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It was always going to be a bold and potentially divisive move to attempt to follow-up a spectacular musical success such as The Phantom Of The Opera. Yet that’s what Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to do, when he picked up the story ten years afterwards, for Love Never Dies. On stage, the show is technically demanding and visually stunning, whilst keeping a surprisingly intimate love story at its core. And the transferring of the production to Blu-ray has worked surprisingly well. If you’re wary of dry recreations of musicals on disc, then worry not: Love Never Dies is presented exceptionally well.

There’s one element of the disc release in particular that it’s worth dwelling on, and that’s the audio. The exceptional surround sound mix featured on the disc is terrific and engulfing, and adds terrifically to the on-screen visuals. You can’t ever recreate the feeling of watching something like Love Never Dies in a packed auditorium, yet this release runs it surprisingly close.

What’s also included is a look at the making of the show in the first place. This is quite an insightful piece, filling in some of the background to Love Never Dies, and what brought it to life in the first place. It complements the main feature very well.

And that main feature? Love Never Dies, perhaps inevitably, never reaches quite the same heights as Phantom. But it does still work, really very well. It’s a welcome extension to the story, with music that’s set to stick in your head for some time afterwards. Recommended. --Jon Foster

Set 10 years later, the Phantom has escaped from Paris to New York where he lives amongst the joyrides and freak shows of Coney Island. He has finally found a place for his music to soar, all that is missing is his love Christine Daaé. In a bid to win back her love, the Phantom lures Christine, her husband Raoul, and their young son Gustave from Manhattan, to the glittering and glorious world of Coney Island... they have no idea what lies in store for them...

You truly haven’t experienced Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies until you see this spectacular new Australian production, filmed at Melbourne’s iconic Regent Theatre.

Bonus features: The Making of Andrew Lloyd Webbers’s Love Never Dies