John Cudia gives backstage tour at PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

[musicalmack]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 3:51pm

John Cudia at PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 4:10pm

Wow. So many purses falling from mouths. LOL.

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 4:10pm

Loved it. He's amazing.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 4:13pm

Aww, he's a sweetie.

I suppose you can't be scared of heights if you're going to be a Phantom.

I wonder if there's an unfortunate-looking musical genius living in the basement of The Majestic... Perhaps it's ALW's summer home.
Updated On: 8/21/09 at 04:13 PM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 4:27pm

Love him. I want to go back to see Phantom for him.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 4:33pm

The was one of the best videos Broadway.com has put together in quite a while.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 5:04pm

Saw him recently. He and Wills and Silverman have jaw-dropping chemistry. The show looks and sounds amazing.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 7:34pm

The montage at the beginning sort of makes me want to see the show again.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 7:50pm

He looks like a sweetie. =) I was wondering when they were gonna do a Phantom backstage tour, it seems like they've done everything else but Phantom.

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 8:38pm

The montage at the beginning sort of makes me want to see the show again.

Seconded!

[BillFinn]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 8:39pm

what a DREAMboat. I remember seeing him when I was 13 in the Phantom tour as Raoul and now look at him. 9 years later. Charming.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 8:45pm

I had to post again to say (again) that I want to see him in it!

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 10:57pm

I've yet to see John, and I want to, too. I almost saw him on the national tour several years ago, but he left a little before I saw the show, and I saw Gary Mauer.

Judging solely from clips I've seen, he seems like a phenomenal Phantom. He sounds like he could be one of my new favorites. (Though I don't think he'll replace Ramin Karimloo (<) as my number one. He's also a seriously hunky dreamboat who can sing the hell out of anything. :) )

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 11:38pm

I didn't realize John Cudia was that good looking. Wow!

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 11:43pm

So dreamy, and that voice...

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 11:54pm

I saw his first show back on Broadway and this just made me want to see it again. He's fantastic in the role.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 12:55am

Friend of mine is the set designer for the Broadway production. Basically her job was to figure out how the hell to make The Majestic fit the sets for Phantom when it was opening back in the 80's. The whole idea of breaking and reconstructing the back wall of the theatre was her idea. She subsequently did similar work for a couple of the sit down productions of the show as well as a couple of theatres that housed the tours a lot.

She took me on a tour of the theatre and I got to go up onto the stage left side of the proscenium where the Phantom stands during Poor Fool/He Makes Me Laugh. I must say, that that view was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in the entirety of me going to the theatre.

[delucad15]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 1:09am

I saw him as raoul a few years ago on the tour, but he seems fantastic form the clips. seems like an awesome guy too. I'd love to see him in the role.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 1:23am

Friend of mine is the set designer for the Broadway production.

You might want to rephrase that. Your friend may have been involved with fitting the show into the Majestic, but the actual set designer is Maria Björnson and she, unfortunately, passed away in 2002.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 1:24am

I second the Ramin Karimloo comment....hot sexy....mmmmm...yea. And a hell of a voice.

And Cudia is married to Kathy Voytko is he not?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 1:36am

Yes they are married. They recently were in a production of Les Mis together in Illinois. Cudia played Valjean and Voytko played Fantine.

I believe they met on a tour of Phantom.

Updated On: 8/22/09 at 01:36 AM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 1:36am

I saw him twice on tour and he is fantastic, and a killer voice!

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 1:38am

"I second the Ramin Karimloo comment....hot sexy....mmmmm...yea. And a hell of a voice.

And Cudia is married to Kathy Voytko is he not?"



Yep, he's one of the Phantoms who married a Christine. I love it when they do that. So sweet. I think there are... Three married couples who performed together and/or met during the production?

(Ramin's married too, just FYI. Not to a Christine though. Lucky woman..)

Updated On: 8/22/09 at 01:38 AM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 1:41am

In addition to the beginning montage, the end clips made me want to see the production as well.

I saw Phantom a few years ago and John Cudia played Raoul; however, his understudy was on the day I saw it. About a month later, I saw him sing for Raoul in Bryant Park. Then last summer, I saw him sing in Bryant Park for the Phantom. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and took a picture of the crowd for the London cast prior to his performance. I haven't seen him much, but am really interested in his take on Phantom.

My boyfriend saw him as Jean Valjean at the Marriott Theater in Illinois, and I am curious as to who saw it and what people thought of him. What other shows has he been involved with? IBDB is only showing Phantom and Les Mis.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 8:45am

CatsNY,

Technically according to the credits listed in the back of the playbill, my friend, Dana kenn is associate scenic design. She was the one who oversaw the entire transformation of the Majestic for Phantom as well as the sets when it first opened. Anything that got made and shipped over from England like the golden proscenium, she had to go down to the docks to make sure they were all in tact. Anything that was built in the New York area, she had to go and make sure they were being built properly etc. Now her job is to do general upkeep on the show to make sure the show is operating smoothly and to smooth out any kinks it may have. For example, a while ago there was a stage manager who went out on sick leave and when they came back they were doing a poor job of calling the show. So, that had her come in to take notes during a performance while he was on rotation to call it to see what was wrong and to see how she could fix the problem. I was there that night as her guest. She was laughing at the end because she knew the person and believed that there was a problem. But, she did find it funny that the stage manager in question did call the show properly without any mistakes when he knew that she was out in the audience, whereas he was making mistakes while she was gone.

She knew that I had seen the show a lot and that I am a fan of the show. And, therefore she asked me if I had noticed any mistakes or anything that went wrong that should have. And, when I listed times where it was clear that there was a missing light cue that didn't go off or something of that nature she was very helpful for that situation.