“Love Never Dies” A Soundtrack Review
So I finally received the soundtrack for Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera sequel, “Love Never Dies”. I’ve had one of the songs from this musical, ‘Til I Hear You Sing as one of my Songs of the Week, and I love that song still as much as I did when I originally heard it.
The soundtrack as a whole I absolutely positively LOVE 
The one song that I’m still unsure of is The Beauty Underneath (a song between the Phantom and Christine’s son, Gustave). I understand what they were going for, they wanted a song that had the same rock & roll feel as the title song from original musical, I’m just not sure if this one worked. I think I would need to see the visuals along with the music to make up my mind on it.
As I said, I still love ‘Til I hear you Sing and what I also love is all of the reprises of it that occur throughout the show (especially when Ramin is singing it *cough*)
Another song I found myself enjoying a lot is Devil take the Hindmost between the Phantom and Raoul. The Phantom’s little digs at Raoul were just perfect and I found myself smiling because of them.
The voices of all of the actors are wonderful. I’ve already gushed about Ramin Karimloo (and will probably continue to do so – I think he’s my new favorite singer). Sierra Boggess as Christine has a voice so clear and beautiful it’s heavenly. Joseph Millson as Raoul does an excellent job at bringing Raoul’s new troubled attitude across in the music. And Charlie Manton as Gustave has a wonderful voice, it’ll be interesting to see where it takes him when he gets older.
I knew listening to Coney Island Waltz when it was first premiered that there were subtle hints to the music from The Phantom of the Opera, I didn’t realize just how much they would touch on that original music, though. Towards the end I was a bit surprised when Twisted Every Way came up as Christine contemplates the choice of whether or not to perform (much as she had to do in Paris in regards to the Phantom’s creation then, Don Juan Triumphant). Little Lotte also made an appearance towards the end. I liked these touches (as well as other small music queues throughout that hinted back to the original), I felt like it helped tie the two musicals together more so than just having the same characters, if that makes sense.
I have no doubt that this soundtrack will join the soundtrack of the original in regards to most played/listened to. Already some of the music is sticking in my head (and I’m finding myself humming it, particularly Coney Island Waltz) – this is a good sign, it means the music is memorable (at least to me it is). I truly hope that this musical does well, or at least well enough that I’ll have a chance to see it – whether that be via a touring production or, perhaps, even taking a trip to see Ramin himself in the roll in New York once it premiers there.
Don’t be surprised if some of the other songs from this musical become Song of the Week postings 
(though I’ll try to avoid any songs that might be overly spoilerish- or if I do have ones that are spoilerish, I’ll put the lyrics under a “Continue Reading” type of post)
Today I ordered myself a Nikon D3000 DSLR Camera. I looked at a lot of cameras and this seemed to be the best in terms of being an entry-level camera/good for beginners that aren’t too familiar with SLR/DSLR. It comes with the standard 15-55mm lens, and then the package I got it with it comes with a second lens – a Nikkor 55-200mm – as well as a camera bag and an instructional DVD. I’m also probably going to get a book by David Busch called “Nikon D3000 Guide to Digital SLR Photography” – it’s supposed to be a really good book (again, for beginners) about how to get great photos from the camera. The camera should be arriving either end of this week or beginning of next. So I’m hoping that within a week and a half or so I’ll have new pictures to upload to here and my 
, it is a fitting song for the holiday.
