May 5
❤️ Masquerade to the West End! ❤️
seen from Germany
seen from Canada
seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye
seen from France
seen from Russia
seen from Belgium
seen from Vietnam
seen from Poland
seen from Türkiye
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from T1
seen from Türkiye
seen from China
seen from Poland
seen from Russia
seen from Belgium
seen from Türkiye
❤️ Masquerade to the West End! ❤️
a-and-h replied to your post :
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
are there any international stars who could play the lead roles like they did in Sweden?
Granted Peter Jöback is a huge name in Sweden, I’m not sure I would call him an international star. Musical theatre performers rarely experience international fame, regardless of how many countries they have performed in, unless they’ve also had a successful film career (Julie Andrews, Hugh Jackman, to some degree Idina Menzel).
Then there’s Anton Zetterholm, who in large is a familiar name in musical theatre in Germany and partly in Sweden. But again I would be hesitant in calling him an international star. Also the ballerinas, where only a handful were Swedish, but albeit with different nationality and worldwide performances, I might not directly call them stars. Although they are in MY eyes ;)
The casting situation has been similar in Copenhagen. The original cast was predominantely Danish, except for the ballerinas. The first replacement cast featured many from the just-closed Hamburg production - Vera Borisova (Carlotta), Björn Olsson (Raoul) and Marcello Ronchietto (Piangi). In addition several Swedish Christines and Carlottas - Mia Karlsson, Viktoria Krantz, Eva Malmgren, Malin Landing, Teresia Bokor etc. But they seem in large to have preferred Danish leads, especially in their Phantoms.
However, Det Ny Teater does interesting and overall good casting, often going for “unknown” names, and at odd times for celebrities. They might surprise us big time. Buuuut I would be more surprised if Tomas Ambt Kofod and/or John Martin Bengtsson is NOT one of their Phantoms.
Why wasn't Mathias Edenborn principal Phantom in LSN Hamburg? Seems like it would make more sense. Obviously they couldn't get Valerie Link because she was pregnant, and Nicky was probably too young for 'ten years later", but it seems weird that Mathias was the alternate and not principal.
Hmmm. Casting “too young” leads for LND has never seemed to bother the people in charge. I mean, Ramin/Sierra was like retracting 10 years from the characters’ age rather than adding it. Same with Ben/Anna in Melbourne, and frankly same also with Gardar/Rachel Anne in Hamburg.
Only in Tokyo (Masachiko Ichimura) and in Copenhagen (Louise Fribo) did it seem like they remotely cared about giving the leads a believable age/appearance. So I don’t think that’s why they didn’t cast Nicky Wuchinger as Mr. Y. Probably rather because they wanted him for POTO Oberhausen.
I was surprised to learn that several POTO Hamburg cast members auditioned for LND Hamburg but didn’t even get callbacks or were cut early on. I got the feeling they intentionally wanted to go for new people, and that they wanted to keep the “safe” and solid performers in Phantom. I was actually surprised they went for Mathias Edenborn in LND at all, both because they seemed to go for more classically trained voices, and because almost all other performers from Phantom was ruled out. I guess that maybe also answers why he wasn’t cast as the lead. They went for the big(ger) operatic voices.
It’s true Valerie Link could be ruled out because of her pregnancy - but she was in fact already cast as Christine in POTO Oberhausen, so even if she hadn’t gotten pregnant she would not appeared in LND. That’s why they had to recast the role in a hurry and went for a safe card - Elizabeth Welch.
So in short, they kept most Phantom folks in POTO Oberhausen, went for brand new (and mostly foreign) folks for LND, and the focus for LND was larger, more operatic voices?
Do you know who got called and why for the royal albert hall performance? I think all of them were in phantom before and some were long time performers but how did they choose who to call?
I know that the at-the-time current West End cast were all invited, and some starred in minor/cameo roles. Sofia Escobar and Claire Doyle as additional Il Muto maids, for example. Some of CamMack’s favourites, like Earl Carpenter and Katie Hall, were also invited, and was given equal minor roles - Carpenter as the Auctioneer, and Hall as the Christine double in the title song. Rosemary Ashe also played the Confidante in Il Muto. Other than that, basically everyone else in the cast was alumni, from the show opened in 1986 and to current times. Though in large UK performers, and few or none international performers. I assume this was because of logistics and Equity concerns?
As for the leads, I think both ALW and CamMack got to pick some each, or were in agreement anyway. I remember reading that ALW had previously seen or heard original Carlotta Kiera Duffy in Candide, which was why she was offered the role after a video audition:
“Cameron Mackintosh’s office (producer) contacted my management, who in turn contacted me, in early August asking if I might be interested in the project.
There wasn’t time to assemble everyone in London for a proper live audition. They asked for a video audition so I called my pianist friend, slapped on some diva-like makeup since I was singing for the part of an opera diva, drove to Philly, recorded the excerpts on my iPhone, drove home, somehow figured out how to put them on YouTube with only a private link, and sent them off to my manager.I received an email from Mackintosh’s office saying they were very impressed by my dedication and chutzpah, and I got offered the role. What a whirlwind! I couldn’t believe it!-I heard that Andrew Lloyd Webber personally picked you and said something to the effect that your high-D note fried his speaker? I’m not sure that Andrew personally picked me or not, but they did tell me that my high D in the opening cadenza blew out one of the speakers on his iPad. Whoops!” ( X )
I also remember reading that Ramin Karimloo was invited by CamMack (in a now-gone Playbill article), while Sierra Boggess was invited by ALW:
“I’m in heaven because I love the show and the character so much,” said Boggess, who was personally tapped by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to star in the anniversary event“ ( X )
But again, I assume the composer and producer was very much in agreement.
I just don't get the concept of casting non-natives when there are people such as Thomas Borchert whom I would love to return as the Phantom in either POTO or LND.
It’s not that I disagree per se. I’d love to see Stage Entertainment focus more on native performers for the lead roles. But on the other hand, if productions should ONLY do native performers for the leads it means Ian Jon Bourg in Germany would never have happened. Or Marcus Lovett in West End. Mia Karlsson in Copenhagen. Saulo Vasconcelos in Mexico City. Michael Shawn Lewis in Stuttgart and Antwerp. Björn Olsson in Hamburg, Basel and Copenhagen. Peter Karrie in Toronto. Colby Thomas in Hamburg. Ethan Freeman in Vienna and Essen. Joke de Kruijf in Vienna. Stephen Brandt Hansen in Estonia. Renée Knapp in Hamburg.
Basically, some of my favourite performances would never have happened if productions went by a “locals only” rule. And that’d be a pity. Sometimes you just have to go for the best ones, or the ones best fitted for a specific cast combo. But sometimes the US heavy creative team is biased towards people they’ve performed with before. And in THOSE cases I’m thinking it’s annoying, as there were frankly many locals who’d do a better Oberhausen Phantom than Brent Barrett. And not casting any Germans in the leads for the German LND premiere was a bit of a slap in the face too. A casting they continued in POTO Paris, except they at least hired a French Raoul.
So I agree with you that sometimes there are just as good native performers ready to play a role, and sometimes the symbolic value of casting locals is bigger than going by however felt most right in the moment. But from there I won’t automatically think locals “deserve” a lead role more than a foreign performer. It’s a choice to make at every casting.
Did you hear that Kaylee Ann Voorhees is already leaving Phantom? Maybe that is why they did vide submissions?
Well, they likely knew that Kaley would be leaving, because many people’s contracts don’t linger on for years and years. 6 months-12 months isn’t odd! But it’s my theory that Tara Rubin is trying to move into more digital auditions, because they’re so big on keeping people’s records in their files, and this was their test run of sorts. I do think they are legitimately considering these videos, but I think it was also an experiment to bring the agency into the digital age!
Another 2 Cents
Re: James Barbour casting:
Point 1: This is a man who has, in the past, used his status as a Broadway performer to sexually assault underage girls
Point 2: POTO is a show that has a diverse fan base, but a huge chunk of that fanbase is young girls.
Point 3: There have been vulnerable young girls who have taken the story of POTO a bit too far... to the point where they find the idea of an older, violent/obsessive/abusive musician mentor as romantic.
Point 4: These ladies (and other phans) clamor to the stage door to meet the performers. They also will happily accept backstage tours (because seriously, backstage tour).
Let's add these points up. Points 1+2+3+4= Bad Casting Choice
I won't deny that this performer may have a tremendous talent. I won't deny that it's totally possible that he's been on his best behavior for the past seven years. I won't deny that he still has to make a living. But none of these facts erase the first four points I made. It's still putting young people at risk. However great his audition may have been, it's not worth the risk (especially since I will bet every last asset I have that there are at minimum, dozens of equally talented performers without a criminal record.)
I can understand people who think we should ignore a persons' character and cast solely on audition/talent. If we lived in a better world, we could do that. But we don't live in a better world, so we need to step up and take more responsibility for preventing awful things from happening.
(And as an audience member, how physically ill would you feel if you realized you had just applauded a child molester?)
So what's your advice for people who want to be the next Phantom, Christine, Raoul, Carlotta, etc? Should they go to the drama school or conservatory?
It really depend on what you want to do with the rest of your life… Cause you don’t do an education for that one role you wanna play? In the past casting favoured the grand voices, but today casting is more diverse and more musical theatre oriented. Both drama school and conservatory will be a solid fundament, as long as it gives you singing AND acting ability. In POTO a good voice is essential, but good acting is also essential. For Christine and Carlotta I wanna say solid pipes can still push the scale in casting, while it for the Phantom and Raoul is often more in the acting or the overall package. But there’s of course lots of exceptions to the rule. My general advice is as always (no matter your education) experience-experience-experience. Get on stage. Get to perform, to find a rhythm, pick up tricks in the craft from professionals, explore roles, try out singing in a choir and singing solo, challenge yourself with choreography, feel what costume and makeup adds to a role, get performing on a daily basis under your skin. School will give you the fundament, but what you learn while doing your craft is invaluable. And everything you learn will be of use if when finally hitting POTO.