Melbourne, Australia will be the first city outside of London to present the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ‘Love Never Dies’.
In a satellite hook-up at Parliament House this morning, Sir Andrew announced that ‘Love Never Dies’ would commence a residency at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne from May 2011.
‘Love Never Dies’ is the sequel to Webber’s 1986 musical ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ but Webber says it is “a stand-alone piece”.
Sir Andrew says working on something new for the first time in a decade is exciting. “I am always excited about new work when it opens. I just love it,” he said via satellite. “One of the great joys is the opportunity to do this with new people and seeing new productions with new minds. In many ways, one of the problems we have (and it's a wonderful problem to have) if you have written a ‘Cats’, or a ‘Phantom of the Opera’ or even a ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ is that you do find that the productions tend to go everywhere. As I get older I am very excited by the idea of different productions of my old shows but this is going to be very exciting seeing a new team taking it on”.
‘Love Never Dies’ is set 10 years after ‘Phantom of the Opera’. Christine has become one of the world’s finest sopranos and is struggling with her ailing marriage to Raoul. She accepts an invitation to go to New York to perform at the Operas House. The Phantom lures her from Manhattan to Coney Island.
‘Love Never Dies’ premiered in London on March 9. Universal Music recently released the soundtrack album, recorded at Abbey Road studios.
Casting for the Australian production will begin in Sydney and Melbourne in two weeks time. Tickets for the show will go on sale Monday, October 25.
