JosephReviews

Angus Jackson’s atmospheric, moody production maintains our interest thanks to a particularly compelling performance from Joseph Millson, who is one of the most versatile and interesting stage actors around today. He has leading man stature - as demonstrated by his beautiful comic turn as Benedick in the RSC’s last Much Ado About Nothing - but he also has a rare quality of being able to animate blank, underwritten characters like Raoul in the original production of Love Never Dies (and he can hold a note, too). Here, he ideally captures an apparently settled man, resigned to his life and fate, the foundations of whose life are so powerfully shaken. The Stage

Millson makes Ben a compelling study in henpecked decency and self-forbidden desire, a man who tortures himself by watching the woman of his dreams date others. Evening Standard

Joseph Millson gives a brave performance as an archetypal dullard, allowing those around him to deliver all of the fireworks. British Theatre Guide

Millson, straight from playing alcoholic gambler Raoul in Love Never Dies, is a deliciously awkward dentist whose expressions – never quite smiling, never quite frowning, face an ever-shifting treacle of emotion – present a man who, after so many years of disinterest, doesn’t really know how to live any more. Official London Theatre

Joseph Millson also captures exactly the shy, goofily smiling tentativeness of the dentist who is afraid of total commitment. The Guardian

Raine's tour de force has a clever foil in Joseph Millson, who makes the dentist – a cavity as far as personality goes – into a skilful portrait of weakness. The Observer

For all that, Rocket to the Moon is winningly humorous and poignant too, with Ben's repressed desperation beautifully conveyed. The Independent

Joseph Millson plays the irritatingly indecisive Ben in mid-life crisis with fully believable self-conflict... ...Rocket to the Moon does not represent Odets at his best but nonetheless by the end you feel that you have been on a journey with the characters. Exeunt Magazine

Millson is terrific as the seemingly ineffectual Stark. He has perfected the art of a nervous smile and curled top lip. The only problem is one of plausibility: it simply doesn’t make sense that he doesn’t have any patients: why aren’t people queueing up to be drilled and filled by such an easy-on-the-eye practitioner? All fears of lying in a dentist’s chair exposing ones cavities would quickly be assuaged by the charming Mister Millson. If novocaine seemed to have been injected into the opening moments it soon wears off and Angus Jackson’s production builds gently to become very engaging. The cast are all rather good. Hawes makes an impressive stage debut and sports her striking millinery with aplomb. Millson and Raine are outstanding. The set by Anthony Ward, effectively lit by Mark Henderson, is agreeably convincing witrain in the last scene, though the period detail of the surgery is only tantalisingly visible through blinds. Frustrating. All very polished. West End Whingers

That is now stunningly articulated in the tender, heartfelt rapport between Karimloo’s Phantom and the shimmering, simmering beauty of Boggess’s Christine. Joseph Millson also brings a dramatic poignancy to the character of Raoul. Just as Raoul cannot compete with the allure of the Phantom, neither can this show ultimately shake off the associations of the masterpiece that it has come from but then again, nor should it. It cannot compete. Instead, it now provides a wonderful, powerful continuation of its potent legacy that is as dramatically alluring as it is musically magnificent. The Express

The principals shine, Ramin Karimloo a threatening and unpredictable Phantom, Sierra Boggess, a troubled Christine who makes the title song a showstopper, and Joseph Millson, bruising and bruised as her drunken husband. Lloyd Webber's score is one of his best, not just in the romantic sweep of the title song and at least one other, but in the range of musical styles... ...It's a good musical that has got better and rewards a second viewing. The Independent

...the second act is superb. Joseph Millson's Raoul is allowed some heart... ...as Karimloo and Millson circle round Christine, Bob Crowley's design pared back to a striking mix of blackness and gilt, the songs finally get you in the gut...so Lloyd Webber's music impresses in the first act, transports in the second. The Times

Joseph Millson’s powerful Raoul, a dejected drunk, becomes the new thwarted Phantom... ...The dramatic quality of performance has improved and deepened - Liz Robertson is a forbidding Madame Giry, Millson superb in the Hopperesque night bar. The Stage

Some self-styled "phans", fixated on the original show, are outraged that Lloyd Webber has rejigged the love triangle. Personally, I don't give a monkey's. Why not take a new slant, with romantic hero Raoul morphing into tetchy husband (top-class actor Joseph Millson, who also has a fine singing voice). While Raoul hits the bottle, Sierra Boggess's Christine – yearning for a second brush with the dark side – is drawn into eerily echoing duets with Karimloo. Undeniably, Lloyd Webber can write a haunting melody, and everyone's going to come away from this show with earworms – tunes that just won't go away. Kate Bassett - The Independent

...the British composer has delivered a sequel in "Love Never Dies" that is as handsome as the original and filled with infectious melodies, startling images and wonderful performances... Millson, Robertson and Strallen also have their moments to shine as Lloyd Webber shakes up the musical tone with lively dancing girls and even some prog-rock... The Hollywood Reporter

Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess sing superbly as the Phantom and Christine, with a real spark between them. Boggess is especially fine in the soaring title song, and Karimloo deftly combines menace and vulnerability throughout. Meanwhile Joseph Millson memorably captures the self-destructive Raoul. The Telegraph

So when this now highly successful soprano and irreplaceable Muse of the Phantom fetches up for a singing engagement at Coney, with her hard-drinking, disaffected gambler of a husband, Raoul (excellent Joseph Millson), it is with the Phantom's own 10-year-old son in tow... Paul Taylor - The Independent