Love Never Dies Cancels First Preview at Adelphi

Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hugely anticipated sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, has cancelled its first preview on Saturday 20 February 2010 at the West End’s Adelphi Theatre. The first preview will now take place on Monday 22 February, ahead of the show’s world premiere which will go ahead, as scheduled, on 9 March.

A statement from Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group, which is producing the new musical, explains: “The first preview of Love Never Dies, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday 20 February at the Adelphi Theatre in London, has been delayed to allow two days’ extra rehearsal time and a break to ensure that the first performance is not presented by a company and crew exhausted at the end of a long technical week. The producers have taken this decision early, halfway through the complex technical period, in order to ensure that all affected are able to make other arrangements as soon as possible. Previews will now begin on Monday 22 February.

“Although the show is extremely heavily booked, the producers held back tickets for both Friday 5 March and Monday 8 March in case such a situation arose, and those who have booked for the first preview will either be able to move to one of these dates, attend later in the run, or gain a full refund.”

Love Never Dies is set in 1907, ten years after the conclusion of the original story. The Phantom has escaped to New York with Madame and Meg Giry and found success in the fairgrounds of Coney Island as a magician and entertainer. When he builds a new opera house, he persuades his old ingenue Christine Daae, now a huge star and married to her old flame Raoul, to sing for him once more…

Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess star as the Phantom and Christine, with Summer Strallen as Meg Giry, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry and Joseph Millson as Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny (See News, 9 Nov 2009). The cast also features Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce and Jami Reid-Quarrell.

Love Never Dies, which has a score by Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Glenn Slater, is directed by Jack O’Brien and designed by Bob Crowley, with choreography by Jerry Mitchell and lighting by Paule Constable.