Broadcast on ITV1 on December 14th at 7:30 pm The 2011 Royal Variety Show took places at the Lowry Theatre Salford Keys early December in the presence of HRH Princess Anne. West End Stars performing included Adam Cooper and the cast of Singin’ in the Rain which had rave reviews at the Chichester Festival Thetre earlier this year and is due to open in London’s West End at the Palace Theatre in February. Four West End leading men who did not appear in the ITV1 billing also made an appearance:  Ramin Karimloo who has just taken over the role of Jean Valjean from Alfie Boe in Les Miserables:John Owen-Jones who is currently the Phantom of the Opera and is shortly leaving the show to play the role on a national tour which starts next year: Simon Bowman who has played Jean Valjean and the Phantom and Earl Carpenter who has been playing the role of Khasoggi in We Will Rock You and is currently in  rehearsals to take over the role of Phantom from Owen-Jones and also play it in the latter half of the tour. They were joined by Nicole Scherzinger who was spotted having dinner with Lord Lloyd Webber before the show.  She was introduced by the Lord as “performing alongside the cast of Phantom of the Opera”.  She is known to be a Phantom fan and has made a recording of “Love Never Dies”.  She said: “It was an honour to be in his company. To be asked to sing Phantom Of The Opera is amazing. I’m so excited to be performing again.”

The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary DVD http://www.loveneverdiesphantom.co.uk/ramin-karimloo/the-phantom-of-the-opera-25th-anniversary-dvd

Out Now: The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary DVD The DVD of the recording of the concert for the Phantom of The Opera 25th anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall is out worldwide, starring Ramin Karimloo from London’s Love Never Dies, plus a cast of around 150 including orchestra.

Our two originating actors for Love Never Dies, Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess starred in the Phantom of The Opera 25th anniversary show at the Albert Hall this month. The performances took place at the Royal Albert Hall London on October 1st and 2nd 2011 with Ramin Karimloo playing the Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine. The pair, who performed together in the Adelphi Theatre’s Phantom sequel Love Never Dies, performed one show on October 1st and a further two shows on October 2nd. Karimloo and Boggess were joined on stage by Barry James as Monsieur Firmin, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry, Gareth Snook as Monsieur André and Wynne Evans as Piangi as well as special guests and a 200-person-strong supporting cast and orchestra. Producer Cameron Mackintosh said: “It is amazing to think that the extraordinary success of The Phantom of the Opera is about to celebrate 25 years. The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary. One of the great strengths of The Phantom of the Opera is that being set in an opera house, its production is totally theatrical. So we felt that there could be no better 19th Century theatrical auditorium in London for this occasion than the Royal Albert Hall.”

Royal Albert Hall

Love Never Dies’ Phantom Ramin Karimloo confirmed his performance schedule in the show for after  the cast change on 5th March. Ramin extended his contract for six months until 3rd September 2011, but he has a new reduced new performance schedule playing the role of Phantom in Love Never Dies London for six shows a week,  probably with Mondays and Thursdays off. Ramin also mentioned a record deal and some show dates for his group the Sheytoons.  If you’re lucky enough to have seen them perform you’ll know they are great songwriters.

According to a report by Variety magazine, Cameron Mackintosh is launching a tour of The Phantom of the Opera in 2012, with the tour director for Les Miserables directing the production. Mackintosh told Daily Variety the Andrew Lloyd Webber blockbuster will be produced in an all-new version. Directed by Laurence Connor, it will feature new sets and costumes by Paul Brown and lighting by three-time Olivier Award winner Paule Constable. Mackintosh said the production will open at a regional UK house. The tour of Phantom is something that has been mooted in the West End for some time. It is the 25th Anniversary of Phantom in October this year with rumours of a special concert at the Royal Albert Hall. So a tour next year would make sense. Also Ramin Karimloo who has just extended his contract to play the Phantom in Love Never Dies has been tweeting that he has an exciting project lined up for next year  

The Love Never Dies London cast changes tonight 9th March 2011 at the Adelphi Theatre. David Thaxton, who is nominated in this year’s Olivier Awards for his role in Passion, replaces Joseph Millson as Raoul, Celia Graham takes over from Sierra Boggess as Christine and Haley Flaherty will replace Summer Strallen as Meg. Ramin Karimloo stays on as the Phantom.

From the 5th March 2011, Love Never Dies gets a new Raoul in the form of David Thaxton taking over the role from Joseph Millsom. David Thaxton Sierra Boggess is also leaving the cast, to head for Broadway where the former Christine will star in Master Class with Tyne Daly. The role of Christine in Love Never Dies will be taken over by the current Christine’s understudy, Celia Graham. Other changes are that Celia Graham (who is currently Christine’s understudy) will take over the role from Sierra Boggess who is heading to Broadway to star in Master Class with Tyne Daly. Ramin Karimloo stays on as The Phantom extending his contract for an undsiclosed period, but he’ll be one of the few Love Never Dies originators since Summer Strallen  is also leaving to go on a tour of Top Hat the Musical with Tom Chambers. Haley Flaherty (Rocky Horror Show, Mamma Mia, Follies, Grease, Chicago, Saturday Night Fever) is taking over as the new Meg Giry.

Ramin Karimloo (the Phantom) and Sierra Boggess (Christine) will be starring in a concert on Friday Night is Music Night broadcast on Friday 17th December on BBC Radio 2 from 8:00pm-10:00pm. If you miss it on the night and you are a UK resident don;t worry because you will be able to log in to the BBC Radio “Listen again” service, the iPLayer – a link to the exact show will be provided here later. Ramin and Sierra from Love Never Dies sing a selection of music about the masked men of stage and screen with a programme that includes songs from Robin Hood, William Tell, The Masked Ball, Batman and Spiderman. Andrew Lloyd Webber gets to introduce the pieces from his own shows including The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies with Ramin and Sierra accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Simon Lee.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies will have its Australian premiere in Melbourne’s Regent Theatre in May 2011. Lloyd Webber said the Australian production will have its own unique stamp, produced by his Asia Pacific representative Tim McFarlane and directed by Melbourne’s Simon Phillips with  a new design by Sydney based Gabriela Tylesova. Nationwide auditions will begin on Monday October 25th - the same day tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster. Ramin Karimloo who is playing the Phantom in Love Never Dies at London's Adelphi Theatre  recently announced that he will be leaving the show next year (no date yet fixed) to join the show when it opens in Toronto which is meant to be the pre-Broadway stop over.  Maybe he'll now be heading for Melbourne?via wwwmusicaltheatrenews.blogspot.com Part speculation, but I doubt if Ramin Karimloo is doing the Autralian opening so soon before being committed to the Toronto production of Love Never Dies Posted via email from Love Never Dies

Another great set of photographs by Estefania y Arantxa Álvarez, this time of Ramin Karimloo who plays the Phantom in Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London.

Love Never Dies By the time many people read this the free tickets competition will be over, so I’ll write about why I think you might like to consider Love Never Dies theatre breaks anyway. I guess you may have already seen The Phantom of The Opera ? The most successful piece of live entertainment ever, it’s been on long enough. Or maybe your parents enjoyed it thirty years ago when Michael Crawford played the Phantom. Well Love Never Dies is a continuation of the story, but with completely new twists. The scene is set ten years after the incident at the Paris Opera House, and the Phantom is now presiding over a huge entertainment complex at Coney Island, New York. He manages to manipulate Christine and Raoul into sailing across the Atlantic and into his lair. But there’s much more than that… Some of the music in Love Never Dies comes from the operetta genre, some from light entertainment and some even from a rock background. This is the fusion which Andrew Lloyd Webber does so well. The staging, sets and costumes are magnificent, so you really do see a big musical theatre event up there on the big stage. This is certainly not one of your small cast and minimalist aesthetics plays, like many even in the West End, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess are both star quality singers in the lead roles and it’s nice to hear the full orchestra getting a proper work out. Love Never Dies Did I mention the free tickets? Love Never Dies Tickets Competition One pair of top price tickets have been donated. That’s worth around £180 normally. Now, you’d need to be able to get to the London Adelphi Theatre for tomorrow night, Saturday 9th October 2010. So if you are in London anyway, and can clear out all of your prior engagements to be free then you’d do well to nip over and quickly enter the simple competition on the Love Never Dies blog. The odds are not against you! Here’s the link again… http://www.loveneverdiesphantom.co.uk Love Never Dies Theatre Breaks If you don’t have easy access to the capital then buying London theatre breaks packages with the tickets and convenient hotel room plus optional discount rail travel is nearly always the best way to go.

Other London Theatre Breaks to see West End Musicals

The Wizard of Oz The Phantom Of The Opera Les Miserables Ghost

Love Never Dies London Extension While waiting to see what’s happening with the planned transfer of Love Never Dies to Broadway, the show in London has announced an extension with booking now available for tickets until March 2011. Love Never Dies had been announced for a Broadway opening this spring with London leads Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo transferring to the Neil Simon Theatre, currently showing a Beatles Tribute show. But US reports say the British musical’s arrival this season is now very unlikely, so perhaps this freed up the stars to extend the London production. Love Never Dies with a new set and production has been mooted for Australia and then Toronto, before Broadway now. It seemed that some of the key people working on the Broadway production have defected to another show entirely, such is the musical theatre business! Neil Simon Theatre - not for Love Never Dies

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ramin Karimloo will be a guests on the Michael Ball Show on Saturday September 10th.

Michael Ball will be hosting an exclusive interview with Webber about Love Never Dies as well as his production of The Wizard of Oz. Ramin Karimloo of course plays the role of The Phantom in the Adelphi Theatre production of Love Never Dies. The episode can be seen live on ITV1 on Friday September 10th at 3pm in the afternoon, or later on the ITV Player at : http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=the michael ball show Michael Ball and Andrew Lloyd Webber have worked together many time in the past, for example when Michael played Raoul in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London, and Alex in Aspects of Love at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London and on Broadway. Michael Ball DVDs

Recommending Love Never Dies Theatre Breaks Love Never Dies is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s not exactly  sequel to Phantom of the Opera. I saw it in previews, liked it very much but was not quite ready to recommend it for theatre breaks fans. I wanted to see if the show settled down and to let ‘his Lordship’ make the inevitable changes a preview period brings. Now the show has settled and people are happily booking their Love Never Dies theatre breaks and having a great time. ** Book Love Never Dies Theatre Breaks ** The Story of Love Never Dies Set on Coney Island, New York some 10 years after the events of Phantom, Love Never Dies is a more grown-up story of love. It has lost some of the teenage fascination with the Gothic that is such a huge part of the power of Phantom and in its place there is a much more human set of characters. There are plenty of places online where you can find a synopsis of the story but my advice is to go to the show without any preconceptions and enjoy it for what it is, a powerful piece of theatre, full of spectacle and gorgeous music. Love Never Dies  Music I just adored the music. Some people thought there were not enough memorable tunes but my house rang to much whistling and humming for days after we saw the show. I think the music is more interesting and I actually enjoyed it more than Phantom (gasp!).  Speaking of the gorgeous music just listen to the divine voice of Sierra Boggess: Click here to view the embedded video. Oh and how about the utterly wonderful Ramin Karimloo: Click here to view the embedded video. And that’s without mentioning the great performance of Summer Strallen as Meg Girey! Love Never Dies theatre stage set I thought the set was mostly wonderful. There’s good use of back projection and special effects but it’s the Art Nouveau aspects that just blew me away. Some of the sets looked like exquisite pieces of Art Nouveau jewelry or spectacular Tiffany lampshades. At times I was reminded of the film set of Moulin Rouge, but then I loved that too! It made a wonderful backdrop for the passionate story. A big question:  One show or two? I know people were worried that they haven’t seen Phantom and would find it hard to follow the story. In our party we had someone who had never seen Phantom and she said that within the first ten minutes she had worked out enough to make sense of what was happening. She didn’t feel that not knowing the back story spoiled her enjoyment at all. Having read all the fuss about certain bloggers and forums I think there have been more problems with the devoted ‘Phans’. They’ve had to let go of their preconceptions about what the Phantom could be like and his relationship to Christine. People were too quick to judge a show that was still being ‘tweaked’ and seem to have forgotten that Phantom had its share of problems when it opened. I’ve seen both shows and I think the ideal solution is a double show theatre break. No one is offering one yet but there are rumblings from one or two of the agencies. Never fear as soon as they are available I’ll let you know! ** Book Love Never Dies Theatre Breaks ** a

Ramin Karimloo, star of The Phantom of the Opera and next year’s world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom sequel Love Never Dies, along with I’d Do Anything’s Sarah Lark, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?’s Abi Finley and other musical stars have recorded the September released concept album for BLUEBIRD, a passionate new musical set on the homefront during the Second World War. Normally priced £13.99, the 24-track CD, produced by Escape Records, comes with 12-page souvenir booklet.

Bluebird is a passionate new musical, set during World War Two and charts the story of ordinary people living in extraordinary times. It tells the heartbreaking story of Roberta Jones (Sarah Lark) as she comes to terms with her husband Pete (Stephen Weller) going off to war. Roberta, a nurse, soon meets the charismatic U.S. serviceman Ben (Ramin Karimloo) and a friendship grows, much to the disapproval of best friend, Jane (Abi Finely). Ramin Karimloo remarked: It was great to help out a new and up and coming British composer. (Gareth Peters) He has put his heart and soul into this project. I think he’s done a great job and was honored to be asked to take part in it and also have a song written for me. It was also a lot of fun to go back to singing with a rockier sound.

Technorati Tags: Andrew LLoyd Webber, bluebird, british composer, musical, musical stars, Ramin Karimloo, Roberta Jones, Sarah Lark, souvenir booklet, Stephen Weller

Theatre Breaks Roundup for 2009 Winter 2009 is here and I’m just wondering what sort of a year this has been for theatre breaks. There’s been a recent survey that assures us reality TV has actually boosted ticket sales. The  box offices are claiming the credit crunch has had little effect on bookings with theatre usually full. So what’s been the reality? Theatre Breaks Shows In terms of shows one or two have closed early but the old favourites like We Will Rock You carry on. Avenue Q was saved from oblivion by popular demand and has moved to a new theatre. The Lion King is as popular as ever and proudly boasts that it is so well booked that it has NEVER released tickets to the reduced ticket agencies. Some good shows reached the end of their natural life and wonderful though Spamalot was it really was time for it to say goodbye. It’s been replaced by Priscilla and that has been a fair swap. Carousel never really quite hit the spot and its closure wasn’t any great surprise. It was sad to see the end of Cabaret and a shame they couldn’t take a leaf out of Chicago’s book and find a constant stream of new familiar faces to keep us going back.  Joseph went too and no doubt was mourned by thousands of Lee Mead fans but it was another one that seemed ready to go. No doubt it will be back someday. One show I thought should have done better was Spring Awakening, which I just loved. All that energy and a theatre full of young people the night we went. I felt positively ancient, and that’s a good thing! (honest!)

Oliver has of course been a total triumph with Jodie Prenger making a real name for herself. Who would have thought she’d still be there doing 8 shows a week nearly a year later? What a star. I saw her at West End live this year and she has a super voice and a lovely stage presence. She managed to upstage Christopher Biggins, to great comic effect and that takes some talent for comedy! I think we’ll see more of Jodie once she moves on but for now she seems happy where she is. She’s on her 3rd Fagin and this is the one I’d really like to see. I think Griff Reese Jones will make a great Fagin and be well worth seeing. Hairspray has seen some major changes with the departure of Micheal Ball. Still Phil Jupitus is doing a grand job and Brain Connely was very well received in the part. I wonder how long Micheal will stay away, I’m sure I heard somewhere that he’s thinking of coming back to Edna. We hope! Wicked is going from strength to strength and is the most popular musical at this witchy time of year. Kerry Ellis is just a distant memory now and Alexia Kadhim has made her own interpretation of Elphaba. I think she has a lovely voice, quite different to Kerry’s but wonderful all the same: Click here to view the embedded video. New shows coming in include Legally Blonde which I was less than keen on when first announced. Since then I’ve had a good look at the videos on youtube and listened to the cast recordings and I might just change my mind. It might be fun and has the sort of casting that makes me want to see it. What to say about Love Never Dies (apart from “I can’t wait!!”)? Well it’s definitely going to be a huge event and it should be a spectacular in the best Lloyd Webber tradition. The Coney Island setting should give it a great atmosphere, you know how creepy fairgrounds can be. We’ve all seen Scoobydoo   It’s got two fabulous stars in Sarah Boggess and Ramin Karimloo (I’ve been doing this so long I can now spell these names without flinching!) In the next part of this series of posts I’ll look at the travel aspects and prospects for theatre breaks in London 2010. a

Related posts:Alexia Khadime in Wicked Theatre BreaksJodie Prenger at West End LiveJersey Boys Theatre Breaks

Love Never Dies is the new musical which continues the story of The Phantom Of The Opera, opening in London in March 2010 with Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is sparing no expense when it comes to the set, cast recording, workshops and anything else necessary to make sure the music lives up to its famously successful precessor at least in some part. Now we have news that the promotional website for Love Never Dies is to include an intricate simulation of the original Coney Island funfair, which is where the Phantom has his domain in the new story. The blog explains: an interactive ‘Coney Island Experience’ is being created which will transport you to the Phantom’s new home, located in the Island’s funfair. By exploring the funfair you will be able to take part in various themed online games and compete with other members of the Love Never Dies Community.

So all you rollercoaster tycoon fans out there have a real theme park mass online dungeon adventure game to look forward to! Wow.

The New Phantom of the Opera – David Shannon David Shannon is the actor who replaces Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom Of The Opera on November 9th 2009. Ramin Karimloo will do his last show as the Phantom on the 7th, until he plays another phantom role next year in Love Never Dies. David Shannon from Les Miserables David Shannon recently completed a run in Les Misérables as Jean Valjean.

( audio only ) From the evening show of the 10th October, which was the last day of David Shannon (Valjean), Earl Carpenter (Javert) and Katie Hall (Cosette) in the 09/10 West End cast, so some passages might be a bit emotional. Spine tingling stuff and a great choice for the Phantom I think! His other stage credits include Miss Saigon, Whistle Down The Wind, Cats, Martin Guerre and The Beautiful Game. Other Cast Changes in the Phantom of the Opera Other new faces to The Phantom Of The Opera cast include Rebecca Lock, Nicky Adams and Tabitha Webb. Rebecca Lock, most recently of Avenue Q who takes over as the awful Carlotta. Nicky Adams, joins as Madame Giry and Tabitha Webb will alternate in the role of Christine with Gina Beck.

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Related posts:Phantom of the Opera Ramin KarimlooPhantom of the OperaPhantom of The Opera 5 Facinating Facts

Ramin Karinloo: Phantom has Asperger’s According to an interview published in the Telegraph last month, Ramin Karimloo star of The Phantom of The Opera and Love Never Dies said he believed the Phantom showed clear signs of the condition known as Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a form of autism. Sufferers often have difficulties with communication and social relationships. According to Ramin Karimloo, who joined the London production of Phantom of The Opera two years ago, the autistic spectrum and asperger’s in particular could explain the Phantom’s eccentric traits, his musical genius and his difficulty with social interactions which led him to hide away beneath the Paris Opera House for all those years. It’s an interesting theory, which could also help to bring better public understanding of the increasing common condition of autistic spectrum symptoms but it seems to me that Ramin Karimloo is completely ignoring the effect of the Phantom’s facial disfigurement and hence the mask in the story which is set two centuries ago. But never mind, “I saw a documentary on Asperger’s syndrome and it made a lot of sense to me,” said Karimloo. Ramin Karimloo was born in Iran and has been central to the launch of Love Never Dies, the long awaited Phantom story continuation which Andrew Lloyd Webber says “is not a sequel” Love Never Dies with Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess opens in London in March 2010 at the Adelphi Theatre, and then later around the world.

Technorati Tags: Andrew LLoyd Webber, asperger, autistic spectrum, facial disfigurement, Iran, Karinloo, london, paris opera house, phantom story, Ramin, Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, social interactions