Andrew Lloyd Webber's LOVE NEVER DIES - The Phantom Returns (Touring) Tickets

Let's get something out of the way: the story line of LND is horrible. There's no way of getting around that. But the visuals and music are lovely and if you can ignore the awful story, you can enjoy the show. I've seen the Australian production which was an update of the unpopular London production. Producers made more changes to the show for the US tour. They should have quit while they were ahead. They tried WAY to hard to shove themes from the original POTO in every freaking scene in Act I. What was previously a well balanced connection became overkill. Some lyrics were changed and the majority of those changes weren't necessary. The cast while talented isn't 100% comfortable yet (granted, I saw a preview performance, so this show still has time to get stronger) My only casting complaint is that Cortes as Phantom while talented has a thick accent that makes his singing difficult to understand. He wasn't the best choice for the US audience. While I'm glad I had the opportunity to enjoy this live, I'll be sticking to my blu ray of the Aussie production.

If you are obsessed with Phantom of The Opera and are afraid this won't meet expectations, you will be missing out on a great show should you choose not to go. This is a beautiful story with beautiful lyrics and it is not just a repeat of the first, even though the underlying theme is the same. It's true, nothing quite beats the original, but this comes a close second. Give it a chance. The actors and vocals are great. Let's put it this way: I cried. How many shows make you feel enough emotion to make you cry? My review is 5 stars for the show but 3-4 stars for the venue. Hippodrome, when you renovated your theater years ago, the engineer that did the seating should be fired. The theater itself is beautiful, but if you are anything over 5'6", your legs won't be comfortable in most seats. They are also not tiered high enough so big heads in front of me are always an issue. The stair rail in the upper level was directly in my field of vision during the show. Luckily, it wasn't sold out, so many of us moved to unused seats after intermission. You also can't see the very top of the stage from there, the curtain or something blocks the view. Bottom line: The stage/seating layout wasn't very smart.....modern theaters take every seat into account for the best viewing experience possible.