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The power of Social Networking seems to have struck the theatre where it does not want to be hit : careful management of the theatre ‘critics’ is no more.

For the past month, there have been previews of the eagerly awaited Phantom of the Opera sequel “Love Never Dies”. Attendees have rushed into copy on blogs and other social networks - the news is not good for Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

Are bloggers more influential than critics from the Press?

 

The online critics savaged everything from the performances to the set and ticket prices.

One theatre blog, West End Whingers, has even dubbed the show “Paint Never Dries”, describing it as tedious and dull, with the blogger saying he reworked the title because the show was like “watching paint dry”.

On the influential theatre discussion forum, www.whatsonstage.com, there are 84 pages of pre-first night reviews. While there are some positives in the posts, some say the show is “tired” and “lacking in surprise”.

[The Lord at the world premiere last night]

One poster, who had been to see a preview, added: “I didn’t particularly care who lived or died. I just wanted to go catch the train home.”

Lloyd Webber has hit back, telling The Times that what the internet reviewers are watching are previews and not the finished article.

He said: “It is a problem now because if you go back in history, I dread to think what anybody would have said about the first preview of Cats, or, frankly, Les Misérables, which was a huge undertaking and wasn’t right at the beginning.”

This new breed of online critics is a bit of a headache for London’s theatreland.

Even in an age of Twitter and Facebook, there is still a gentlemen’s agreement with the mainstream media that reviews will be held until after the Press night. Social media is changing that.

Love Never Dies has taken advance bookings of £9m on a production cost of £6m. Dates are pencilled in for the US, Asia and Australia.

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