EXCLUSIVE: Changes To LOVE NEVER DIES, More To Follow?

Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber's controversial "reimagining" of the Phantom Of The Opera characters' future, continues to undergo reworking in the West End production.

The show had already been revised between previews and official opening, as many shows are but now, several months on, it is still being tweaked in order to fit with the creators' vision.

The most major recent change is to the staging of the Prologue, when Mr Y, aka the Phantom, is visible on stage with a stick and an orb of fire: "blink and you'll miss it," said a source close to the show, "but it's very reminiscent of the graveyard scene in the original Phantom."

The Coney Island Waltz is still intact, but now it moves straight on to Meg Giry welcoming the visitors to Phantasma, omitting Heaven By The Sea and the trio of showgirls talking before their performance. "The welcome is much bigger now, with new orchestrations," said the source. "It's a massive new dance number and more of an entrance for Meg."

Act Two is currently still as it was after press night, but more changes are expected to be made, including a further expansion of Bathing Beauty, the big number for Meg.

London dwellers may also have noticed subtle amendments to the artwork of the show's posters, where the Phantom: Love Never Dies wording is apparently much more prominent.

Broadway World understands that there is as yet no truth in the internet rumours that the show was planning a two-week hiatus so that all the alterations could be put into place.