Favourite Phantoms

Here's MY Phantoms...

Of those I've seen live:
Peter Jorde, Earl Carpenter, Flemming Enevold, John Owen-Jones

Others:
Mikael Samuelson, Michael Crawford, Masachica Ichimura, Saulo Vasconcelos, Hugh Panaro, John Cudia

My favourite Phantoms are Earl Carpenter and Nic Greenshields (London), and Attila Czengeri (Budapest).

In order...

Hugh Panaro
Mikael Samuelson
Jeff Keller
Mark Jacoby
Tim Martin Gleason
James Romick
Anthony Crivello

Michael Crawford
Michael Crawford
Michael Crawford
Michael Lackey
Anthony Crivello/Brent Barrett
Brad Little
Franc D'Ambrosio

R.

Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little

phantomgirl110 wrote:Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little

You forgot to add Brad Little!

I forgot to add Colm Wilkinson and Mike Sterling!

operafantomet wrote:

phantomgirl110 wrote:Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little

You forgot to add Brad Little!

Oh, how silly of me! Yes, Brad Little is one of my favorites too.

phantomgirl110 wrote:Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little
Brad Little

Somehow I knew that was coming "Feather Girl".

For me Michael Crawford will always hold a special place since it was his voice and acting in the role that initially drew me into Phantom. It was on a TV special for President George Bush Senior. Go figure. I never got to see Michael live in Phantom but I did get to see him perform various Phantom parts live in concert a number of times.

Fav. Phantoms I've seen live are:
edit: I have to put Peter Karrie up here now. No I didn't see him in Phantom but after seeing what he was like when I played "Christine" opposite him in concert, he makes it into the top of my list.
Anthony Crivello
Brent Barrett
Mike Sterling
Scott Davies
Ciaran Sheehan

I hope some day to get to see Michael Lackey. I have a feeling he might launch into #1 from how I've heard him described as the Phantom.

Would also have loved to have seen Anthony Warlow live in the role. Love his voice!

I used to have a whole list of tiered rankings of the various Phantoms I've been exposed to, but that was lost to the POL crash last year or the year before (whenever it was). These remain my nine favorite in basically the same order they've been for awhile, with some jockeying for different positions depending on my sometimes altering tastes.

1.) Colm Wilkinson
2.) Michael Crawford
3.) Steve Barton
4.) Davis Gaines
5.) Peter Karrie
6.) Mark McKerracher
7.) Kevin Gray
8.) Mike Sterling
9.) Ethan Freeman

I've only seen three Phantoms live (Thomas James O'Leary, Brad Little, and Stephen Buntrock), and wasn't all that fond of any of them.

IAN JON BOURG!!!! GO IAN!!!!

#1 Michael Crawford
(no explanation needed, I'm sure...)

#2 Simon Pryce
(amazing vocals, gorgeous acting)

#3 Earl Carpenter
(his acting was...wow)

1. John Cudia
2. Brad Little
3. Andrew Varela

Colm Wilkinson! Then John Cudia ties with him, which I didn't think was possible until I saw his last performance of the tour's Toronto stop two years ago! Then tied for second place would have to be John Owen Jones (at least from what I've heard on YouTube *Wow!*), and, believe it or not, Paul Stanley! Ok Ok. So his voice isn't perhaps all that it could be. But I really felt that he got the character!

A fan of Paul Stanley? Wow. I'm a fan of his because I'm a huge KISS fan, and I appreciate his passion for the role and the work he put into doing it. I think he does understand the character, even if the results weren't exactly good.

The best I have ever seen by a country mile is Howard McGillin, truly stunning. I like Anthony Crivello too and Michael Crawford's original performance. I am a big fan of Warlow and would love to see him.

Nic Greenshields was excellent and I have a soft spot for John Owen Jones (although he is miles better in Les Miserables and IMHO the best person to have ever played the role of Valjean, I cannot wait to see him again on the tour!) Earl Carpenter was great as s/b but changed his performance when he got full time and let himself down IMO by becoming generic, such a shame.

Easy to pick just one for me:

Ramin Karimloo!

I'm a sucker for Howard McGillin and John Cudia, but that's mostly because they were my first Broadway/Tour Phantoms.

I also LOVE Kevin Gray and Gary Mauer. I'll even listen to Peter Karrie on some days. Hugh is obviously phenominal as well. I adore Ramin, Franc, and Davis also. I just like stage Phantoms in general.

EDIT: I forgot Earl! I love Earl too.

The two phantoms that I just loved are Earl Carpenter and Nic Greenshields. Am still hoping that Nic comes back one day!!

Happy about all the Earl Carpenter love here. From the moment I saw him as standby Phantom in London I knew he was a special one. Definitely my favourite English-languaged Phantom, at least of those I'v seen live. Probably of 'em all too.

I could never get into Earl's Phantom for two reasons: one, his baritone voice always seemed strained reaching into his upper register (a problem one of my favorite baritone Phantoms, Steve Barton, sometimes had, but not to nearly the same extent, but a problem another of my favorite baritone Phantoms, Davis Gaines, did not have), and I also just didn't like his voice in the role in general (though I do like it when he plays Javert, for whatever reason); and two, he brought some brilliant acting choices to the role, but they almost always seemed to be too clever, too conscious, like he was trying and thinking too much, rather than being natural. I'm a method guy, like MC. Even PK and a couple of my other favorites sometimes have irked me for being seemingly contrived and rehearsed in their affectations on some occasions.

1.) Anthony Warlow
2.) Gary Mauer
3.) Hugh Panaro
4.) John Owen Jones
5.) Earl Carpenter
6.) Eiji Akutagawa
7.) Peter Karrie
8.) Ethan Freeman
9.) Juan Carlos Barona
10.) Michael Crawford(sorry Jeff)
11.) Henk Poort
12.) Timothy Nolen

Enjolras wrote:12.) Timothy Nolen

Interesting. Despite his issues with the score and the producers' issues with his liberties with the score that led to his shortened run in the show, he was quite a good Phantom, perhaps not living up to his predecessor, but who can? I was lucky to see Nolen in an Opera Company of North Carolina production of Don Giovanni three years ago, along with a former tour Carlotta (Kelly Cae Hogan).

SenorSwanky wrote:

Enjolras wrote:12.) Timothy Nolen

Interesting. Despite his issues with the score and the producers' issues with his liberties with the score that led to his shortened run in the show, he was quite a good Phantom, perhaps not living up to his predecessor, but who can? I was lucky to see Nolen in an Opera Company of North Carolina production of Don Giovanni three years ago, along with a former tour Carlotta (Kelly Cae Hogan).

Well I just love the sound of a bass-baritone.

Enjolras wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:

Enjolras wrote:12.) Timothy Nolen

Interesting. Despite his issues with the score and the producers' issues with his liberties with the score that led to his shortened run in the show, he was quite a good Phantom, perhaps not living up to his predecessor, but who can? I was lucky to see Nolen in an Opera Company of North Carolina production of Don Giovanni three years ago, along with a former tour Carlotta (Kelly Cae Hogan).

Well I just love the sound of a bass-baritone.

Me too. I tend to like Phantoms and Raouls with deeper voices. In fact, among my nine favorite Phantoms, there are four baritones (Barton, Gaines, Freeman, McKerracher) and only one, maybe two or three true tenors (MC, and I'm not sure about Gray and Sterling), along with two baritenors (Colm and PK).

SenorSwanky wrote:I tend to like Phantoms and Raouls with deeper voices. In fact, among my nine favorite Phantoms, there are four baritones (Barton, Gaines, Freeman, McKerracher) and only one, maybe two or three true tenors (MC, and I'm not sure about Gray and Sterling), along with two baritenors (Colm and PK).

What did you think of Matthew Cammelle as the Phantom, then? He had a rather nice baritone.

operafantomet wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:I tend to like Phantoms and Raouls with deeper voices. In fact, among my nine favorite Phantoms, there are four baritones (Barton, Gaines, Freeman, McKerracher) and only one, maybe two or three true tenors (MC, and I'm not sure about Gray and Sterling), along with two baritenors (Colm and PK).

What did you think of Matthew Cammelle as the Phantom, then? He had a rather nice baritone.

I'm not familiar enough with either his Phantom or Raoul to say, though I don't remember really being impressed with his Phantom.

Ramin Karimloo's definitely my favourite. I used to love Earl Carpenter and though he's very talented, I think his voice is much better suited to other roles, such as Javert that he currently plays.

Earl Carpenter's definately my favourite Phantom, with Nic Greenshields a close second. Vocally, John Owen Jones is my favourite. He was the first Phantom I saw and I wish I could have seen him more than once. The only other Phantom I've seen is Ramin Karimloo. I wasn't a fan of his Phantom until I saw him at the beginning of the month, and I really like him now.

None other then Peter Karrie. I've also seen his own show more times then I can rember and he usually finnishes off with Phantom songs.

I also like Dave Willetts but not as much. Dave was the very first Phantom I've seen.