#1
Posted: 12/27/06 at 12:46pm
I am a bit of a phantom fan so was looking forward to a 90 minute (no breaks) documentary on BBC2 last night but any fan of theatre would be hooked by it.
They covered the whole show from inception after ALW saw The Phantom of the Opera by Ken Hill, casting, rehearsal, disaterous previews and opening talking to everyone concerned.
Amongst stuff I never knew included:
1) They sacked Hal Prince at one point because they were worried about his then recent failures and appointed Trevor Nunn to direct. Cameron was left to sack Prince in New York and as you can imagine after working on the show for six months Hal was not best pleased. Then when Les Miserabl opened to bad reviews they changed back. Prince was suprised they knew the story for the programme but the documentary makers said Cameron had told them about it so he gave his side on the sacking.
2) They had given the role of the Phantom to british rocker Steve Harley and for five months or more he worked on the songs and was asking why they didn't announce him. ALW said leave it to him to pick the right time and then Cameron, Prince and ALW decided he was not right and ALW suggested Michael Crawford who had the same singing teacher as Sarah Brightman. They paid Harley £20,000 hush money.
3) Cameron took Crawford out to lunch to tell him it was not his star vehicle and he had to accept that or he would be miserable in the show. Crawford stormed off and kicked a bollard outside the restarant in a fit of anger. There were many stories form all concerned about how difficult Crawford is to work with including stage hands who were regularly shouted at so loudly that everyone could hear it round the theatre. Everyone seemed to have fits of anger working on Phantom including ALW who tried to storm off carrying his score saying he was withdrawing it from the show in previews but it was too heavy for him to carry.
There were stories about the staging that they tried to make work and scenes that were cut... a very interesting show that included film of the original Sydmonton staging for the first time with Colm Wilkinson as Phantom..
Phantastic !!!!!
They covered the whole show from inception after ALW saw The Phantom of the Opera by Ken Hill, casting, rehearsal, disaterous previews and opening talking to everyone concerned.
Amongst stuff I never knew included:
1) They sacked Hal Prince at one point because they were worried about his then recent failures and appointed Trevor Nunn to direct. Cameron was left to sack Prince in New York and as you can imagine after working on the show for six months Hal was not best pleased. Then when Les Miserabl opened to bad reviews they changed back. Prince was suprised they knew the story for the programme but the documentary makers said Cameron had told them about it so he gave his side on the sacking.
2) They had given the role of the Phantom to british rocker Steve Harley and for five months or more he worked on the songs and was asking why they didn't announce him. ALW said leave it to him to pick the right time and then Cameron, Prince and ALW decided he was not right and ALW suggested Michael Crawford who had the same singing teacher as Sarah Brightman. They paid Harley £20,000 hush money.
3) Cameron took Crawford out to lunch to tell him it was not his star vehicle and he had to accept that or he would be miserable in the show. Crawford stormed off and kicked a bollard outside the restarant in a fit of anger. There were many stories form all concerned about how difficult Crawford is to work with including stage hands who were regularly shouted at so loudly that everyone could hear it round the theatre. Everyone seemed to have fits of anger working on Phantom including ALW who tried to storm off carrying his score saying he was withdrawing it from the show in previews but it was too heavy for him to carry.
There were stories about the staging that they tried to make work and scenes that were cut... a very interesting show that included film of the original Sydmonton staging for the first time with Colm Wilkinson as Phantom..
Phantastic !!!!!
