The Show Must Go On ALW YouTube Channel

Tend to buy MT on DVD so already have everything released so far....hoping for some archive footage of Starlight,Aspects,Sunset etc if it exists...having said that well done to ALW and his team for putting this material out as a positive move at such a stressful and challenging time...also enjoying the great man’s video material on You Tube especially the Q/A stuff....👍

Yes I think you're right! I was coming here to say just that as Ramin has just tweeted that those in the UK who missed it, can watch on Sky Arts tomorrow as it “goes back” on there. I guess Sky own the rights to that performance as they tend to show that, Les Mis 25 and Saigon 25 semi-regularly so they “let” ALW put it on YouTube for 24 hrs. 

Many thanks for the heads up on the Sky Arts showing of Phantom tonight.

I’d say one of those two will end up being Love Never Dies, given that there is an already released recording.

Agree with what xanady and chernjam said.

Is great that these things are all being released, but it is of course all old DVD stuff, that certainly I have owned (and watched many times) for years.

Although having said that I have been surprised by the number of people that had not previously discovered them so it does seem to have found a new audience for old material.

But yes, I would absolutely love some archive films of actual musicals filmed in their West End homes. The big 4 I would just adore to see are Sunset, Aspects, Starlight and Cats.
Reasons I think it will never happen:
- ALW is obsessed with quality and so would want loads of post production which can't really be done (easily) in lockdown and would be expensive.
- Would be a nightmare re rights and contracts - they'd probs owe so many cast and crew would be very complex.
That said I still hope we might get something.

Anyway, got me on to thinking - why do they (and ALW in particular) so rarely film shows as they are in the theatre? I think it's almost impossible to capture the essence of a West End musical on film anyway. But films of the stage show pretty much unaltered come closest for me - Miss Saigon being a recent good example.
Out of the ALW stuff, for me the 90s Cats DVD comes closest - and that's as it basically was a film of the then large scale touring version.

Was chatting to my friend viserys about the Joseph DVD. Despite being based on it, it somehow fails to capture the essence and wonder of the Palladium 1991 production entirely. They should have just filmed it in the theatre I reckon.

Wonder why ALW seems so reluctant to film in theatres?
(Only one that comes to mind is Love Never Dies; God how I wish was the London production they'd filmed!)

Yup, you're absolutely right!

But was very much the fabulous Prince Edward production :-) 

(Though I would add Drury Lane Miss Saigon (and Palace Les Mis in fact) to the list of things I dearly wish had been filmed!)

I’m hoping he digs deep for at least something ‘unseen’. Sunset is unlikely to happen considering the movie version (supposedly) in the works and various rights issues, but I’d quite like to see an archive recording of Stephen Ward - it’ll be in HD and presumably edited reasonably well, plus he seems to have a soft spot for that show - maybe now is his chance to see if there’s an audience for it? I don’t know if it was recorded, but there was a wonderful career retrospective ‘Unmasked’ workshopped at The Other Palace a year or two back. I’d imagine there were very little rights issues to overcome if he wanted to stream that for a day or two.

It's Love Never Dies next. Available 48 hours from Fri

Seems an odd choice given it’s just about to tour. Unless the tour is being pulled? 

LND was on Amazon Prime for ages...might even still be there?

They must have had a change of heart as it's now the 50th Birthday celebration from the Albert Hall