The Wheel House is a delightful diversion from today’s rainy start to the Memorial Day weekend. UK-based circus theater Acrojou’s rolling house is powered by actors who call to mind the folksong “I’m away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o!” Architizer calls it “A Wheel-Shaped Mobile Home For Acrobats.” The troupe has performed The Wheel House in Ireland, Holland, France, Belgium, Spain and Israel, and in the Piccadilly Circus Circus at the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
The Beauty Underneath from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, Australian Production. Photo via Facebook.com/LoveNeverDiesAU
In 2010, when Love Never Dies premiered in London and was expected to open in New York, our first thought was the sequel to Phantom of the Opera would bring tourists to Coney Island, where the musical is set. Imagine people coming out of a Broadway theater humming “The Coney Island Waltz” and being lured out to the real, live Coney to trace the Phantom’s footsteps. It could still happen, thanks to a new film version of the successful Australian production of the musical. According to the recently debuted Facebook page Love Never Dies: Broadway, “It is destined for Broadway, so stay tuned for news!”
ATZ went to see the first-ever U.S. showing of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies on the big screen last week. The film of the critically acclaimed Melbourne production will be shown again in theaters across the U.S. on Wednesday, March 7th at 7:30 pm and a DVD will be released on May 29.
The musical is set in 1907, ten years after the fire at the Paris Opera. As the impresario of “Mr Y’s Phantasma,” a vaudeville extravaganza in the heart of Coney’s Electric Eden, the Phantom commands a phalanx of gorgeously costumed–okay, we’ll say it–phreaks! A trio of them are sent to greet Christine, who has traveled from Paris with her husband Raoul to sing an aria for Phantasma’s closing show of the season. What she doesn’t know is that it is the lovesick Phantom who has paid a fortune for the command performance.
Bathing Beauties from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, Australian Production. Photo via Facebook.com/LoveNeverDiesAU
The Phantom fled here with the help of Madame Giry and her daughter Meg, the ballerina turned “Sweetheart of the Midway.” Meg is delicious in “Bathing Beauties,” a saucy stereoview card brought to life. She also has one of the best Coney lines ever: “Well, here’s the way it works on Coney Island: They make you pay for every little crumb.” But we can’t tell you why without giving away the ending. The twists and turns of the story are over the top, but the haunting melodies, high-caliber performances and lavish costumes and sets kept us entranced.
The set design is a marvel of catwalks that resemble roller coaster tracks and a tent that reveals a whirling carousel. One of our favorite scenes is “The Beauty Underneath,” in which the Phantom takes Christine’s 10-year-old son on a tour of his phantasmagorical world. Set to the throb of electronic rock, the song asks “Have You Ever Yearned To Go, Past The World You Think You Know? Been In Thrall To The Call Of The Beauty Underneath?” Human curiosities writhe inside glass prisms as the lights of Luna Park-like towers and rides glimmer in the background.
If you missed Zero Boy‘s electrifying one-man show at Coney Island USA in October, we highly recommend that you get yourself over to the Gershwin Hotel tonight at 8 pm to see and hear “A Trip to Coney Island with Uncle Zero Boy.” The audience is the nephew.
“I do a comic romp through the past, present, and future of Coney Island,” the virtuoso “vocal acrobat” told ATZ in a Q & A with Uncle Zero Boy last month. “It’s sort of like a cartoon of certain big historical elements starting with the beginning of Coney Island all the way up to the 80s, 90s, to now. It is a Zero Boy style show in that it’s like Bugs Bunny going through history.”
Read the full Q & A and watch a video clip of the show here.
RT @MarkTreyger718: The only “rot” I see is the pathetic attempt at humor by @StephenAtHome at the expense of a resilient neighborhood such… 4 days ago
RT @MarkTreyger718: Our Coney Island amusements are suffering. It’s time for the State to issue reopening guidance for outdoor amusements s… 5 days ago
