was vocally unsure at the start of the evening, but grew stronger as the evening continued, doing what he can with this awkwardly conceived, most needy Phantom. Meghan Picerno brings vocal luster to Christine, especially in the show's gorgeous title number, the closest to a takeaway song in Webber's pleasant and intriguing score. Vocally Sean Thompson is fine as Raoul, but he is saddled with a boorish character; Mary Michael Patterson elicits sympathy as Meg; but the stand-out performances belong to Karen Mason as the steely Madame Giry and the vocally assured boy soprano Casey Lyons as the prodigy Gustave. Stephen Petrovich, Richard Koons, and Katrina Kemp were well-cast as members of the Phantasma troupe, though the entire sideshow storyline is woefully undeveloped. Why the show didn't include some Cirque-like magic is a bit of a mystery. Didn't anyone see that recent revival of "Pippin?"

But the biggest mystery is why did "The Phantom of the Opera" need a sequel at all? No one appeared to warm to this musical when it appeared in London in 2010 and this reworked version that turned up in Australia two years later doesn't offer a credible answer to that question. It is big, lavish, well-sung, busily staged but devoid of a reason to be, except perhaps to capitalize on the success of its predecessor. Missing is that emotional connection crucial to what makes a good musical. What it suffers from is an acute case of sequelitis.

"Love Never Dies" continues through February 11 at the Boston Opera House, 539 Washington Street, Boston, MA. For more information, visit the Broadway in Boston website.