Phantom Broadway 30th? — Page 9

mozgrrl said: "Honestly, the Phantom should be in his 40's, right? It was so weird seeing LND, which takes place 10 years later and seeing Bronson in the role (baby face)....loved him, but sheesh they should cast a 50 year old guy (or at least something close to that age) in LND IMHO."

They should be casting an older performer in both shows. I blame this young-and-pretty trend on Cameron Mackintosh.

I was thinking the same thing about Derrick Davis. Hope it happens.

Lot666 said: "mozgrrl said: "Honestly, the Phantom should be in his 40's, right? It was so weird seeing LND, which takes place 10 years later and seeing Bronson in the role (baby face)....loved him, but sheesh they should cast a 50 year old guy (or at least something close to that age) in LND IMHO."

They should be casting an older performer in both shows. I blame this young-and-pretty trend on Cameron Mackintosh."

The Phantom is a "ghost," so he should have no discernible age, but that age sounds about right. Since in the show, Christine is in the corps de ballet, that role should be cast with a rather young-looking actress. After all, the ballet girls of the corps de ballet in 19th Century Paris would have been in their teens. Lest we forget, ballet girls were, in addition to being exceptional dancers, expected to lure wealthy patrons. Not only for their advancement in the Opera company, but also to eat and live (they were paid less than subsistence level wages).

Fosse76 said: "The Phantom is a "ghost," so he should have no discernible age"

The Phantom is not a ghost; he's a flesh-and-blood man who has been mythologized by the denizens of the opera, who fear him. He should definitely have a "discernible age".

Fosse76 said: "Since in the show, Christine is in the corps de ballet, that role should be cast with a rather young-looking actress. After all, the ballet girls of the corps de ballet in 19th Century Paris would have been in their teens."

Agreed. Yet they keep casting Christines who look 25-30 years old and Phantoms who look 25-35 years old. This girl is supposed to be a teenager and he's supposed to be old enough to be her father.

TheatreRocks said: "I'm pretty sure he is not a flesh and blood man. It's in the name,THE PHANTOM of the opera. And a human man is not physically nor scientifically capable of the many things he does throughout the show. Disappearing in the chair at the end, the fire lazers, ect."

I suggest you read the source material; the title character is most definitely a flesh-and-blood man (in fact, he actually dies at the end of the Leroux novel).

In the musical, he sings "This face, which earned a mother's fear and loathing". Later, Madame Giry recounts to Raoul her discovery of the phantom at a traveling fair, as "a man locked in a cage, deformed since birth"; Raoul replies "So, our phantom's this man?"

As I stated earlier, he has simply been mythologized by those who are frightened of him.

Updated On: 2/28/18 at 09:15 AM

Lot666 said: "They should be casting an older performer in both shows. I blame this young-and-pretty trend on Cameron Mackintosh."

It's entirely Cameron. He's told the NY production that they should avoid hiring back the older performers now, in favor of the younger, newer actors. With a few exceptions, they haven't hired anyone back that's done the shows before for the past few years, and those that they have are hired as swings, and don't get to play the lead roles they once played. He was a great producer once but his recent choices are just bizarre.

Any rumors on Peter's replacement yet?

Lot666 said: "I've heard nothing and it's very frustrating because I'm coming up at the end of May and I want to buy a ticket while there are still good seats available, but I want to know whom I'm going to get."



According to the POTO FB page it's Ben Crawford starting April 16th...thoughts???