All the Music of the Night Trivia Quiz

Answer: During the final curtain calls after "Il Muto"

The chandelier usually crashes at the conclusion of the first act, after the reprise of "All I Ask Of You." The Phantom commands "Go!", and the chandelier crashes while Christine and the ensemble from "Il Muto" take their final bows. This is foreshadowed, however, by the Phantom stating that poor croaking Carlotta is "singing to bring down the chandelier" in Act I of "Il Muto." During the ballet scene, yet another thing is "brought down": the dead body of Joseph Buquet, the chief stagehand, drops hanging from the stage rafters. The film pushed the crash further back to add to the pandemonium after "The Point of No Return," which fits the slightly changed dramatics of the film nicely.

Answer: The ballet scene from "Hannibal"

Sergei Polunin, principal ballet dancer at the British Royal Ballet at the time, played the role of Slave Master in the "Hannibal" rehearsal scene (to Gillian Lynne's great excitement). The ballet scene was therefore extended to give him some room to show his supreme dancing abilities, which he did masterfully. Those who were missing the elephant (like me) were quickly appeased by this extraordinary bit of ballet dancing (not to mention Carlotta's facial expressions and Piangi's "mistakes".)

Answer: fly

"Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendour" (first stanza after the introductory lines)
"Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar" (first bridge)
"Floating, falling, sweet intoxication" (third stanza after second bridge)
While the second-to-last line in the song is "You alone can make my song take flight," the actual word "fly" is never used.

Answer: His hands are shaking uncontrollably when Christine touches him

Towards the end of "The Point of No Return," Christine stands behind the Phantom (still thinking he is Piangi in character) and reaches for his hands. When the Phantom lifts his hands to meet hers, you can see them shaking uncontrollably, which I thought was a wonderful idea. Ramin Karimloo is also the first Phantom I've heard to date who actually makes an effort to imitate Piangi during the song, so it is much more credible that nobody notices the switch earlier. Some more of these little details are the Phantom covering his ears when Christine and Raoul sing the reprise of "All I Ask Of You," or Christine hardly believing that she just hit such a high note after "The Phantom of the Opera" (the vocalise at the end of the song really makes sense here). I also loved Piangi's antics during the Hannibal scene.

Answer: Meg Giry

Christine and Raoul flee from the Phantom after he releases the lovers. They can be heard singing a reprise of "All I Ask Of You" offstage while the Phantom zips around his lair, finally declaring "It's over now, the music of the night!" These are the last words to be sung in the show, but during the closing musical section, Meg Giry enters the lair, finds it empty, and picks up the mask that the Phantom left behind in his chair. Perhaps that was the reason why the writers for the sequel decided to have Meg fall in love with the Phantom. Oh, and did you wonder who "The Persian" is supposed to be? Read the book :)

Answer: Ten years

"Til I Hear You Sing," one of the major songs from "Love Never Dies," was moved to the very beginning of the show in the revised version, which is also the basis of the Australian DVD production. It makes sense, come to think of it, to have it as a prologue and introduction.

Therefore, the very first lines sung in the musical are "Ten long years living a mere façade of life / Ten long years wasting my time on smoke and noise..."

Answer: She has kept in touch with Meg Giry over the years

Christine is absolutely stunned to run into Meg and Mme. Giry on Coney Island, which makes it very clear that she and Meg have lost touch. Nearer the beginning of the show, during the duet "Ten Long Years," Meg is shown to reminisce fondly on the memories of her and Christine "dancing side by side" at the Paris opera, whereas Madame Giry is bitter and reproachful because Christine chose "beauty and youth over genius and art." Christine is an internationally acclaimed soprano and married to Raoul Vicomte de Chagny, but they have become estranged over the years. Raoul began drinking and gambling away most of his fortune, believing that Christine still loves the Phantom in some way (which is not quite wrong). During the show, it also turns out that Christine's son Gustave is actually the son of the Phantom, not Raoul.

Answer: Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

Kudos to Andrew Lloyd Webber for not yielding to the temptation of recycling the old score! "Love Never Dies" does contain some music from the original "Phantom," but only in musical interludes or transitional scenes: during "Ten Long Years (Duet)", Meg and Mme. Giry echo the "Christine, Christine" calls, and the Phantom is once seen to implore the "Angel of Music," a melody also played by the music box that Gustave finds.

The music of "Stranger Than You Dreamt It" features more prominently after "Once Upon Another Time." In Act II, Christine echoes "Twisted Every Way" before the performance, even with the original lyrics, but not the entire song. And the letter that Raoul leaves her after the performance is set to the music of "Little Lotte." On one occasion, even the famous "Phantom of the Opera" theme is hinted at, but only in the orchestra and for a very short time.

Answer: Bitter and hostile

To be honest, I am always reminded of Mrs. Danvers from "Rebecca" whenever I see the "Love Never Dies" Giry. It is quite a stretch from her "Phantom" personality, which was strict but fair and motherly, to the bitter hostility she expresses towards Christine even in her first scene. Especially when you consider that none of the things she holds against Christine were truly her fault: it was the Phantom himself who sent Christine away upon seeing her love for Raoul (at the end of "Phantom"), and it was the Phantom who led Christine to believe he was dead (as revealed in the dialogue after "Beneath A Moonless Sky"). Madame Giry is by far not the only character who doesn't make sense in "Love Never Dies," but I am willing to forgive the writers every time I listen to that beautiful, intense, thoroughly sequel-worthy music.

Answer: Meg shoots her

We already learn in the prologue of "The Phantom of the Opera" that Raoul survives his wife, but we never learned how she died, and I guess everyone just assumed old age after a long, happy life with her viscount. "Love Never Dies" shatters this assumption. Here's how it goes down:
Meg Giry, drunk and disillusioned, confronts the Phantom about how she sacrificed everything to him and he never even noticed her because he was only wallowing in his misery over Christine. The Phantom manages to calm her down until he makes the stupid mistake of "comforting" her with the words "We can't all be like Christine," which causes her to angrily exclaim "Christine! Christine! Always Christine!" While she is wildly gesturing with the gun, the weapon is fired accidentally, fatally wounding Christine. Meg is horrified (probably because she caused the most superfluous stage death ever). With her dying breath, Christine tells her son Gustave to accept his true father, the Phantom, by looking with his heart and not with his eyes.
I do have a lot of issues with the story of "Love Never Dies," because I feel that all the characters are completely off, compared to the original. The decision that Christine makes at the end of "The Phantom of the Opera" is completely negated by the fact that only a few months later she seeks out the Phantom (how?!) for a night of passion just before marrying the man who is supposed to be her true love. Giry's bitterness would be a bit more understandable if Christine's failure to keep in touch weren't due to the fact that she genuinely believed the Phantom to be dead. The Phantom is almost too nice and rational, none of his murderous obsession from the first part. Actually, Meg makes the most sense, because she was young and impressionable at the time of the "Phantom," so it is probably not completely unlikely for her to develop a crush on the Phantom, what with the way her mother pushes her and how dependent she is on him.
The music is gorgeous, however, and almost helps me forget the ridiculous plot.