POTO 25th DVD and LND Review!

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Hey phans!

:iconpotoplz: It's a good day today, the 25th Anniversary DVD is released in the U.S.! Grab your copy today on Amazon or anywhere else the DVD is sold. Make sure you buy the Region 1 DVD to play in the U.S. and Canada!

Also, we've been given permission to reblog tiannangel's review of Love Never Dies in Sydney.

LND Australia

"Some of you might have read this on my personal journal, but I know that many of you in this group are dying to know what the new-revamped show is like. Well, my friend surprised me last Friday night with tickets to watch LND! I admit, I did scream and jump up and down a little when I found out (3 minutes before the show started) and spent the entire show kind of in awe. I've never had much respect for LND since I heard about it's release. I thought (along with the majority of the phans) that ALW was making a dreadful mistake. I had watched videos and heard the original recording of Ramin and Sierra in London, and I remember thinking that while it seemed decent enough, it wasn't anything special, and it will never live up to the original POTO. However after watching it here in Sydney with a fresh cast and director, I have to admit that I was simply bowled over by how good it was.


First of all, I have to talk about the set. Designed by Gabriela Tylesova, it was, to put it very simply, absolutely jaw-dropping. I walked into the theatre and almost had a double take. I really don't think I can do it justice by trying to describe it, so I won't even try. Compared to the London production, which I thought was very threadbare and had minimal sets and props, the Australian production went all out. In total, there were about four separate large sets that were maneuvered on and off the stage. Of course, we had the hotel room in which 'Beneath a Moonless Sky' takes place, along with the gorgeous balcony (they revamped this and made it look less sexual in design and a lot more elegant), plus a proper dressing room for Christine, as well as an even more realistic bar for Raoul. This is not to mention the insanity (good insanity, by the way) that goes on during 'Beauty Underneath'. The costuming was just as brilliant as the set design. In my opinion, the sheer utter brilliance of the entire design would've been well worth the ticket to watch this show.

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Now, onto the performers themselves.

Ben Lewis (The Phantom)
I feel like I should be one of the first people to admit to this, but I much preferred his interpretation of the LNDPhantom than Ramin's. Ben played a far older and much more jaded Phantom, which works a lot better with the plot. From what I've seen and heard in videos and recordings, he has improved dramatically from his first run in Melbourne. His Phantom is truly heart-wrenching at times, and yet still somehow manages to retain a lot of his dark sinister side from his Paris days. Him and Anna work incredibly well together, and their chemistry during certain scenes are stunning. I think it was the first time I listened to 'Beneath a Moonless Sky' without cringing at the lyrics. While his voice still probably isn't one of my favourite Phantom voices, he does really well. I was thoroughly impressed.

Anna O'Byrne (Christine)
Anna was simply amazing. She was gorgeous, and her acting and singing were both top-notch. I have no qualms in saying that I preferred her Christine over Sierra's any day. While Sierra's Christine was still the passive woman that most people hate about Christine's character, Anna's Christine fixed it. She was feisty and a lot more responsible and mature in her dealings with the Phantom and her situation, and it was a lot easier to empathise with this Christine. Her diction also beat Sierra by miles - I understood every word she sang, even the ending of 'Love Never Dies', which Sierra never manages to sing clearly.

Simon Gleeson (Raoul)
He was wonderful. Not once did I think that this couldn't possibly be the same Raoul that Christine left with at the end of the original musical. He makes the character relate-able, and his voice and acting are both wonderful as well. Raoul's back story of how he became a drunk is fleshed out a lot more, and makes far more sense than the first run.

Maria Mercedes (Madame Giry) & Sharon Millerchip (Meg)
Both were very good in their roles. Maria probably is the first Madame Giry that I've encountered that hasn't annoyed me with her accent. She does adopt a faint one for this role, but it isn't over-the-top and it works well for her. Sharon as Meg was wonderful, playing a far more stable Meg in the beginning, and you see her slip into her madness towards the end. I definitely preferred these two to the London ones.

Tyron Geany (Gustav)
One of the five boys that rotated around in this role. He wasn't my favourite, to be honest. He is ten though, and while I do give him credit for his young age, a lot of his singing was off-pitch, and you could barely hear his part in Devil Take The Hindmost Reprise.

Emma J. Hawkins, Paul Tabone & Dean Vince (Fleck, Squelch & Gangle)
I do believe these three were very good in their roles. The choice to cast Emma as fleck was a good one in my opinion. Instead of a half-human-half-bird thing, we have a dwarf (no disrespect of course), and it adds to the whole mystery and carnival feel to the story. The other decision to give them the red outfits also added to the feel, and overall I really enjoyed their appearances on stage.

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Another highlight for me was the number of times the songs echoed tunes and segments from the original POTO. There are many more inclusions now since the London recording, such as a segment of 'Angel of Music', as well as 'Stranger Than You Dreamt It'. I admit, I squealed every time I heard something that I recognised, which was far more than I expected. This helped the whole continuity of LND, making it feel like more of a sequel to the original as well.

Most of the little plot inconsistencies and eyebrow raising moments have been ironed out this time, and I found myself seriously believing that this could indeed be one of the ways that the story of the original could've gone. Example of this being that instead of the Phantom inviting Christine to Coney Island, Christine was commissioned by another man who had a new Opera house opening. The Phantom caught ear of this, and instead sent his three minions to go pick up Christine and her family instead.

I admit I was crying wholeheartedly at the end, and left the theatre feeling utterly satisfied and glad that I had taken the time to watch this. I would definitely recommend you watch it, because it really is visually breathtaking and an honestly enjoyable experience and I promise you won't regret it.

Rating: 9/10 "
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CobaltXplosion's avatar
I haven't seen LND yet, but I did get the 25th anniversary DVD of POTO and it was amazing! Nowhere near as good as the live version, though...