The Measure of a Musical — Love Never Dies on DVD

I have just found myself crying as I finished watching the DVD of Love Never Dies. Two years ago, when I rushed home, eagerly unwrapped the Original Cast Recording of that show and spent a good four hours listening to it on repeat – I would never have expected this to be a plausible moment!

A common saying on Broadway, is that Hitler’s punishment, had he survived, should have been to send him out on the road with a musical in trouble. Two years ago that looked to be Love Never Dies. Now, with this fantastical DVD of the Australian production selling to a rapturous international market, suddenly it seems not only marketable but a potential hit! And it’s no small wonder – there has never – not ever! – been a more spectacularly well made film of a staged musical.

In the last decade, Hollywood re-embraced the musical movie with blockbusters and critical darlings like Moulin Rouge and Chicago setting the tone for what promised to be a bright new future for the Hollywood musical. It then set about and did its best to wreck the very premise of the argument for the genre with a panoply of stinkers, misfires and flops that begged the question of why anyone had cared in the first place.

This production of Love Never Dies offers bright hopes for the future. With sweeping cinematography, a masterful capture has been created of Love Never Dies at the Regent in Melbourne. The lush orchestrations, the lavish costumes and set and all of the dazzling effects and artifice that make the production such a joy to behold on stage (at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre now) are displayed to brilliant effect. While such filmed performances are generally rendered stagey, slow and with the appearance of over-wrought over-acting – an astonishing thing has been done with this film.

When I first saw Love Never Dies in Melbourne last year, I instantly hailed the performers in that cast as the hardest working company on the Australian landmass. And they are remarkable on film! With brush strokes elegant, fiery and resolute, they create a magnificent performance of a very entertaining show! And here many people (myself included) have underestimated Love Never Dies throughout the course of its troubled and controversial history. There is a great deal to be said for what a company of world class artists can do with a show. The Australian production of Love Never Dies is a visionary masterpiece and living, breathing proof that the Australian music theatre industry is capable of defining the standard on an international scale.

Ben Lewis is a world class Phantom with an utterly spectacular voice on fantastic display. And what a star is born in his leading lady! Anna O’Byrne is radiant in one of the finest performances we are likely to see on any Australian stage this generation. And once again, my hat is resoundingly off to Sharon Millerchip. She takes the most difficult character in the show and crafts something so utterly captivating – we can only hope Broadway doesn’t steal this triumvirate of stars from us for too long.

Suffice to say – not a single member of the cast delivers any less than their all throughout the production. Not a single member of the principles or the ensemble is any less than glowing. They are going to receive international attention for their efforts and rightly so.

As to the DVD release, one can only hope it marks a shift in the market.

DVDs of musicals being performed on stage are not a new thing. But, again, I’ll say it – there has never been one this good before!

Already Andrew Lloyd Webber has been quoted as saying he would like to make a similar film of his lost musical Sunset Boulevard – and let the international Norma Desmond casting war begin again.

But it would be good to see musicals archived like this in the future. How many shows are lost (especially in Oz) with nary a cast recording to preserve them for future generations?

Here is the acid test. Love Never Dies closed early on the West End and had its Broadway transfer cancelled – and yet here we have this DVD, resplendent in its reflection of our capacity to create something beautiful.

If you haven’t seen it, see it! If you haven’t bought it, buy it! And if you haven’t seen the show at the Capitol yet, this film I can guarantee will only make you want to.

Love Never Dies is on sale everywhere on DVD and will play at the Capitol Theatre for a limited season until April 1. Don’t miss out!