nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

You don't have to buy it. You never have to listen to the album. I don't get what the big deal is. If it causes you such a great degree of distress, why not just ignore it?

Excellent. I've seen some clips of the Melbourne production and it looks good.

The bad aspect: This now glitzy sequel is being recorded while the original has not been, 25 years into the mission.

The good aspect: From all I've read, the production of the DVD, if it actually happens, is the sign that ALW/RUG have finally given up on the show and are trying to get some of their money back AND not taking the show to NYC or anyplace other than Australia and points East.

Makes the original Phantom look minimalist...
But it has Sharon Millerchip. That's a plus.

The DVD will be released in February 2012.

Original Phantom IS minimalist... in its own way. Most of the sets is a "black box" stage with drapes and one or two elements added. There's a lot of blank areas on stage, which gives room for the ornamental costumes to work as set pieces as well. That said, it's not a true minimalist piece by far, and it's definitely not cheap to produce. But the scenery is less opulent than people think.

I'm a bit divided in my opinion on a LND DVD. I love what they've done with the design in Melbourne, but I think the actual musical still is bad, with the possibly worst libretto Andrew Lloyd Webber has ever presented to the world. The libretto is in large unchanged in Australia, and hence the problems which marred the London production is still around, just with a nicer package. So I'm looking forward to the visuals, but I wish the splendor belonged to a decent musical and not the turkey that is LND.

Well, Andrew Lloyd Webber can't really be blamed for the libretto, as he's the composer, not the book or lyricist. I know he's credited on the book, but I suspect he's more in overall story, than the book itself.

Having *ahem* heard the Melbourne version, it's not that bad. It's supposed the be the revised London version, plus more changes, with Charles Hart brought in to go over the lyrics. Reportedly, no song retained entirely the same lyrics as the original, ranging from minor to total changes.

I like that it is clear the Meg is happy to see Christine, and her mother poisons her opinion, saying she's threat, and they will be discarded because of her. Meg now does develop a clearer reason to snap, even telling Raoul to not let Christine sing, because she will ruin Meg, and be ensnared by the Phantom again. She gets to sing "Devil take the hindmost" at the end of the quartet, after she has been told the Phantom ignored her. Her reprise of "Bathing Beauty" to aggressive strings when she is confronted is good. It's the Phantom's fault when Christine is shot, telling Meg "We can't all be like Christine" "Christine? Christine! Always Christine!"

The new song list, as I found it:
ACT I
Overture
Till I Hear You Sing
Coney Island Waltz/Monsters' Ball
Only For You
Mother, Was He Here?
Christine Disembarks
Arrival of the Trio
Journey to the Hotel
What a Dreadful Town
Look With Your Heart
That Long Ago Night
Beneath a Moonless Sky
One Upon Another Time
Mother, Please, I'm Scared
The Phantom and Christine
Backstage
Dear Old Friend
Gustave Visits The Aerie
Beautiful
Beauty Underneath
Phantom Confronts Christine (I think it should be called Christine Confronts Phantom)
Madam Giry's Rage

ACT II
Entr'acte
What to do With Me
Why Does She Love Me?
Meg and Raoul
Devil Take the Hindmost
Ladies and Gentlemen
Bathing Beauty
Mother, Did You See?
Christine's Dressing Room
Before the Performance (Raoul)
Before the Performance (Phantom)
Twisted Every Way
Devil Take the Hindmost (Quartet)
Love Never Dies
Ah, Christine!
Gustave! Gustave!
Please, Miss Giry, I want to Go
Meg is Confronted
Finale

Amazon.co.uk and Play.com have put up a release date for this: 12th March 2012. It's also available to preorder!

I believe Andrew can be blamed for everything involving LND. He was working on the Forsyth story and couldn't get it to suit him, consulted his old friend Ben Elton, who over a week-end wrote a four-page plot synopsis, omitting Forsyth's original characters. ALW took that and with Glenn Slater set to work.

Andrew wrote the story he wanted, he did the hiring and firing of lyricist and directors, he finally gave the Australian creatives the freedom to do whatever they wanted with the look of the show and the arrangement of scenes and songs, but NOT the freedom to change the story.

The story is the one thing that has been consistently criticized throughout all of the various changes and the one thing that remains the same. I don't see how anyone could conclude it isn't the story (and the libretto) he wanted and still wants. This show was his baby from the very beginning, and he has been much more than the composer of the music.

What Pastiche said!!!