The London production 2

Where's he gonna be in Sunset? I'd love to see him as the Phantom in another production.

SenorSwanky wrote:Simon Bowman and Peter Polycarpou are other possibilities.

Yeah I suppose. Simon Bowman is doing a show, can't remember which in September. I did hear a rumour quite a while ago about Mark McKerracher but he's in the Bodyguard at the minute. He wasn't in the show until 94/95 so that's probably not considered as early on in the Production.

He'd be awesome too. Underrated Phantom. Not sure how his voice is these days, but he had a nice baritone back in the day, with a growling boom to his voice in the angry parts.

I'm just glad they intend to continue bringing back some oldies as long as its not Bowman, plus Bowman wasn't really there "early on"....

Ball said he's doing a show that he thinks its the right time/a good idea to be doing, he was offered Phantom a while back but he turned it down, he may very well have been offered it again and decided with the show celebrating 25 years it might be the right time.

Peter Karrie may be a bit old but certainly still able (and may I say more able than anyone else currently doing the role) to do it. Plus the fact that he was not featured at the end of Phantom 25 is an absolute, disgusting outrage *I personally believe he should've been the Phantom for those performances....*
Peter Polycarpou may be unique for shock value simply because no body would be expecting it, but the role wasn't even in his range in 1991, I can't imagine him having any sort of an easy time singing it nowadays.
I'd love to see Dave Willetts back but I'm wondering if he's still able to do the role, or at least as well as he did back then, mainly vocally as he never treated his voice well when he was in the show and his voice often times was very, very rough, could be a bit dangerous now that he's older.
Now Mark McKerracher would certainly be an excellent surprise but it just seems very unlikely, plus much like Bowman he wasn't there "early on".
I'd LOVE to see Barrowman do it simply for his voice, I don't know how his acting would hold up but I quite like his voice, and he got there around 1991 so that'd make sense.

I think the most likely choice for someone from the shows early days would be Michael Ball, i would say it's very possible that it could be him. I don't think any of the other Phantoms or Raouls from early on are likely, to me early on in the shows history would be within the first 3 maybe 4 years. So Phantom wise Michael Crawford, Dave Willetts, James Patterson, Simon Tunkin, Peter Karrie and James Graeme all played the Phantom(i'm including understudies, and i haven't included Martin Smith for obvious reasons.) out of those the only one that may be a slight possibility is Peter Karrie, the rest i'm 100% sure won't happen. Raouls during that time were Michael Ball, Michael Cormick and Robert Meadmore, i suppose any of them are possible but Ball is the most likely. But then who's to say it's not just someone who was in the cast back then rather than a principal?

what about Ethan Freeman, that would be devine.

please not polycarpou or Bowman, not too thrilled about McKerracher either, although his London run was teribly brief (not sure it even counts, I believe he was a very short filler between Freeman and Norman's run) although Grant Norman would be nice too.

justin-from-barbados wrote:what about Ethan Freeman, that would be devine.

please not polycarpou or Bowman, not too thrilled about McKerracher either, although his London run was teribly brief (not sure it even counts, I believe he was a very short filler between Freeman and Norman's run) although Grant Norman would be nice too.

Oh yes Ethan Freeman would be brilliant, i'd be happy with that. And yes McKerrracher's London run was very short around 2 months i think, but i always count him as a London Phantom even though many phan made lists of London Phantoms don't include him.

I have a couple audios of Mark, I think his voice is way too deep, sort of like the guy on the 3rd Japan recording. Usually I dont mind baridone phantoms, but he was really deep

McKerracher still had the range for the role. He also played Valjean. Speaking of great baritone Valjeans, I'd love to see Stig Rossen play the Phantom.

SenorSwanky wrote:McKerracher still had the range for the role. He also played Valjean. Speaking of great baritone Valjeans, I'd love to see Stig Rossen play the Phantom.

I love Stig and agree he was a great Valjean, but I've heard him sing some Phantom pieces and he pretty much sounded like a slightly refined Gerard Butler....

ianjonbourgandethanfreema wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:McKerracher still had the range for the role. He also played Valjean. Speaking of great baritone Valjeans, I'd love to see Stig Rossen play the Phantom.

I love Stig and agree he was a great Valjean, but I've heard him sing some Phantom pieces and he pretty much sounded like a slightly refined Gerard Butler....

I agree. Whereas he was a good Valjean, he has not convinced me in his Phantom stuff. He was a surprisingly good Raoul in that "All I Ask of You" track with Susanne Elmark, though. That surprised me.

Yeah, I just listened to his MOTN, and I see what you're saying.

You guys mentioned Ethan Freeman. I'd flip absolute literal shit and cry because there'd be no way for me to get to London....the only, THE one and only true keeper of the title of "definitive and 100% accurate Phantom" returning and no way for me to see....

I'd like to see him return (again) because his 2006 Essen run was....slightly disappointing in comparison to his breath-taking, awe-inspiring London performances from about 11 years prior. Mostly, his vocals were kind of weak, which is strange because he performed MOTN on his concert album 2 years later and his voice was as strong as ever....I'm wondering if the production made him dumb down his performances, like "Hey, we're legit wondering if you're the actual, re-incarnated Erik....could you tone it down a bit? The audiences might not believe their eyes...."
OH BTW I REALLY LIKE ETHAN FREEMAN'S PHANTOM

operafantomet wrote:

ianjonbourgandethanfreema wrote:I've heard the rumor the new Phantom will be someone who was involved with the West End production early in the show's history,
Crossing my fingers for Michael Ball, Dave Willetts or Peter Karrie....

There's been rumours about Simon Bowman for a long time now, I would not be surprised if it's him.

I really wish for Jonathan Roxmouth (South Africa, World Tour) to get a run either in the West End or at Broadway. Despite his very young age he has both the talent and the experience. I know he's in Sunset Boulevard next, but after that? Please, please, please...

Jonathan Roxmouth would be amazing. His voice (to me at least) is perfect for Phantom and I have heard great things about his acting - he'd be my first choice to take over from Marcus Lovett (who vocally struggles so obviously).

I tweeted JR asking if he was interested in coming to the West End and his words were: "I'd do anything to come to the West End"...

I really wish that Marcus would stay longer but unfortunately that won't be the case. I'm curious who'll be the next Phantom after him. It definitely won't be John Barrowman. We asked him on a convention in Germany 4 weeks ago if he would consider to ever play the Phantom one day and he told us that he would like to but has allergies against the rubber prostetics material. So we probably won't ever see him in that role.

I saw the show last night and it was in bad shape sadly.

It wasn't helped by the fact that the main spotlight was bust during the rooftop scene, so none of the Paris scenery was viewable and they were just performing on a blank stage, which was quite interesting to be fair!

The cast is in serious need of a revamp for me though.

I've never been fond of Sofia - her voice is good but her acting just isn't believable for me and I can't enjoy her performance.

Anthony Hansen was on as Raoul and he was excellent - great voice and well acted.

I have enjoyed watching Barry and Garth over the years however, a freshening up is needed for me.

The biggest problem was Marcus though - his acting is fine but his voice was appalling.

Some of his big lower register notes were so bad people were cringing around me, which is a shame as he seems to be a lovely chap and really has thrown himself into the role.

I am all for a variety of voice for Phantom - there isn't a set 'voice' for me, but Marcus just struggles so badly and it shows.

I've always felt that to play Phantom, you should be able to act the hell out of it, but vocally you should knock people's socks off too and sadly he just can't do that.

Sorry for the negative post, but cast change can't come soon enough.

@zcfthf8: Thx for your review. I'll going to see the show again 4x next week so I'm really curious how it will turn out. Have seen Sofia just once in March so far and from that I really enjoyed her performance and singing...though my fave Christine of the current cast is Ashleigh Fleming.
With Marcus all I can say is that his performances I've seen can differ soooo much. Either in acting and voice. In some shows he blew me away and in some I thought "Maybe you need some days off for holiday because I know you can do much better". I just hope that he will have some of his good days then next week...if he will be treading the boards that is (I really hope so because as good as Scotty is with his voice, for me he's lacking the emotion in his acting).

I wonder if it really will be Simon Bowman this time....to be honest as much as I disliked his Phantom from his first run, I think if he was given another crack at it he might do okay. His voice has become much more consistent with age, he does much less of that "switching between 3 different voices" thing that made his Phantom so painful (and humorous) to listen to (though hes not as painful as Marcus has become to listen to). Not that I want him back although I am a fan of his (shields self from stones), but I wont be too upset if he is in fact announced.

Well I may be wrong but I think our new Alternate Christine when Anna leaves is Olivia Brereton. Just going off a tweet she made a few days ago saying day 1 of rehearsals and something like the scarf is your friend not your enemy, make friends with the scarf. Well I'm presuming that the scarf is the think of me scarf and the timing would be about right because Monday this week would have given her 2 weeks rehearsal. So I think it's her but like I said, I may be wrong. And about the Simon Bowman rumour, his new website is upand there is quite a bit of info an a few pics from his time in some of his big shows including Phantom. And he said about Phantom, maybe I'll play it again one day, which seems to me like he has the option to do it again if he wants too. Or he could just mean that he'd like to play it again?

Yep Pretty certain it's Olivia, going by some other things she's said on Twitter. Cool! i've heard she's good, i'm guessing she'll stay on through the main change in September?

London-Phan wrote:Well I may be wrong but I think our new Alternate Christine when Anna leaves is Olivia Brereton. Just going off a tweet she made a few days ago saying day 1 of rehearsals and something like the scarf is your friend not your enemy, make friends with the scarf. Well I'm presuming that the scarf is the think of me scarf and the timing would be about right because Monday this week would have given her 2 weeks rehearsal. So I think it's her but like I said, I may be wrong. And about the Simon Bowman rumour, his new website is upand there is quite a bit of info an a few pics from his time in some of his big shows including Phantom. And he said about Phantom, maybe I'll play it again one day, which seems to me like he has the option to do it again if he wants too. Or he could just mean that he'd like to play it again?

Yep Pretty certain it's Olivia, going by some other things she's said on Twitter. Cool! i've heard she's good, i'm guessing she'll stay on through the main change in September?

It is Olivia. She pretty much confirmed it on her Twitter, and Marcus Lovett also tweeted about their first show together. What I'd like to know is whether Sofia is leaving, who'll be replacing her, and who Marcus's replacement will be

It seems theres is going to be lots of new people , Olivia its only staying at the brilliant original until September a friend of mine talk to her at stage door on Friday and it seems that she will be part of the cast of the US TOUR of phantom , so if Anna doesnt come back in September we are going to have a new phantom and 2 new Christines , excited!! Im really hoping for a strong cast not phan of Sofia and Marcus at all

Whoa, so here in the states we're getting a UK Christine for the new tour? I'm a bit surprised AEA didn't have a fit over this, but on the other hand she did the new tour in the UK so I suppose she knows the format rather well, still though..surprised.

I've 'heard' several times over that Ball has been made an offer, but no word on if he is in or out.

Ethan Freeman or Peter Karrie can return to any production any day and I will be there. However with the way the role is being portrayed here in the states, I don't see them going with the bolder performances that these two bring, it seems the trend now is a bit more 'safe'..

Olivia is staying on, at least I'm sure she is. Andy Hockley from the tour is coming in as Firmin and I saw she was saying to him she couldn't wait for him to start. Seems a bit odd for her to say if she were leaving in September?

I really wonder if Olivia will stay on in the cast. Will try asking her when I'm in London again in 2 weeks.
Someone from the cast told me in June that the whole principal squad would be leaving, meaning Marcus, Sofia, Lara, Simon Thomas, Gareth Snook, Barry James and I know from Nicole Cato (ballet girl) and Simon Shorten that they're leaving cast, too.
New castings are already finished but the girl in the ensemble couldn't tell me who will come stepping in the roles as the cast hasn't been informed about that at the time I spoke to her.

Any news on replacements yet? It does seem that all or almost all of the principals are leaving, we know that Andy Hockley is joing the cast and i think with what Olivia has been saying that she is probably staying on. As always at the cast change i'm always keen to hear who the Phantom will be so just wanted to go through some possibilities. Firstly possible returning Phantoms, i think most of these can be ruled out - Peter Joback (Busy with Sweeney Todd in Sweden) Earl, Ramin (Both busy in Les Mis Toronto) JOJ (said he probably won't play the role again) David Shannon( I think is busy but after his time in the show probably wouldn't return) Standby's Matt Cammelle and Nic Greenshields (Both busy with other shows. Then rumoured returning Phantoms, Simon Bowman (Busy in a show During September) Mark McKerracher (busy in the Bodyguard). I pretty sure if the Michael Ball rumour were true it would have been announced well before now. There is a rumour about current Valjean Geronimo Rauch leaving Les Mis in September to play the Phantom but i'm not sure how true that is. Now i have a couple of possible ideas that may be waaaay off but, there was the rumour about the next Phantom being someone who was in the show during it's early days in London, and i thought of Michael Cormick who was Raoul on and off from '88-'91 he still performs in a lot of shows and in august he's playing the Phantom in ALW's Phantom in a licensed pro/am production in Australia. So i just wondered if he may be a possibility. Also i know Roy Weissensteiner is based in the UK at the minute, weather it's a recent thing or he has been here for a few years i'm not sure, but again is he a possibility? Hopefuly something will be leaked soon. Someone must know ha.  

ooh, I had not thought about Michael Cormick, I did see him in Woman in White and thought he had quite good vocals, also on that Chess CD too.

justin-from-barbados wrote:ooh, I had not thought about Michael Cormick, I did see him in Woman in White and thought he had quite good vocals, also on that Chess CD too.

Oh yeah he was in that too. There's a video of him singing MOTN on YouTube, it's pretty good. I think he would be good, but it probably won't even be him.

Rumour has it that Geronimo Rauch (Valjean in Les Mis) might take over as The Phantom as soon as the production finds a new Valjean.

It looks certain that Geronimo Rauch is London's new Phantom. This article pretty much confirms it: http://spain.broadwayworld.com/article/Gernimo-Rauch-en-The-Phantom-of-the-Opera-en-Londres-20130721

Although it is written and published in Spanish (it's a Buenos Aires newspaper, after all!), this article goes in that direction! http://www.clarin.com/espectaculos/Profeta-lejos-tierra_0_959904190.html

And... he does not appear any longer in the cast list of Les Mis http://www.lesmis.com/uk/about/cast-and-creatives/