A rant for a rant.

Well, it has been a while!  Time and work commitments have taken over, and we have missed our blog!  This particular rant has been coming for a while.  Ever since we heard about the "Love Should Die" campaign (they say it`s not a campaign to close the show, but they lie...) we have been somewhat bemused and a little angered by it. The internet is awash with folks spouting their opinions.  Guilty as charged sir.  Freedom of Speech and all that, we applaud it.  But we do find it sad that people will devote so much time giving out negative energy about something which, let`s face it, is really NOT THAT IMPORTANT. Oooh, capitals -we must be cross.

Of course there should be forums and websites to campaign against the ills of the world, things that really count.  Come join us on http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ and take small steps to making the world a fairer place, please do. But does the fact that Andrew Lloyd Webber chose to write a sequel to HIS own musical really matter?  Some may have protested about the creation of the musical in the first place...not doing justice to the original novel.  It happened with the Miz.  Yet here we are, 25 years on and both still running.  Surely if the Lord fancies writing a few new (in our opinion stunning) ditties - why should that cause such negativity?
We realise its largely the plot and characterisation they object to, but considering the campaign began before the show opened and has the tagline "Phantom needs no sequel", we would question any of its arguments.



Frankly, the "Phans" (ugh...superfan alert...) would have disliked anything.  Therefore they are merely protesting against the fact of the show.  Any show linked to their beloved original would not be good enough.  I wonder how many of these people has actually seen the show? They certainly seem to have spare time on their hands....

Fair enough, we may well feel the same way if a sequel to the Miz was written, where Marius and Eponine turn out to have been Gavroches legitimate parents, and Javert was actually fiddling his expenses all along.  But we certainly wouldn`t be spending every waking moment bleating on about it, reposting negative twitter comments, and sending reams of handpicked (because they concur) negative reviews to any poor soul who expresses a desire to watch the show.  The methods they are using are utterly ludicrous.  They entreat people to:

"tweet your dislike for the show for all the world to see!"
"join in the group discussions (click the LIKE button)" (Irony??)
"Are you seeing The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway? London? Live in Australia? If so, be sure to download and print our LSD Campaign Flyer to distribute at the show and around town. If you’re shy, just leave a bunch around the theatre lobby, bar, brochure/advertisement stands, and public mingling areas. Or if you’re really vocal, you can hand these out before and after the show, during intermission...you get the idea. It works great if you’re wearing an LSD shirt! Just hand them out and let the reader make their own choice."Seriously??????????????
If they really aren`t campaigning against the show in the hope of its closure as they claim, why the hassling of potential and actual ticket buyers? That`s the equivalent of someone following you round Tescos, and when you pause to decide on which loaf to buy, bombarding you with flyers to dissuade you from buying it. They then bang on about how they don`t like that sort of bread because its not as good as the bread they have been buying for the last 20 years. In fact, you are a moron for liking that particular loaf.  Pretty irritating, no?
Poor Ramin Karimloo, a man who expresses nothing but positivity and kindness in his interaction with people on public forums such as twitter, does not deserve crazies attempting to derail something he worked hard to create and neither do the rest of this stunning cast.
So you don`t like it? Don`t go, but please, for God`s sake - shut the hell up.

To be honest, part of us is reluctant to post this entry, as we fear it may lead to curiosity killing the cat, and the website getting undeserved hits.  Indeed, we wonder if any LSD member has questioned who is actually profiting from the sale of T-shirts, keyrings, mugs etc....? 
Oh, we are sure all proceeds are going to a worthy cause.  Like setting up a support group for sad obsessives perhaps.

However, we are gratified to find that the respective Facebook sites have the following stats....
Love Should Die- 1,864 members,
Love Never Dies 49,208.
In the manner of much research, this may actually lead us to question how much time the LND fans have on their hands..... but in the spirit of the LSDers, we will only consider evidence which supports our own argument, and draw you attention to the respective numbers.  Hurrah for positivity.

The Dalai Lama said..."Happiness does not come about only due to external influences; it mainly derives from inner attitudes."

In other words....Let it go.

Peace x