Headlining the most successful entertainment of all time, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Michael Crawford was actually not the first name the creative team considered for the gothic musical undertaking during its creation in the mid-1980s, believe it or not. Steve Harley famously recorded the original single of the title song with composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's muse Sarah Brightman and subsequently starred in the grandiose Ken Russell fever dream music video. While the public and critics alike assumed Harley's bid for the lead role in the gestating show was all but guaranteed after the video debut, it was not meant to be. Master director Hal Prince had his sights set on a British stage and screen star who had made a name with American audiences decades before in the troubled film versions of two Broadway hits - A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM and HELLO, DOLLY! - as well as ingratiated himself with the world at large by leading the British sitcom SOME MOTHERS DO 'AVE 'EM. Of course, Crawford had also cemented his place in the musical theatre with his roles in FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON and BILLY, but it was PHANTOM that would catapult him into the ranks of iconic musical megastar for the ages. So, today, let us take a look at what made Michael Crawford's performance in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA so unforgettable as we celebrate this month's US release of the simply spectacular DVD/Blu-ray of the 25th anniversary production mounted late last year, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL Albert Hall, starring Ramim Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, loving assembled and presented by original lead producer Cameron Mackintosh and featuring a grand finale complete with original PHANTOM cast-members Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, as well as a plethora of other glories to behold.
Guide & Guardian
In
Michael Crawford's 1999 autobiography, PARCEL ARRIVED SAFELY, TIED WITH STRING, he writes, "I've often been accused of being susceptible to superstition," and, in the case of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, he almost let that fear of the unknown get the better of him. After all, a comedic star known mostly for his guffaw-inducing pratfalls on a Britcom was far from the enigmatic and compelling figure at the heart of
Gaston Leroux's mystery novel upon which the musical is based - let alone revealing of the vocal demands that would be required of the purveyor of the title role in a new
Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Webber had already had huge international successes with JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, EVITA and CATS, and, to compound it all, PHANTOM was the project for which he expressed the most passion, drive and determination to get just right of any of his shows to date - at any cost. It was to be a spectacular entertainment with the role of Christine tailor-made to ingénue
Sarah Brightman, but, without the ideal Phantom, it could all fall apart overnight. And, it almost did.
When I spoke to fellow InDepth InterView participant
Hal Prince in 2010 I asked him to comment on the fact that an entire generation - including the author of this article - has grown up in a time when they cannot remember a PHANTOM-less Broadway or West End. It's a tremendous accomplishment to be involved with the creation of a show to last not years, but decades, for sure. Did he ever think it would last this long? "No. Does anyone ever think?" Further illustrating the concept of the right show at the right time - and after a hearty laugh - Prince related, "Well, you see, the point is - I have said this often, and I still mean it - given that I was born in 1928, I always thought - and I think
Steve Sondheim and I both have said to each other; I know we've said to each other - 'Aren't we lucky we were born when we were born?' It's true, it does make you much older. But, on the other hand, it makes you have an experience that is unavailable to [others]." The Broadway production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is about to celebrate 10,000 performances next month, so surely the experience of PHANTOM on stages around the world has inspired many to pursue their dream of theatre - and, if only for that, PHANTOM has served its purpose in the world. A story about passion for music conquering all - love, disease, life itself - has conquered all other musicals. Yet, it began far more surreptitiously - on the postage-stamp-sized stage of Lloyd Webber's Sydmonton church on his estate. I questioned Prince whether or not he had any involvement with that early version, to which he told me: "No, I didn't. I have never seen a Sydmonton production. I did EVITA and I did PHANTOM, but not there. I've never seen them. I did see one tape of the Sydmonton production [of PHANTOM] and it was characterized by an awful lot of laughter. PHANTOM did not garner an awful lot of laughter when it was ultimately produced on the stage." When pressed, Prince elaborated: "I think there was a sense of sending it up a little bit, like a horror film." Camp? Comparing the PHANTOM creation experience to that of another of his notable contributions to the American theatre,
Stephen Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD, he states, "That I didn't do. When I did SWEENEY TODD, Steve told me that he saw a production in the East End of London where they served meat pies at the intermission. Well, you wouldn't find meat pies served at my SWEENEY. It would be extremely inappropriate. I think they were pieces that were more for laughs than I came up with." The focus in PHANTOM would decidedly not be on the comedy or the grande bouffe opera parodies, but on the mysterious, magical pull of the Phantom on his young muse and how he intends to make her the star of the Opera Populaire through any and all means necessary - musical, murderous or otherwise. So, who to find to play the role who has a thorough understanding of comedy so as to continually play against that as the mystical Phantom and create a complex meta-dynamic within the role and the actor playing it himself - betraying the audience's expectations by giving them something far richer and deeper and grander? Well, you could start by casting
Michael Crawford.
A generation of theatregoers have grown up with original London cast recording of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - it is the most successful cast album of all time, after all - but, it was another musical that solidified Crawford's place in the hearts of many musical theatre fans forever years before that: that of Cornelius Hackl in
Gene Kelly's feature film version of HELLO, DOLLY! starring
Barbra Streisand. PHANTOM 25 star
Sierra Boggess recently recounted to me the impact his performance in that film has had on her career and how it acted as the impetus for her to become a performer in her InDepth InterView. "It was so great. He was everything that I ever wanted him to be. You know, I had been desperate to meet him - it's not even just PHANTOM; it's because of HELLO DOLLY! That was the movie musical that made me want to do this business. I mean, I have that movie memorized! And, what he did in it is so spectacular." Relating her impressions of the man behind the mask when they finally met during Crawford's stint in
Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE WIZARD OF OZ last year, Boggess said, "When I met him, he was just such an incredible man - such an incredible performer and an incredible man and he has such a great spirit. He was everything that I wanted him to be." So, what exactly is it about
Michael Crawford that makes him so perfect for the title role in the biggest musical spectacular of all time? Besides his comedy chops and his commitment to character, it is his instant rapport with not only his fellow actors, but the audience out there in the dark. Few stage performers are as charismatic and instantly ingratiating as Crawford is and was - as he proved in the aforementioned films of DOLLY! and FUNNY THING and many other appearances on stages and screens, large and small - and that may be the most important element of his gargantuan success of all. A comedian subverting comedy and creating menance and mystery out of that void was a stroke of genius in casting Crawford in the role - and he milked every single one of the angles of the troubled central figure in his multi-faceted portrayal. It would take 21 years after the sold-out debut of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in the West End and on Broadway for
Michael Crawford to actually sit in the audience and see what we all have been seeing and hearing and singing along to all along - and it was at the insistence of the composer himself,
Andrew Lloyd Webber.
"The difference between doing PHANTOM and creating PHANTOM from the word go - making that blueprint which I saw 21 years later in New York for the first time. That's the first time I ever saw PHANTOM. Andrew insisted that I come along that evening to the Majestic and see the 21st anniversary." Incredulous, I asked his thoughts on the show. "I watched it and I was enthralled. I mean, the discipline that has been maintained from the word go is quite, quite extraordinary." What did he think of the Erik onstage the evening he saw it? "
Howard McGillin was delightful - I mean, it was a beautiful performance; touching and so true to the original that it was touching to me, personally, as well, I found. But, the discipline that the entire show had was, I guess… we found something in the beginning and they said, 'Don't mess with it,' and people have been true to it since. And, other things you see messed around with a great deal - but, anyway, that's aside. PHANTOM was the most memorable time of my career - to have done that and to have had that kind of success just lifted me off of my feet. I was… [Laughs.]… completely overwhelmed by it." Yet, always the joker, he qualifies his ecstatic ebullience by relating the far less enjoyable experience of his Broadway return almost two decades later. "And, then, you go back a few years later and do DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES and you are annihilated! [Laughs.]" All musicals can't be as successful as PHANTOM, when all is said - and sung - and done - especially since it is the biggest musical ever.
Indeed, PHANTOM 25 is the perfect distillation of what so many phans have come to adore about the show over the decades - and having original stage stars
Sarah Brightman and
Michael Crawford joining in the festivities for the grand finale is just icing on the decadently rich confection now available to enjoy time and time again on DVD/Blu-ray. Imparting his awe-struck impression of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL
Albert Hall as the ultimate PHANTOM 25 celebration, Crawford described the night to me as such: "Yes, it was exciting - very, very exciting; very exciting to be there and very, very moving, as well. It really was a very special night." Crawford also opened up to me about the many elaborate stage tricks and set pieces that did not make it into the final version of the show - though he was certainly quick to relate all the fun he and director
Hal Prince had in trying them all out! "Oh, yes! He had lots of ideas. There were lots that went out the window - but, the doves went into the flies!" he said, as he let out a hearty laugh. "They couldn't get them down again! So, we lost that. And, I had this idea that I would come down as the Red Death on stilts." Asked to further elaborate, Crawford let out an even heartier laugh and told me, "Yes, we did! We did try it. But, he just couldn't speak until I got all the way the bottom [of the stairs], and, then, he said, [Gruff
Hal Prince Voice.] "Get those things off!" He remembered that the stilts had tiny little feet - he always mentions that." After a pause, Crawford reflects on the fun times these two titans on the theatre shared working on the landmark musical. "He's very funny, Hal." A white horse was originally planned for the breathtaking ascent into the Phantom's lair in the middle of Act One. Crawford notes, "Oh, yes. I don't think I was too much a part of that - the white horse - but, yes, that is something I have forgotten all about!. I expressed my desire to hear even more about this much-discussed lost element and Crawford told me, with much amusement and bit of a twinkle in his eye, "Well, they would have fallen four flights if the horse had tripped! And Sarah would not have been pleased about that! Nor would Andrew! [Laughs.]" To say the very least!
So, did Crawford feel especially honored to be working with a man of major musical theatre mettle such as
Hal Prince? "Oh, yes, I did. I did. He was great. He gave you freedom. And, yes, he was a great disciplinarian about, if you tried something too many times, [Gruff Voice.] 'Just stick with it! Now, c'mon!' And, I liked his discipline and I liked the freedom that he gave. He allowed me, at least, to bring certain things out and then develop them, and, then, he could encourage. It was a great privilege working with him."
Hal Prince was not the only major director to get a go at presenting his interpretation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - legendary British film, television and opera director
Ken Russell directed the classic "Music Of The Night" music video. Asked to describe the experience working with a megalomaniac known for giving lots of leeway to performers he trusts and respects, like Russell, he compares the experience to that of recording the song in a new duet version for
Barbra Streisand's BACK TO BROADWAY album. "Well, as far as I remember, it was easy. I mean, he was very respectful. It was like recording 'The Music Of The Night' with Barbra [Streisand] - she was incredibly respectful of the way it had gone before. So, she just said, 'It's your song; you go first.' And, then, I didn't have to sing around her - which would have been… [Laughs.]… it would have been rather a challenge for me! But, she just couldn't have been more kind or more generous. I mean, it's her song on her album, but, she said, 'It's your song; you go first and I'll work around what you are doing.'" Moving back to the topic of Russell's direction of the video, Crawford relates, "But,
Ken Russell: he had so many candles - lit candles - on the stage at Her Majesty's that we had terrible trouble for days afterwards because we couldn't get rid of the wax! The dancers were in big trouble. [Laughs.] But, yes, we shot that video right after we opened in London."
Doves, Red Death stilts, mounds of wax and a vicious press during the preview period of the show at Her Majesty's Theatre was not enough to deter the public: PHANTOM became a surefire smash almost overnight. The allure of the show lives on, now, with the incredible HD performance capture of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL Albert Hall, and the presence of Michael Crawford on it is just one of the many indescribably powerful elements that make the PHANTOM 25 DVD/Blu-ray a must-own for phans, Broadway babies and entertainment enthusiasts alike. Yet, it all would not have been possible without the original man behind the mask having that sparkle in his eye and sway over a crowd - and the right director to know what to do with it. Michael Crawford is the Phantom of the Opera and always will be, and how wonderful we have a new PHANTOM experience on video that pays respect to his original portrayal of the role and Hal Prince's peerless original production and reimagines it for a 21st century audience in a whole new way.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL Albert Hall on DVD/Blu-ray is available here.
