Phantom of the Opera was ruined by an overload of sappy love songs, sung by a female soprano lead. Kim Vincelli (10) deems Phantom the “boringest play ever!” Andrew Lloyd Webber, the show’s composer, probably hadn’t learned that by the time he co-wrote with Ben Elton the sequel to Phantom, Love Never Dies. The show opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End theatre district on March 9th, 2010.

The sequel is set ten years after the events in Phantom; the plot revolves around Christine Daae (soprano lead) performing an anonymously written opera at the Phantasma theatre, a new attraction at Coney Island. Contrary to the belief put out by the 2004 movie starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum, Christine did not die.

“It’s probably going to be bad,” opinions Annelise Green (7).

Christine returns to the theatre with her husband, Raoul, and her ten-year-old son, Gustave. When the author of the new opera is revealed as the Phantom, the question of who really fathered Gustave arises. Spoiler alert! According to Sarah Murphy (7) Gustave is “the phantom’s. [The characters] figured it out.”

The Phantom is, of course, still mask-over-heels in love with Christine. Let’s hope he doesn’t kill anyone for her this time.

One of the main problems with creating a sequel to Phantom is that the masses believe that Christine passed away several years ago, due to the scene where the Phantom visits her grave in the movie. Therefore, there can be no follow up movie, which means less money for Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The second dilemma facing Love Never Dies, is that Phantom of the Opera was not very good to begin with.

Two men, one with anger issues, fall in love with dippy soprano. These two men come from completely different world, and one hides from the sunlight. Replace “soprano” with “girl” and you have the plot of Twilight. This is a plausible theory; Elise Hogan (10) “can see that.”

The girl then plays one of the men, promising that she will love him if he protects her. The song is called “All I Ask of You.” This is my least favorite part of the show; can’t Christine stand up for herself?

Here, the story differs from Twilight in that Christine/Bella chooses Raoul/Jacob. The actions differ, but the IQ level remains the same.

The biggest problem facing Love [like Christine] Never Dies is the lack of emotional attachment to all of the characters save one. Christine and Raoul are unbelievably flat. Christine is a soprano, which means that she looks and acts pretty, but has no intrinsic and beautiful depth. Raoul is nothing but a rich pretty boy. (At least Jacob has legions of fan girls.)

The Phantom completely supersedes Edward in the realm of emotional depth. He is the hide-away-character whose mystery and talent orchestrate the show. Mikey Ward (11) is “a “phan” of the Phantom.” (He specified that “phan” is spelled “P-H-A-N.”)

Love Never Dies will be attended by the die-hard Webber fanatics and Gothic teenage Phantom fan girls. I never watched New Moon, so you can be sure that I won’t travel to London’s West End to watch an actress sing only notes that will shatter my eardrums while putting me to sleep.