Bad Boy Father Figure

Love Never Dies is set ten years after the Phantom's disappearance from the Paris Opera House. He has escaped to a new life in New York, where he lives amongst the screaming joy rides and freak-shows of Coney Island. He lures Christine, who is struggling in an ailing marriage to Raoul, to Coney Island in a final bid to win back her love. The Australian production features a 21-piece orchestra and a 23-strong cast including Ben Lewis as the Phantom and Anna O'Byrne as Christine.

There are over 300 costumes and a magnificent Helpmann Award-winning set illuminated by over 5000 light bulbs. When Lloyd Webber saw the production, he exclaimed: "It's one of the finest productions I've ever seen of my work, anywhere!"

This high praise is not lost on Phillips. "He was amazing actually," he says. "We were pretty nervous by that point about him seeing it for the first time, but he was really thrilled with it."

While nostalgic references to The Phantom of the Opera abound, audiences will be surprised by Love Never Dies, Phillips asserts. "It's ten years later and takes the characters into a different time of their lives, and different realms of concern. Christine is now a mother, so rather than it being a teen fantasy, which the original was – it was the Twilight of its day! – the characters are older and Christine is living this life married to Raoul and not being sure if it was the right choice."

But the powerfully resonant themes of the original prevail. "It's a really sexual story in a not particularly bodice-ripping way," Phillips laughs. "The Twilight analogy is not as frivolous as it might seem, because it's really about the idea of the unattainable and 'the other' having this force of attraction and being frightening, dangerous, out of control and sexy at the same time."

The relationship between the Phantom and Christine has been examined countless times as a metaphor for human relationships; but according to Phillips, if their relationship does reveal anything about us, it's not good.
"It's kind of shameful," he argues, "because the original Phantom is founded on a lot of classic suppositions about sexual attraction – the father figure, the controller, her being the muse, him having his force over her. So it's not really very politically correct! The Phantom combines both bad boy and father figure!"

Phillips recently hung up as boots as Artistic Director of Melbourne Theatre Company, with more than 60 productions under his name, including his swan-song show, The Importance of Being Earnest with Geoffrey Rush. He is no stranger to successful interpretations of big musicals, having directed the Australian and London productions of Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical.

Phillips's next major project is the Australian production of An Officer and A Gentleman, which will have its world premiere in Sydney next year. However he admits he will miss running a theatre company. "I will miss the ability to control my destiny, and more importantly the destiny of some other people. There are many things about running a theatre company that are incredibly difficult, but the nice thing is that you can make things happen."