Phantom Tour Cast- Page 3
Phantom Tour Cast
Phantom Tour Cast#50
Posted: 11/16/25 at 10:30am
DELETE
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
Phantom Tour Cast#51
Posted: 11/16/25 at 10:34am
Smaxie said: "It's pretty much a complete facsimile of what's playing in the West End"
I'm not trying to be contentious, but I don't understand what you mean by this. In the current London version, the chandelier (albeit a new, round one) rises from the stage during the overture and crashes to the stage at the end of Act 1, just like it did in the original production. The reports posted here indicate that the chandelier does neither of those things in the current North American Tour version.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
Phantom Tour Cast#52
Posted: 11/16/25 at 12:17pm
To be even more clear: the chandelier does not start from the stage and does not hit the stage in this tour version. It rises and drops over the audience. In all other ways, the current North American tour is a facsimile of the West End production.
Phantom Tour Cast#53
Posted: 12/5/25 at 10:32am
I caught the tour this past weekend in Minneapolis, and I found it to be one of the best companies I’ve seen. Perhaps because the tour is still so fresh, the ensemble’s energy was high, and the leads still have a curiosity in their acting that makes it interesting to watch—even for those of us who have seen the show numerous times.
As someone who didn’t mind the revised production, I was still glad to see it return (mostly) to the original, more haunting staging. We’ve already discussed the chandelier at length, so I won’t go into it too much—only to say that they’ve lit it beautifully for the overture (and placed lights around the theater nicely), making you feel immersed in traveling back to the past.
Isaiah Bailey is a wonderful Phantom—more wistful than most I’ve seen. I love seeing a Christine with only opera credits to her name, and Jordan Lee Gilbert had a glorious voice—and she can act. I wasn’t crazy about Raoul, so I won’t drop his name. But former Christine Lisa Vroman plays Mme. Giry, and I loved that she wasn’t as grim and ghoulish as some have portrayed her. Midori March’s Carlotta is truly thrilling—effortless, crystal-clear high notes and, again, stellar acting that doesn’t brush aside the comedic elements. Also, it’s so nice to have a Meg who can hold a tune.
At our performance, the show was stopped before Raoul jumped into the lake—it looked like the cantilevered bridge had an error. There was a hold for about 10 minutes, and then Giry and Raoul came out onstage instead of the bridge. Raoul simply said goodbye to Giry and walked under the bridge. No one descended from the grate to enter the lair at the end; Meg just crawled through the bars.
I’m hoping to snag another ticket this weekend and maybe catch the Christine alternate. They have a QR code in the program listing the day’s cast, and because I’m a huge nerd, I’ve been checking it every day since I saw the show. It doesn’t look like Bailey has missed a performance; the Christines seem to alternate every show, and March has been out the last few days. Other than that, when I saw it on Saturday, it was the entire cast—no understudies—which I don’t think I’ve seen on tour for some time.
Phantom Tour Cast#54
Posted: 12/5/25 at 11:26am
ColdClimateDude said:
"I’m hoping to snag another ticket this weekend and maybe catch the Christine alternate. They have a QR code in the program listing the day’s cast, and because I’m a huge nerd, I’ve been checking it every day since I saw the show. It doesn’t look like Bailey has missed a performance; the Christines seem to alternate every show, and March has been out the last few days. Other than that, when I saw it on Saturday, it was the entire cast—no understudies—which I don’t think I’ve seen on tour for some time."
Alexa X. Moster, the alternate Christine, went on yesterday for the Thursday matinee. I was going to suggest she will probably go on for the Saturday matinee as well. However, because they are closing on a Sunday, I think Jordan Lee Gilbert will do that Sunday performance and Alexa will do Saturday night (I feel like this happened a previous weekend recently).
I wanted to add that this cast made history last night with four black performers on in the principal roles. Isaiah Bailey as the Phantom, Matthew Griffin filled in for Raoul, Olivia McMillan continued to fill in for Carlotta, and Donovan Elliot Smith debuted/filled in for Piangi.
Phantom Tour Cast#55
Posted: 12/5/25 at 5:51pm
Yes, JLG was on Saturday matinee and Sunday evening while Alexa was on Sat night and Sun Matinee.
And that is amazing about the four leads. I managed to get a ticket for tonight and I hope for u/s so I can get a different experience -- I love an u/s :)
Phantom Tour Cast#56
Posted: 12/8/25 at 10:11am
I caught the four history-making leads last night, and it was another strong performance.
Matthew Griffin was in excellent voice as Raoul, and any shaky acting moments I chalked up to the understandable challenges of an understudy who may not go on often. He also bears a striking resemblance to Isaiah Bailey (who understudies the Phantom as well), which added an interesting layer to seeing Christine pursued by both men.
Olivia McMillan was a strong Carlotta and earned more laughs than March, though I still missed Midori’s soaring high notes. The full-time Piangi is such a small guy that he mined plenty of humor from his height—leaving the much taller Donovan Elliot Smith little choice but to let the role fade somewhat into the background.
I have to say again how truly excellent Jordan Lee Gilbert is—she’s definitely someone who will stay in the Phantom family if she chooses to.
Also worth noting: the moving bridge that broke on Saturday near the end of the matinee (causing a 10-minute pause) was removed completely for the remainder of the run. As in the matinee, at Friday evening’s show, when Giry leads Raoul to the lair, she brings him from stage left to center, points him stage right, and he exits—no bridge jump. At the end, Meg crawls out from under the bridge through the bars (and once again, the actress didn’t find the light, so the Phantom’s mask wasn’t visible for what should have been that final haunting shot).
All in all, this tour enjoyed a completely sold-out run here in Minneapolis—and we’ll welcome them back anytime they want!
Phantom Tour Cast#57
Posted: 12/13/25 at 10:02am
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/12/andrew-lloyd-webber-phantom/
"When pressed, Mackintosh says there is a chance this new 'Phantom' might, in coming months, move into a Broadway theater for a limited run, as 'Mamma Mia!' did this fall with remarkable fiscal success. “A Mamma Mia-style engagement would be the only way it would work now on Broadway,' he says, although one can discern he has thought hard about the idea."
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/05
Phantom Tour Cast#58
Posted: 12/15/25 at 3:47pm
I went last night in Chicago. It was great to see the Prince staging again. Yes, there are a couple small changes, but this was everything I wanted it to be. Also, this cast is in fire. I tent couldn't be happier.
Phantom Tour Cast#59
Posted: 5/30/26 at 10:13pm
Just got back from the new tour at the Orpheum in San Francisco. Longtime Phantom fan here. I've seen the original San Francisco run, the first national tour, multiple Broadway productions dating back to 1990, and part of the closing Broadway run, so I've seen more than my fair share of Phantoms over the years.
Overall: 7/10.
This is long. Sorry.
The production itself looks very good. No tour is ever going to recreate the atmosphere or scale of the Majestic, but this version preserves enough of the original DNA to still feel unmistakably like Phantom.
The biggest difference for me was the lair. The original staging always felt as grand and theatrical as the score itself. The endless candles, the sense of depth, the feeling that Christine had crossed into some vast, unknown world. This version gets surprisingly close given the limitations of a tour, but the more contained set inevitably shrinks that sense of mystery and scale. The boat is there, some candles still rise from the stage, but the lair feels more like a room than a realm. If anything, it just reminded me how extraordinary the original staging really was.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the chandelier. Seeing it hanging in plain sight before the show had me worried some of the effect would be lost, but it ended up working just fine. The reveal landed, and the crash felt noticeably faster than I remember from Broadway.
The cast was largely strong. Jordan Lee Gilbert's Christine was terrific. Beautifully sung, emotionally grounded, and one of the stronger Christines I've seen. Her "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" brought the house down. Midori Marsh's Carlotta was another standout. She found a bit more humanity in the role than is often there, which made her feel less like a caricature and more like a real person.
My biggest issue was Isaiah Bailey's Phantom. What struck me is that after seeing this show so many times, I'd never really appreciated how much of the role lives in the details. The best Phantoms don't just sing the score well. They create an undeniable presence through their physicality, timing, and the intention behind every line.
For me, Bailey never found that. The performance felt very "musical theatre" rather than Phantom. The emotions were pushed so hard that they often stopped feeling genuine, and there was a lack of menace, mystery, and restraint underneath it all.
More importantly, the chemistry between the Phantom and Christine just wasn't there. Their first scenes in the lair felt awkward rather than hypnotic, and there was virtually no tension between them. Whatever you think the relationship is, the show depends on some combination of attraction, obsession, danger, and emotional pull. Here, that dynamic never materialized. At times they even came across as oddly sassy with one another, and by the final confrontation it felt less like two people locked in an intense emotional struggle and more like siblings having an argument. Without that tension, a lot of the show's emotional engine simply wasn't firing.
Several audience members around me were audibly snickering during moments that should have carried dramatic weight, and I understood why. By the final scene, there just wasn't much emotional payoff. For the first time in 10+ viewings of Phantom, I left feeling oddly indifferent. And for a show that usually leaves me completely swept up in its emotions, that's probably the strongest criticism I can give.
One final nitpick: bring back the white mask. The beige-toned version may complement the actor better, but it loses some of the iconic visual punch. It's a small thing, but I missed it.
Overall, the production is handsome, Christine is excellent, and the score remains one of the greatest ever written. I just wish the title performance had matched the level of the rest of the company.
Phantom Tour Cast#60
Posted: 5/31/26 at 3:56pm
surferbro24 said: "My biggest issue was Isaiah Bailey's Phantom...the chemistry between the Phantom and Christine just wasn't there. Their first scenes in the lair felt awkward rather than hypnotic, and there was virtually no tension between them. Whatever you think the relationship is, the show depends on some combination of attraction, obsession, danger, and emotional pull. Here, that dynamic never materialized. At times they even came across as oddly sassy with one another, and by the final confrontation it felt less like two people locked in an intense emotional struggle and more like siblings having an argument."
Your comments confirm what I suspected upon seeing the rehearsal footage released last year. Bailey just didn't project "Phantom" to me.
If this tour does eventually make its way to my area, I will fervently hope that Bronson Norris Murphy is still the Phantom understudy and is playing the role then.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
Videos
