Phantom of the Opera performers with the shortest runs and/or fewest performances under their belt (not counting rehearsals and previews, nor the run of vacation covers)
Jonas Holst: He was to be the principal Raoul in Stuttgart, but left before the show opened in October 2002, replaced by Michael Shawn Lewis. He was however photographed for the souvenir brochure, so there’s photos of him in the role. It also means he must have done at least a full dress rehearsal or preview. He also did POTO and LND in Copenhagen some years after.
Nigel Richards: Standby Phantom in West End in the autumn of 2009. I wanna say he did one performance before he left the cast shortly after. Story at the time was that he did not agree on the directing, which in all fairness he might have been right about. Principal Phantom David Shannon didn’t seem to quite click with the directing either.
Mira Ormala: Principal Christine in Oslo 2018, but had to bow out shortly after the opening because of illness. She did the premiere on September 7 and a handful of performances after that. But after September 12 all performances starred her understudy, Astrid Giske. She was soon promoted to principal. Which means Mira Ormala did some 6-7 performances as Christine (not counting previews).
Charlotta Brænna: She did many performances as such, as she was principal Meg Giry in Oslo 2018-2019. But she also understudied Christine, and only did one single performance in that role. She did however get to do the very last show in Oslo, which makes it rather memorable.
Jason Mills: His short run in the US Tour is still somewhat of a mystery. When he took over as the principal Phantom from John Cudia on November 29, 2007, it wasn’t long into his run people reported he was a hard Phantom to catch. Vocal issues was guessed to be the case. By early 2008 he seemed to have disappeared alltogether. u/s Stephen Twerksbury and principal Richard Todd Adams filled in as the Phantom for some months, until John Cudia returned in November 2008. I have no idea how many performances he did in total, or how long he actually was with the tour. But it should be mentioned that his track record with the show overall is quite solid, having previously played both u/s Phantom and Raoul on Broadway and the US Tour.
Mark Campbell: He originated the role of the Phantom in the Restaged US Tour, opening on November 27, 2013. But by January 9 he was replaced by Cooper Grodin. The press note said he left because of “personal reasons”. He was with the show for a month, which is more than others on the list, but it’s still not a long run overall.
Others to add to the list? (except the whole UK Tour revival cast...)
