The Phantom of the Opera UK Tour – back to London?

Will Andrew Lloyd Webber’s brand new 25th anniversary tour of The Phantom of the Opera make it’s way back to London?

Cameron Mackintosh pulled off a hat trick for the Les Miserables 25th anniversary by featuring the original London production, the new UK touring production AND a special O2 Arena concert version in London all at the same time.

If the Phantom tour, directed by the Les Mis tour director Laurence Connor rather than the show’s original director Hal Prince, is successful, then maybe Mackintosh, who is the producer of Phantom, will be tempted to bring it in to town.

The Phantom tour kicks off at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in March 2012.

LINKS

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

The Phantom of the Opera UK tour website

 

RAMIN KARIMLOO in Les Miserables

West End star Ramin Karimloo in Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre

Ramin Karimloo is the stuff that Glee is made of. As a sporty, hockey-playing teenager, not dissimilar to Glee’s Finn Hudson, he was dragged along to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. And so a musical theatre star was born.

“From that moment, I thought that’s what I am going to do. It wasn’t a desperate aim. It was a fact,” he told the Daily Telegraph in February this year.

Ramin went on to realise his dream and to star as the Phantom in the hit show, before moving from Her Majesty’s Theatre to the Adelphi Theatre to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom sequel, Love Never Dies.

Born in Iran and raised in Canada, Ramin started his career as an actor after singing in rock bands and playing cruise ships. Once in England, he turned to musical theatre, playing a wide range of roles including Enjolras in Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre, Chris in Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard.

Ramin also featured in the O2 Arena concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables, returning to the role of Enjolras.

And now it is to Les Miserables that he is returning, playing Jean Valjean in the show until 3 March 2012.

LINKS

SPECIAL OFFER: Save on tickets to Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London

More news on Ramin Karimloo

Hal Prince happy with new Phantom touring show?

We would love to know how Hal Prince feels about Cameron Mackintosh’s new touring production of The Phantom of the Opera, celebrating the show’s 25th anniversary.

Hal directed the original 1986 production of Lloyd-Webber’s show, which is still playing in London and New York and has grossed over $5 billion worldwide.

If you cast your mind back to 2010, Mackintosh suffered a very public falling-out with Trevor Nunn over the “re-imagining” of the 25th anniversary touring production of Les Miserables. Nunn, co-director John Caird and designer John Napier were said to be furious that new directors, Laurence Connor and James Powell, and designer Matt Kinleywere, hired to give the show a touring makeover, including ditching the revolving barricades as these were too costly and complex to tour. Presumably the same will happen to the falling chandelier in Phantom.

As with the Les Mis tour, Mackintosh has recruited director Laurence Connor to stage the new version of Phantom and has even cast his Les Mis touring leads, John Owen-Jones and Earl Carpenter, to share the role of the Phantom.

Mackintosh has been careful to suggest in the press that the tour has Prince’s blessing, with Variety in March revealing than an “agreement” had been struck with Prince for the all-new version. But a September interview with Prince in the Huffington Post asked him whether he would change anything about the show if he had the chance to revisit it. “No, I would leave it alone”, he said, “it works”.

The UK touring production, directed by Laurence Connor, will feature choreography by Scott Ambler, set design by Paul Brown and costume design by original designer Maria Björnson. The production will be overseen by Cameron Mackintosh and Matthew Bourne and will premiere at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in March 2012. In addition to John Owen-Jones and Earl Carpenter sharing the Phantom role, Katie Hall will play Christine.

LINKS

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre

The Phantom of the Opera UK tour information

 

 

Celebrating 25 Years, Cameron Mackintosh Presents Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera At The Royal Albert Hall On Saturday 1st And Sunday 2nd October 2011

RAMIN KARIMLOO AND SIERRA BOGGESS LEAD A CAST AND ORCHESTRA OF OVER 200 TICKETS ON SALE MONDAY 4TH JULY AT 10.00AM

Cameron Mackintosh is delighted to present Andrew Lloyd Webber’s THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 1st October at 7.30pm and Sunday 2nd October at 1.30pm and 7.00pm. Tickets for “Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall” go on sale on Monday 4 July at 10.00am and are available on 0845 401 5045 or at www.phantom25th.com

This lavish, fully staged production of “Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall” will star Ramin Karimloo as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess as ‘Christine’. They will be joined by Barry James as ‘Monsieur Firmin’, Gareth Snook as ‘Monsieur André’, Liz Robertson as ‘Madame Giry’ and Wynne Evans as ‘Piangi’ together with a cast and orchestra of over 200 and some special guest appearances.

“Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall” will be directed by Laurence Connor with Musical Staging and Choreography by Gillian Lynne. The Royal Albert Hall will be transformed with a spectacular and unique design by Matt Kinley inspired by Maria Björnson’s original design. Lighting is by Patrick Woodroffe and Andrew Bridge and Sound by Mick Potter. The original London production was directed by Hal Prince.

Ramin Karimloo’s theatre credits include, leading roles in “Love Never Dies” (2011 Olivier Award Nominee and Winner of the 2011 What’s On Stage Award, both for ‘Best Actor in a Musical’), “The Phantom of the Opera” (Theatre Goers’ Choice Award Nomination) “Les Misérables”, “Miss Saigon”, “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Sunset Boulevard”.

Ramin had the privilege of performing as ‘Enjolras’ in “Les Misérables – A Special Concert at Windsor Castle” to celebrate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, in front of Her Majesty The Queen and also reprised the role for the 25th Anniversary celebration of “Les Misérables at The 02”. Recordings include: his own album “Within the Six Square Inch” and the première symphonic recording of “Love Never Dies”. Ramin has signed with a major label and is currently recording his
first solo album.

Sierra Boggess is currently starring opposite Tyne Daly in the Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s “Master Class”. Prior to that, she starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Love Never Dies” in the West End. For her performance as ‘Christine Daae,’ Sierra received a 2011 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Sierra’s other NY theatre credits include starring as the title character in the Broadway production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” (Drama Desk and Drama League nominations and Broadway.com award for Favourite Breakthrough Performance) and in the City Centre Encores! production of “Music in the Air”. She starred as ‘Christine’ in “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular” and has been seen in the national tours of “Les Misérables” and “West Side Story”. Recordings include the Symphonic Recording of “Love Never Dies” and the Original Cast Album for Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh said “It is amazing to think that the extraordinary success of The Phantom
of the Opera is about to celebrate 25 years.

From the very first performance, audiences have fallen in love with the unique alchemy of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gorgeous score and Maria Björnson’s fabulously beautiful design, so brilliantly staged by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne.

The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary.

One of the great strengths of The Phantom of the Opera is that being set in an opera house, its production is totally theatrical. So we felt that there could be no better 19th Century theatrical auditorium in London for this occasion than the Royal Albert Hall. With its Victorian red plush and celebrated magnificent organ it is the perfect place for The Phantom to haunt. Though this special staging will naturally be drawn from the brilliant original, it will be both a spectacular and unique
production with a cast and orchestra of over 200 headed by Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess. Both artists have been an outstanding ‘Phantom’ and ‘Christine’ in recent productions and have also enjoyed huge success together as the stars of Love Never Dies.

I have no doubt that these three performances at the Royal Albert Hall will be a thrilling celebration of the Music of the Night.”

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA became the longest running show in Broadway history on 9 January 2006 when it celebrated its 7,486th performance, surpassing the previous record holder “Cats”. This coincided with the Broadway and the US national touring company celebrating an unprecedented 20,000 performances in the United States. In October 2010 the London production celebrated its 10,000th performance.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has won over 50 major theatre awards, including seven Tonys on Broadway and three Olivier Awards in the West End. It won the ‘Most Popular Musical Audience Award’, voted by the public, in the 2002 Laurence Olivier Awards. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 starred Michael Crawford as ‘The Phantom’ and Sarah Brightman as ‘Christine.’ It is produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Theatre Company Limited.

Worldwide, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has grossed over £3.2 billion. The box office revenues are higher than any film or stage play in history, including “Titanic”, “ET” and “Star Wars”. It has been seen in 145 cities in 27 countries and played to over 100 million people. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is currently showing in London, New York, Budapest, Las Vegas, and Kyoto.

Release issued by: Raw PR

LINKS

Book tickets to the Phantom 25th Anniversary at The Royal Albert Hall 

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

Karimloo and Boggess confirmed for Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall

Cameron Mackintosh has confirmed the leads for the 25th anniversary celebration of The Phantom of the Opera, to be held at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 and 2 of October 2011.

Ramin Karimloo, who is currently playing the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, which runs at the Adelphi Theatre until 27 August, will star in the title role, joined by Sierra Boggess as Christine. Both stars have enjoyed extensive periods playing the roles in both the original show and Love Never Dies.

Tickets will go on sale for the Royal Albert Hall show on Monday 4 July at 10am.

A cast and orchestra of over 200 will feature in the three special performances, which promises to be a lavishly staged new interpretation of the musical, directed by Laurence Connor with musical staging and choreography by the show’s original choreographer Gillian Lynne. A brand new set will feature in the Royal Albert Hall production by Matt Kinley inspired by Maria Björnson’s original designs.

Other cast will include Barry James as Monsieur Firmin, Gareth Snook as Monsieur André, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry and Wynne Evans as Piangi.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who produces the original show, said “From the very first performance, audiences have fallen in love with the unique alchemy of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gorgeous score and Maria Björnson’s fabulously beautiful design, so brilliantly staged by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne. The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary.”

The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show.

Speculation over a concert or special performance of Phantom had been fuelled by Ramin Karimloo posting on Twitter in March that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and by an Ebay auction held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.

Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. It is still unconfirmed whether Crawford and Brightman will play any part in the celebrations for the show.

The Phantom of the Opera originally opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 directed by Harold Prince and has won over 50 major theatre awards, including seven Tonys on Broadway and three Olivier Awards in the West End, and has grossed over £3.2 billion worldwide.

LINKS

Book tickets to the Phantom 25th Anniversary at The Royal Albert Hall 

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

 

 

 

Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations to be staged at the Royal Albert Hall

Plans have been announced for the 25th anniversary celebrations of The Phantom of the Opera this October.

A gala celebration of the long-running show will be staged at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The show’s original choreographer, Gillian Lynne, will stage the spectacle, which will be produced by Phantom’s producer Cameron Mackintosh and the musical’s composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Unconfirmed sources suggest that the show will be a fully staged, brand new production of the show which will run for more than just one evening.

The role of the Phantom will be played by Ramin Karimloo, who is currently starring as the Phantom in Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre and has also spent long periods playing in the original show.

The Stage newspaper is also reporting today that Karimloo will be joined by Sierra Boggess, who will reprise the role of Christine after playing the role in Phantom in Las Vegas and in Love Never Dies in London. The actress is currently in rehearsals for a new production of Terrence McNally’s Master Class on Broadway featuring Tyne Daly.

As previously covered on westendtheatre.com, Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful group and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd will team up to produce the large-scale show, following Mackintosh’s dazzling production last October celebrating the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables at the O2.

The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show. Patrick Woodroffe will design the lighting for the show, advised by original Phantom lighting designer Andy Bridge.

Speculation over a concert or special performance of Phantom had been fuelled by Ramin Karimloo posting on Twitter in March that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and by an Ebay auction held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.

Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. It is unconfirmed whether Crawford and Brightman will play any part in the celebrations for the show.

The show originally opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 directed by Harold Prince. Over 80 million people have seen the show worldwide, ranking it the most popular entertainment of all time.

LINKS

Book tickets to the Phantom 25th Anniversary at The Royal Albert Hall 

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

Book tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London

Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations

We’ve got the celebration poster, now we are waiting for news of the celebrations.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Phantom of the Opera will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year: Phantom first previewed on 27 September 1986 at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London, with its official opening night on 9th October, and it has played at the venue ever since.

Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful group and the show’s producer, Cameron Mackintosh, are rumoured to be planning a 25th anniversary concert for the musical, following Mackintosh’s large-scale concert celebrations at the O2 last year for the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables.

The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show.

Further speculation over a concert or special performance of the show has been fuelled by current star of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom follow-up Love Never Dies, Ramin Karimloo. He posted on Twitter last month that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and an Ebay auction has been held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.

Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. Crawford and Brightman would be expected to take part in any celebrations for the show.

Over 80 million people have seen the show worldwide, ranking it the most popular entertainment of all time.

LINKS

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

Book tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London

Book tickets to The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium

 

DAVID THAXTON in Love Never Dies

Olivier Award winner David Thaxton in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies

Welsh actor David Thaxton won a Best Actor in a Musical Olivier Award in 2011 for his standout performance as Giorgio in Passion at the Donmar Warehouse.

And now he has followed Joseph Millson into the role of Raoul in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre – the composer’s follow-up to The Phantom of the Opera.

David trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Performances in the West End include playing Enjolras in Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre. He has also sang at the opening gala for the Wales Millennium Centre, and played roles in Trial by Jury, The Tailor’s Daughter, The Rake’s Progress, Sweeney Todd, The Cunning Little Vixen and Warchild.

He joins the cast of Love Never Dies alongside Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, Celia Graham as Christine and Haley Flaherty as Meg.

LINKS

SPECIAL OFFER: Save on tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London

More news on David Thaxton

Photos: The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium

Production photos of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s major new production of The Wizard of Oz has openedat the London Palladium, starring Danielle Hope and Michael Crawford.

The multi-million pound production, which features songs from the Oscar-winning movie plus specially written new songs by Lloyd -Webber and Tim Rice, stars Danielle Hope, who won the BBC talent show Over the Rainbow to become Dorothy in the new production.

Also starring in the show is theatre veteran Michael Crawford, who is reuniting with Andrew Lloyd Webber 24 years after playing the original Phantom of the Opera to play The Wizard of Oz, Hannah Waddingham (Into The Woods) as the Wicked Witch of the West, Paul Keating(Tommy) as Scarecrow, Edward Baker Duly (Copacabana) as Tin Man, David Ganly (Chicago) as Cowardly Lion and Emily Tierney (All the Fun of the Fair) as Glinda.

The cast also includes Over The Rainbow runner-up Sophie Evans covering the part of Dorothy on Tuesdays and when Ms Hope is on holiday.

The team behind the 2006 revival of The Sound of Music is creating the show, including director Jeremy Sams, designer Robert Jones and choreographer Arlene Phillips.

LINKS

Book tickets to The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium.

Phantom celebrates anniversary

Today, Saturday 9 October 2010, marks the 24th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, has been seen by over 100 million people worldwide and is Broadway’s longest running show.

The musical opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 directed by Hal Prince, choreographed by Gillian Lynne and designed by Maria Björnson. Stars of the show included Michael Crawford as the Phantom, Sarah Brightman as Christine and Steve Barton as Raoul.

Michael Crawford is soon to return to the London stage in another Lloyd Webber project, this time playing the Wizard in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s multi million pound new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium.

It’s a busy weekend for Cameron Mackintosh as the Phantom anniversary comes the day after the world’s longest-running show, Les Miserables, celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Earlier this year Andrew Lloyd Webber opened his sequel to the Phantom, Love Never Dies, at the Adelphi Theatre.

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

PHANTOM FACTS

• Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical version of The Phantom of the Opera  is the most successful piece of entertainment of all time, produced in any media, and its success is continuing all over the world.
• The Phantom started previews at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London on 27th September 1986, and opened on 9th October 1986. It opened at the Majestic Theatre in New York on 9th January 1988.
• The Phantom of the Opera became Broadway’s longest running show ever when it overtook the record set by Cats with its 7,486th performance on January 6th 2006. It is the only Broadway show ever to reach 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st birthdays with the 22nd fast approaching in January 2010.
• The Broadway production played its 9000th performance on 17 September 2009.
• It is estimated that Phantom has been seen by more than 100 million people worldwide having been played in no fewer than 14 languages.
• The show has won over 50 major theatre awards including three Olivier Awards, the most recent being the 2002 Oliver Audience Award for Most Popular Show, an Evening Standard Award, seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critic Circle Awards.
• The Phantom of the Opera has been produced in 149 cities, in more than 25 countries around the world, including UK, US, New Zealand, Japan, Austria, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Korea, Denmark, Spain and Russia.
• The original cast album of The Phantom of the Opera was the first in British musical history to enter the music charts at number one. Album sales now exceed forty million worldwide and it is the biggest selling cast album of all time.
• The cast album has gone six times platinum in the US, twice platinum in the UK, nine times platinum in German, four times platinum in the Netherlands, 21 times platinum in Korea and 17 times platinum in Taiwan.
• Joel Schumacher directed a big screen version of the show which was released worldwide at the end of 2004. It starred Gerard Butler as The Phantom, Emmy Rossum as Christine, Patrick Wilson as Raoul and Minnie Driver as Carlotta.
• ‘Learn to Be Lonely’, a new song written for the movie, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2005 Oscars. Beyonce performed the song at the ceremony.
• Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular opened in a purpose built theatre at the Venetian Resort Hotel in 2006.

Next Page »