Why LND will definitely close in LONDON now

[chernjam]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 2:43pm

After reading the article last week about how LND has struggled in London, and how ALW went wild for the new Melbourne production, and basically wrote the entire London one off as something he knew wouldn't work back during dress rehearsals, I think it's only a matter of time now that he kills the London production. Using the Melbourne production as his excuse saying that he will bring it to London in the very near future...

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 4:11pm

Do you have the inside dirt or is this a psychic prediction?
Did LND recoup in London?

[billyboyA]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 4:18pm

Think his curtain speech comment about needing an Austrlian immigration lawyer after the great reception to opening in Austrlia will ruffle a few feathers in the London theater community. I thought it was a poor choice of a joke. Nothing like a big public F.U. To London theater...

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 4:22pm

"Why LND will definitely close in LONDON now"

This thread title was just to get attention wasn't it? At least I can only assume it was since this is just your little opinion and has no factual content whatsoever.

[chernjam]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 6:05pm

Sorry I didn't mean to imply I had inside knowledge... Of course its speculation. Can't imagine ticket sales going through the roof in London when the creator is now quoted saying "it just didnt work" and that "this Production is what I had envisioned and hoped for"

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 6:20pm

Do you have a link to the article you're referring to?

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 6:22pm

"the creator is now quoted saying "it just didnt work""

He was quoted as saying that 18 months ago...

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 6:58pm

Recent Article from the British Daily Mail

Andrew Lloyd Webber is battling to keep his musical 'Love Never Dies' running in the West End, even though it has lost £4million and stands little chance of recouping its costs.
Plans were well advanced to close the sequel to the phenomenally successful 'Phantom Of The Opera' by the end of the summer, and replace it with something that might make some money.
But the composer has been buoyed by a new version of 'Love Never Dies' that has its first night in Melbourne tomorrow. It has been directed by Simon Phillips, who headed the creative team behind the 'Priscilla' musical.
‘There is no decision to close the show in London,’ an executive involved with 'Love Never Dies', which opened at the Adelphi in London just over a year ago.
For a show that should have been a sure-fire hit, it has been beset by some of the bloodiest behind-the-scenes shenanigans seen in the West End.

The Adelphi is jointly owned by Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and the New York-based Nederlander Organisation.
Nick Scandalios, who runs theatre operations for Nederlander, has wanted a production to replace the loss-making 'Love Never Dies'.
To that end, Scandalios and his associates were working on a proposed revival of the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical 'Camelot'.
The idea was for the show to star Robert Lindsay, who had been approached and for it to be directed by David Leveaux.
'Camelot', about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, has a dull and weighty book, but the plan had been to cut it back and concentrate on the songs, which include If Ever I Would Leave You and I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight.
But 'Camelot' is on hold now — for how long, no one knows.

‘We’re just about to phone Scandalios and tell him not to close 'Love Never Dies' because the Melbourne version is previewing very well,’ the executive close from 'Love Never Dies' explains..
Lloyd Webber wants to introduce into the Adelphi show all the advances he and Phillips made in Melbourne. But that would mean shutting it down (again, because you may recall it was closed for a week earlier this year while Bill Kenwright ‘redirected’ it) and giving it new sets, costumes and cast.
Even harder would be persuading the public to shell out between £50 to £67.50 for
an untested product although there are heavily reduced seat prices to be had.

Many of those who worked on 'Love Never Dies' in London blame Lloyd Webber himself for its failure to take off. They insist that during rehearsals and previews last year the impresario refused to allow a single note of his score to be cut, which meant there could be no changes to the show’s structure. It’s easy to understand why Lloyd Webber wouldn’t want to cut his score — it’s one of the most beautiful he’s ever written.
But his recalcitrance caused mayhem behind the scenes and led to director Jack O’Brien, designer Bob Crowley and others asking lawyers to intervene.
'Love Never Dies' cost £5.5?million to put on and has returned about £1.3million to investors. Its producers aren’t allowed to raise further funds to keep the show running, so the Really Useful Group has for months been funding it itself. To do so, they slashed running costs by £15,000 a week.
The producers admitted to investors recently: ‘All of us are devastated that a project so full of promise has come to this pass. It’s hard to explain fully.’
Indeed it is.
Really Useful claim they can afford to keep 'Love Never Dies' running because it’s ‘haemorrhaging peanuts’ rather than haemorrhaging to death

[castlestreet]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 8:23pm

When the LA Sunset was better reviewed than the OLC, once LuPone left the show he shut it down for a while to put in the changes made in LA. Now considering that we are talking major changes with Love Never Dies, I still wouldn't be one bit surprised if he were to shut the show down for say three months, maybe less, and bring the Australian production elements and changes to London's West End.

Just a thought...

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 9:15pm

I think they would have problems fitting the melbourne production into the Adelphi Theatre.

[chernjam]

Posted: 5/30/11 at 9:41pm

Thats why I can see ALW closing it in London by the end of the summer. Now that he's emphatically endorsed the Melbourne Production and completely dissed the London production, he can close this for however long he wishes, saying "it never worked" and that he is excited to bring this new version "in the future" (remember we here in NY were going to hear exciting news in the near future when they initially postponed due to ALW's health) So that buys him time, distance from this debacle. Give the Melbourne production time to run there, Sydney, tour Asia - go to Toronto and NY if that tour works - and THEN come back to London.

[billyboyA]

Posted: 5/31/11 at 1:43am

It cost 5.5 million to make? Sounds like mere pocket change in light of the Spider-man budget, doesn't it?!?! Haha

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 5/31/11 at 3:58am

I agree, the Melbourne production looks way too big for The Adelphi.

[edyw32]

Posted: 5/31/11 at 5:33am

It is interesting that if you read into the "ecstatic" reviews for the Melbourne production of LND is that most critics praised the sets and were less rapt about the music and criticized the weak book and appalling lyrics. I was gobsmacked how blatant a carbon copy of Phantom, that LND was. I guess a good set can make the punters happy???
check out my opinion if you care
https://glenwj.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/beware-wet-paint
hallelujah to Paint Never Dries - gotta love the whingers