LOVE NEVER DIES Cast Blog: Getting to Know You Even More...

So.. it has been a long time coming but as you are already aware, Monday marked another landmark day for Love Never Dies.

As Adam reports below, it was the first time all those who will be working together (and many who have already been working on the show for a considerable time) got together in the rehearsal spaces in London.

The word on most people's lips was "exciting" and there was a real buzz of electricity in the room as we all "Meeted and Greeted" each other and put names to faces for the first time. Jack O'Brien welcomed everyone and, after sharing his horoscope prediction for the coming month, suggested everyone look around the room and appreciate the fantastic array of talent that had been gathered together for the occasion. There was then the short welcome from Andrew which Adam describes above. Jack (despite a very husky sore throat) then took centre stage again and talked about the phenomenonal impact of the original production of The Phantom of the Opera. He emphasised how important it was to remember the unprecedented success of this show meant that to many people the story no longer belonged to Andrew as the composer, but that so many hundreds of thousands of people had invested so much emotion into the show that they felt Phantom in some way belonged to them. It was essential to all these people that Love Never Dies honoured this investment and that everyone should recognise that this piece would be the object of great scrutiny worldwide.

Jack told all those present that this was potentially the start of something truly great and that all those taking part should have fun and thoroughly enjoy the experience. Finally, niceties over, he then made it clear that anyone who was not participating in the first full rehearsal that morning should "get the hell out of here!"...

Before we complied with Jack's instruction we managed to seize a couple of moments to chat to our leading lady, Sierra Boggess, who had arrived in the UK on New Year's Eve. She has spent the last week in a flurry of "gorgeous" costume fittings. Sierra wasn't giving too much away but did say that her (already enviously slim) frame would be squeezed into "lots of corsets!". She has also faced the trauma of having her full head encased in plaster (mysterious, huh?) having undergone the same experience as Ramin Karimloo in our previous "Disfiguring the Phantom" blog entry.

Ramin also talked about his costume fittings. He joked that the costumes are so amazing he asked if they could make two of each of them so he could get to keep one for himself! Ramin himself is eager to begin the rehearsal process. Although he has thoroughly appreciated a couple of months break from performing as The Phantom, having finished his run in the original production on November 7th, he can't wait to continue the PhanTom Story and build on the character he knows so well.

Away from the "glamour" of the rehearsal rooms, at the Adelphi Theatre the set is being loaded in and constructed. Steve Rebbeck, the Production Manager, had taken a couple of hours out of his gruelling technical production timetable to attend the Meet and Greet and confirmed that all is on schedule and that a key piece of set was being put together the following day (more from the Adelphi soon).

Despite the recent spell of adverse weather across the UK everyone who had been invited had managed to make the event, but there was one casualty. Scott Penrose, the consultant who is creating the stunning Coney Island illusions for Love Never Dies confided that he was supposed to be delivering a load of props to the rehearsal room that day but had had to abandon his car on the journey in... so if anyone comes across a carload of very bizarre items which look like they belong in a freak show do let us know!

Before leaving we also took the opportunity to recruit a couple of additional potential "bloggers" who will be doing their utmost throughout the rehearsal period to keep us informed of what is happening in the build up to the big day. More about them very soon...

From the LOVE NEVER DIES Blog at www.loveneverdies.com