A review of the libretto for Andrew Lloyd Webber's

the Phantom of the Opera in comparison with the

soundtrack for the show Love Never Dies. It is my

intention to go through the original script page

by page, making notations of all of the places

contradictions are apparent.

    Right off the bat there is a rather

glaring error. In the libretto the stage

directions state that the auction at the beginning

of the show is taking place in 1905. This is

rather interesting as LND is set in 1907. Even

disregarding the year as written, the auctioneer

points out that the old chandelier has been wired

for the "new electric light". 1882 was when the

carbon filament bulb was invented, with the

tungsten filament bulb following in 1910.
    If we are to assume that Raoul is at least

60 during this prolouge, and that he was perhaps

40 at most during LND that would bump the

year of the Prolouge to 1927, making both the

costumes out of date as well as the big deal about

electric lighting which would have been more

common by that point.
    As we move into the main action of the

show, Meg immediately displays her fear of the

Phantom. I am still having difficulties with how

she can be so mind-numbingly terrified of this

ghost in the original show to having such an

obnoxious crush in the sequel, especially since it

was because of him that she had to leave

France and her promising ballet career to move to

a city she apparently hates, to be a slut and

cheap hootchie-cootchie girl. I am simply unable

to reconcile this in my head.
    The next moment comes right before

Christine's Think of Me, where Meg, rather than

attempting to audition herself, instead suggests

that "Christine Daae could sing it, sir." Making

her annoyance in the sequel of Christine appearing

to sing a single song and her boistrous

declaration of "I'm, in fact, the star for

heaven's sake" seem a bit out of character.
    It is also mentioned in the sequel that

Raoul always threw Chrsitine a single red rose.

This is absent during Think of Me. Also, after the

show we can see a rather obvious change from Mme

Giry's character as well. Although she praises

Christine's performance, she has no troubles with

chastising the corps de ballet for not performing

up to snuff. Throughout the sequel we are

subjected to trashy Vaudeville numbers with rather

irritating chorus girls and Giry never says a

single thing to any of them.
    We then move onto the dressing room scene,

in which Raoul and Christine discuss her father

and fond memories of their youth. I find it

interesting that throughout LND there is no

mention made of Christine's father whatsoever,

even though in the original show it was very clear

that Christine was unable to let him go. Even a

passing mention would have been enough to placate

me. It also bothered me that the only time the

Angel of Music was referred to was in Raoul's

farewell note. I'm wondering at what point she

ceased to see Erik/Mr. Y as her Angel in any form

and began to see him only as human. (Perhaps when

they boinked like monkies?)
    The Mirror offers our first glimpse of

just what an atrocious disservice ALW has done to

the Phantom in this sequel. The first we see of

him in the original production is a rather

otherworldy apparition of his face appearing in

Christine's mirror. This drives home the mystique

of the character. No where that I am aware of in

LND does the Phantom employ such devices. He is

very plainly mortal.
    This is also where we are intoduced to the

character's egomaniacal nature. "Ignorant fool!

This brave young suitor, sharing in my

triumph!" His concern is not Christine's distress

at the hurried meeting with a childhood friend,

but that said friend appears to be moving in on

his turf. At this point her needs are secondary to

his own. A thought process which is only broken at

the end by the redemptive kiss.
    Unfortunately this reversal seems to have

been forgotten in LND. Not that I can't understand

backsliding to one's basic nature, but they didn't

even do that correctly. What we end up with

is this watered-down emo personality that is

neither commanding nor sympathetic.
    At any rate, we press onward. Once down in

the lair the Phantom states "I have brought

you...to this kingdom where all must pay homage to

music." Indicating that he has a very deep and

profound respect for his art. Why then, in LND has

he abandoned writing classical and operatic styles

of music in favour of cheap, shallow Vaudeville

drivel? It had always been my impression that the

Phantom would likely rather gouge out his own eyes

than subject himself to scribbling petty tunes for

pocket change. Ladies and gentlemen, our opera

ghost has become a sell-out!
    During MOTN we also get our first glimpse

at the Christine mannequin, dressed in a bridal

gown. Obviously, this marks a very clear intention

on his part. He wants to marry her. I'll touch on

this bit of rant later during final lair, but just

let that gestate in your brains for a while, along

with Beneath a Moonless Sky. I'm sure you'll make

the connection.
    The next scene brings with it the first

unmasking. Christine swipes Erik's mask, and is

horrified at what she sees. Erik, in turn, reacts

almost violently (I say "almost" since he never

actually struck her) and rains down insults and

curses upon her before managing to somewhat

compose himself. At the end of Beauty Underneath

in LND it seems a fairly sure bet that Gustave

sees his face and has a very simliar initial

reaction to Christine's. Why then, does he not

lose control at that point? Yes, the child is only

ten, but Chrisitne was the all-consuming obsessive

love of his life. One would think restraint would

be in order on both counts.
    Just a passing thought: whatever became of

the Punjab lasso? You would think he'd have used

it on Meg at the end there.
    During the manager's scene another thought

makes me wonder a bit. Erik successfully extorted

a great deal of money from a very reputable

theatre over the course of many years. How is it,

then that Meg was required to sell her body to buy

time "when the bills came due"? Was he no longer

able to concoct a scheme by which to steal or

embezzle funds for himself? Did he have nothing

stashed away from his career as a Phantom?
    Moving into Prima Donna we find another

example of how horridly Raoul and Meg's characters

have been slaughtered. At this point it is clear

that Raoul's chief concern is for Christine's

safety and well-being, and the same goes for Meg.

"Christine must be protected." I'm quite sure you

can see exactly what becomes so very wrong during

the course of the sequel.
    We next have Il Muto. Another sad example

of how far our Erik has fallen. He manages to

terrorize the entire house, make Carlotta croak

like a toad, and strangle Buquet, all with

seemingly little effort. In the sequel

he...well...he...hm. Doesn't seem to do much in

the way of being terrible or mysterious, does he?

Good Lord, he had ample opportunity to dispose of

Raoul during LND. It would have been very easy to

make it look accidental, letting him off the hook

with a poor, dear Christine just waiting to be

consoled. 'Oh, yes. Tragic? Poor fellow must have

been too drunk to see the end of the pier. Such a

shame.' Couldn't even be driven to kill in a fit

of passion when Meg shot Christine. I know there's

something of a standing tradition that the Phantom

is rather more lenient on the ladies, however I

believe that anyone that is stupid enough to cause

physical harm to the object of his obsessive

affections for over a decade is going to

find themselves if not dead, severely injured.
    On the roof we also see how utterly

terrified Christine is of this man "Don't take me

back there! He'll kill me!" "The Phantom of the

Opera will kill and kill again." "I can't escape

from him." How in the world can we be expected to

believe that after this man releases her that

she's going to run back and shag him right

before her wedding night? WTF!? And yes, yes, I am

well aware of the fact that she then moves on to

describe how his voice stirs her and that she does

feel some pity for the man. But that's not love,

kiddies. Terribly sorry. I ship E/C as much as the

next phan, but there are logistical problems with

it that you have to admit, no matter how

enthralling the idea is.
    And again how did Raoul become this

drunken, abusive, gambling addict? Where in the

world could you come to this conclusion?

Especially after listening to All I Ask Of You?
    
            -ACT II-

    The interesting bits begin after

Masquerade, when Raoul tracks down the elder Giry

to demand some answers. During this scene it

appears to me that Mme Giry is no more chummy with

the Phantom than anyone else, and just as afraid

of him. "I don't know what I've seen...please

don't ask me, monsieur..." This, in my opinion,

does not sound like a woman trying to protect the

Phantom. It sounds like a woman who FEARS him. She

also only mentions having encountered him once, at

a fair, locked in a cage. "GIRY: (with a shudder)

A freak of nature, more monster than man..." "The

world forgot him, but I never can....For in this

darkness I have seen him again..." This does not

sound like a woman who is aiding and abetting the

Phantom. This sounds like a woman who saw a very

talented, but very horrible man once in a

travelling fair and then was able to determine

that the person responsible for all of the

disturbances at the opera was the same man. She

obviously doesn't know much more about him, and

she's obviously afraid of saying too much for fear

of what he'll do. Where in the world does "I have

been mother to you and Christine as much as my own

child" come from? Or the occasions where she

talked back to him to his face?
    This is carried over into the next scene

as well when Raoul and the Managers ask Giry for

aid. She reminds them that he has killed and is

dangerous. She is afraid to talk to them about

anything she knows.
    In LND Chrisine never even entertains the

thought of not singing what the Phantom has

written for her, however in the original "Raoul,

I'm frightened--don't make me do this...Raoul, it

scares me--don't put me through this ordeal by

fire...." Have I mentioned that the reuse of

Twisted Every Way in the sequel bothers me

to no end? The context of it in the original show

is to display how afraid and torn Christine is

about performing Don Juan. On the one hand she

feels mildly beholden to the man who taught her to

sing ("Can I betray the man who once inspired my

voice?") but on the other she is terrified of what

will happen if she sings, or how long this fiasco

will go on if she doesn't. When used in LND the

bulk of the conflict is unknown to Christine. She

knows nothing about the bet between Raoul

and the Phantom. The only information she has is

that her husband knows that the Phantom is the one

who lured them there and he would like her not to

sing it, but the Phantom does. And he's paying her

lavishly to do it. Money that they are apparently

in desperate need of. Not much of a conflict as

far as Christine knows, eh?
    Following shortly thereafter we have an

entire scene devoted to Christine thinking of her

deceased father. Once again, a single, nodding

reference to this theme would have been nice. I

understand that in ten years she has probably

worked through most of it, but you would think

dragging the Phantom back into her life would

dredge up a memory or two. Especially considering

that she saw him as the Angel her father had sent

to her if not some form of avatar for her father

himself.
    "Not afraid of me, you say?" Spoken by the

Phantom in LND. Hell no, Raoul isn't afraid of

him. Whether viewed as foolish or heroic, it

cannot be denied that the young man certainly had

no qualms about facing his foe. He walked toward a

Phantom flinging fireballs at him in the cemetary,

he went--alone--to the Phantom's lair to rescue

Christine. He even continued to argue when he had

his neck in a noose. Bravery he's got.
    Another example of Christine probably not

being willing to go back to the Phantom and boff

him would be PONR. She is perfectly fine, until

she feels that mask under the hood and realizes

who it is singing with her. (Oh, trust me. I know

all about the logic holes there. But that's how

it's written in the script, so that's how I'm

going at it) She tries to run off stage at this

point, away from him. And then there was a dead

tenor, leaving me to wonder even further where

Erik's psychopathic tendencies went to in the

sequel.
    Mme Giry shows Raoul the way down to the

lair, being VERY specific that Meg is to stay

topside. She doesn't want her daughter exposed to

a dangerous situation, or to a madman, very

likely. I simply cannot see her condoning Meg

becomming romantically entangled with the Phantom.

Especially after seeing what happened with

Christine.
    "Start a new life with me" She's in a

wedding gown at this point. I think the idea is

pretty clear. How in the world did he go from

having every intention of marrying Christine to

having a one-night-stand and then leaving her

cold? That is very near the top of the list of

things I cannot wrap my brain around. That

"ashamed to see your face" BS is just that. BS. If

Christine had come back to him, offered herself to

him, I cannot conceivably see why he would leave

her. What had he intended to do waaaay back around

the time period of MOTN, hm? He must have had some

sort of plan or arrangement worked out for how he

would live with her. In the novel he wanted her as

a wife in order to give him the courage to live a

comparatively normal life in a regular house. Was

that his intention here?
    And, finally, the most damning piece of

evidence for why this whole bloody sequel is

foolish and pointless: "It's over now, the music

of the night"