The Phantom of the Opera - His Majesty's Theatre

They aren’t. They have been cheapened across the whole show.

There is, actually. I'm not an expert on costumes so I feel reluctant to comment, but I do know a couple of people who have previously worked on the costumes, know them extremely well, and they can instantly tell when corners have been cut. I'm not sure what you want by 'evidence' unless you mean a side-by-side comparison, but there's plenty of that on Tumblr if you want to look there (one such example here). The one I noticed as a costume layperson was Christine's Masquerade dress, which is why I mentioned previously that the bodice for that is simplified - it's lacking the beading it used to have. I have a suspicion a fair few of these costumes came from the Connor tour, where corners were cut to the point where the producers had to amend some of the credits following a request from Björnson's estate.

I don't quite know what you mean here. I'm saying that certain costumes are noticeably reduced/simplified and have given clear examples. sukhavati has posted above with further details of costumes that are objectively reduced/simplified. I don't understand how that can be a matter of debate. 

I didn't say why they had been reduced.

Alas I know one person who makes the decisions, but I don't dare ask.

I really applaud the fans of this show who believe in it so passionately and support and follow every production and development. It’s wonderful that something like a piece of theatre can have such a loving following. I wish I could say I loved it so much that it prompted me to get into arguments with strangers on the internet, but I’m afraid life is just too short.

For people who are enjoying the current production, I applaud you for putting your money where your mouth is, and looking deeper and still connecting with the material.

For those who don’t like the current production, that’s okay too. Please do try to see it before making your mind up though. Your rationale will always be more substantial and supported.

To those who are passionate and opinionated, thank you. That’s what art is for. Just be careful not to create such a wall around this thing that you love that it becomes inaccessible or off-putting to a whole generation of potential new fans, who will be just as passionate and opinionated.

Long may The Music of the Night play. In whichever production that might be, and however many musicians may be in the pit.

In 1999, a group of phans wrote an open letter to Andrew Lloyd Webber, demanding that Michael Crawford be cast as the Phantom in the film adaption. Presuming to speak “on behalf of Phantom fans worldwide”, the group told Lloyd Webber that they were “certain that, [he] above all others, [would know] that this film required” Crawford, and that casting literally else would not only “bury” the show, but show a lack of “courage” and “conviction”.

In 2009, a group of phans formed “Love Should Die”, a campaign “exposing the lunacy” behind a musical that no one had yet heard.

So it goes.

...And ALW/RUG ignored both, it seems. The result was the 2004 film with Gerard Butler in the title role (yeah...) and a show that pretty much bombed, was the laughing stock of the West End for while (didn't Ben Brantley say it may as well have had 'kick me' on its back?) and never went to Broadway, despite those hubristic plans at the beginning to open it simultaneously worldwide on 3 continents. 

Ah, well...credit to him here I suppose at least for figuring out there wasn't much love for the Laurence Connor version.

I've never understood the hate LND got, tbh. It's probably his best score. Only thing I don't get is why it was practically based on the Phantom in Manhattan novel by Frederick Forsyth, but seemingly without any credit? All versions of LND, other than the West End, including the North American tour, the Austrian concert, the Australian production, the Danish production, have all been critical and box office successes. People didn't like LND purely because it was a Phantom sequel. I mean look here... we literally have people refusing to see it because some candles don't move left or right.

The Oz and German productions weren't box office successes. Both lost money. Critically Oz was more favourable than London but the reviews certainly weren't glowing across the board. I know they like to spin the idea that Oz was a success, mainly in the hope that this narrative would launch a Broadway production (with ALW even claiming it could be like Madama Butterfly, which had a disastrous world premiere but then found success after the Brescia production), but the reality was that it didn't do well financially. It was supposed to go to Adelaide after Melbourne, which never happened because it just didn't sell. No idea about the Danish version.

And I think it's fair game to dislike LND because it's a sequel. I had no interest in a Phantom sequel and still don't. Either he gets the girl or he doesn't. If he does, then it undermines the ending of Phantom. If he doesn't, then it's a redundant story since we've had that story already. It didn't help that they then used a ludicrous book. And in fairness to those sceptical of the sequel, we knew for a long time that it was going to be based on Forsyth's rather terrible novella since that was mooted in the 1990s. LND didn't arrive ex nihilo in 2009/10; it had a fair amount of baggage already. And the ardent naysayers weren't wrong, IMHO, in decrying the character deformations that I assume offended them so much. They were rather unbelievable, and pretty much every critic said it (even Crawford did, rather diplomatically, in an interview in New Zealand!).

It's definitely fair to say that no-one knows what will be a hit and what won't. And I do like the fact that ALW doesn't play it safe with his choices. Though personally (not that I was ever asked) I would never have invested money in either the 2004 film once I knew they'd hired the man who did Batman & Robin to do it, nor in a sequel loosely based on a book that (quite rightly, IMHO) was ridiculed when it came out in the 90s.

Of course, that show was Tim Rice's baby (and idea) rather than ALW's. It's a shame ALW doesn't have much time for it, because it's probably his best score.

If anything the least daring subject-matter wise was LND. It seemed too keen to pander to a certain demographic that they figured would love a Mills & Boon fanfiction-esque treatment. But then sequels like that are usually borne out of trying to milk the commercial success of the predecessor.

I didn't like the execution or end result of Stephen Ward, but I *did* like the idea.

Whilst a great score, it's just so dreadfully boring on stage, isn't it? I've seen two different productions and genuinely just find it so incredibly boring. I don't know why. Same with West Side Story.

I think Webber is in a position where he is seen as somewhat "uncool". The recent revival of Woman in White was just sublime and deserved so much more credit. I also wondered if it was meant for something more - why would he rewrite it, create a "final" version, only to shove it in a low-capacity off-West End theatre? The cast was epic. I'm still gutted there wasn't a cast album. I loved Stephen Ward too - wonder if it would have been better in a smaller theatre, such as the Charing Cross Theatre... 

You mean Evita? 

Ooh...I can't agree there. Hal Prince's production was thrilling and so theatrical. The original Broadway production in particular could never have been described as boring. And I liked Grandage's one at the Adelphi too (less so on Broadway). Though if your experience of it was Kenwright and/or Regent's Park, then I can understand why you didn't like it. And it goes to show why a bad production can let down what could otherwise be a great show. It's the magic and curse of the theatre, I guess, the fact that nothing is tied to one production. This is why some of us, I guess, on this thread, just want shows we're fond of to be shown in their best light. Some posters have mocked quibbling about little details, but often it's that the crucial 5%/10% that can be offbeam that can let a show down. I think ALW's own Sunset is an example...a few tweaks to the original version and the result in LA came across as so much better.

And...I like West Side Story too, so...