Lloyd Webber: 'I'm Genuinely Excited to See What People Make of LOVE NEVER DIES'

In an interview with the The Independent, Andrew Lloyd Webber discusses the genesis and creative process of his Phantom-sequel 'Love Never Dies', his feelings surrounding the upcoming opening night, and the way that he copes with criticism.

Lloyd Webber says that the intense creative process behind the sequel was a collaborative one. When asked who penned the book for the show, he replies, "Well, with a largely through-sung show it's harder to say because everybody, the whole creative team, are chipping in with ideas. But obviously once Glenn Slater, our lyricist, came on board and the words started flowing then everything began falling into place and the Coney Island setting became more and more dramatically appealing."

In the interview, the famed composer also shares how he deals with criticism within the industry. "I always think of something Richard Rodgers said to me when I got to know him slightly towards the end of his life. He told me how depressed he'd got by the reviews for The King and I, whose score was compared unfavourably with his previous shows. But even he - perhaps the most gifted popular melodist of them all - realised that it's not always possible for audiences or for that matter critics to take in what they are hearing on a first or even second hearing. Musical-theatre history is littered with bad reviews for now classic pieces."

"But there's something else and that's this: my job is to communicate with my audience, and, frankly, should they be expected to recognise that the ordering of the poems in Cats, for instance, is very precisely structured to create a seamless narrative or that the opening of the show is a mock-fugue? The effect of those repetitions, whether sung or in underscoring, has an emotional not an intellectual purpose."

As to how Lloyd Webber feels about opening night, "I'm genuinely excited", he says, "to see what people make of Love Never Dies because in so many ways it goes much further than the old Phantom did. Without giving anything away about the ending, it's like I closed a door when I put the last notes down. I don't think I'll be able to go any further down this particular musical path - well, not for a while anyway."

To read the full story in The Independent, click here. 

The World Premiere of "LOVE NEVER DIES" will take place in London on 9 March 2010 at the Adelphi Theatre. Previews began on 22 February. The show will subsequently open in New York on November 11, 2010 and then in Australia in 2011.

March 2010 sees the Polydor/Universal release of the album of "LOVE NEVER DIES," the long awaited follow up to "The Phantom Of The Opera" (the eighth best-selling album of ALL TIME, unprecedented for a musical theatre album). The album release will coincide with the opening of the show in London's West End and will be available in both deluxe and standard versions.

For more information, visit online at www.loveneverdies.com.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.