Lot666 said: "Penna2 said: "UWS10023 said: "I always wondered why he doesn’t do more television?"
Problem with a series in the US is his home base is London - that's where his family is...In an old interview, he was asked about doing Phantom again and Mandy said: in London."
I think it's important to keep in mind that Ramin Karimloo's association with Phantom is entirely London-based. He played Raoul and the Phantom at Her Majesty's Theatre, originated the Phantom role in Love Never Diesat the Adelphi Theatre, and shortly after donned the mask again for the Albert Hall 25th anniversary shows. He has never played this character on Broadway.
Karimloo's fame and popularity only really took off when he and Sierra Boggess opened the original London production of Love Never Dies, and it was that run which landed both of them the lead roles at the Albert Hall. Mr. Karimloo was not a widely-recognized leading man until Andrew Lloyd Webber put him in a lushly romantic music video for "Til I hear You Sing", in which he was very carefully groomed and dressed to look like a matinee idol, and that video was screened at the first big press announcement for Love Never Dies. By the time the show officially opened at the Adelphi Theatre, creepy people had begun "shipping" (as the kids call it) Karimloo and Boggess (who had played a silent Christine in the music video), despite the fact that Ramin was married with children.
I would go so far as to say that Mr. Karimloo became something of an overnight sensation because he was the first overtly handsome and relatively young actor to play the character since Gerard Butler was cast in the film version, with the key difference being that Karimloo could sing. Until that point, a large number of people who considered themselves Phantom"phans" (a term that makes me cringe) had seen only Butler and Rossum in the movie, and they wanted those pretty Hollywood actors to play the roles on stage. When Love Never Diesopened, Karimloo and Boggess were both very young and very pretty, and they played the social media game very well. They managed to garner the attention of that swathe of perverse "phans" who could only relate to the story if the age gap between the characters was all-but eliminated and both were played by young and pretty actors of the Butler/Rossum variety. Karimloo and Boggess fit the bill perfectly (and they could sing!), and by the time the Albert Hall anniversary shows took place, the two had become major stage door stars in London."
I'm an unabashed Ramin fan and, yes, he hit his stride when he was hand-picked by ALW and Cammack to be the Phantom they wanted remembered for posterity on video. Cammack has been responsible for a large part of his career - Sunset Blvd. and Miss Saigon in UK and Phantom and LND in the UK and the aforementioned RAH25. Let's not forget Les Mis, which was Broadway and a Tony nomination.
I think the ALW and Cammack team are going to somehow fit him into the Broadway POTO family - one performance - maybe a simple appearance, like the Broadway 25th anniversary, but that wouldn't be a complete show and somehow that appears to be the direction this is going. Too bad they didn't hire him instead of Ben to begin with, but that's a story for another day or never. There has been talk of an Italy/Greece show in development, but these tweets suggest something more imminent.
There was a comment about his voice not being what it used to be. Hard to tell from FG which doesn't challenge him, nor does the role itself. I've enjoyed his streams during the lockdowns and his voice is a rich, if not richer than it ever was - his lower register is much stronger and his tenor is spot on. He does use the raspy tones for his bluegrass stuff, but he's always done that.
I hope he gets to perform the show on Broadway once and envy those fortunate enough to be able to see it.
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