Interview: A Career That Goes Beyond The Mask, Michael Crawford Looks Back on A Long and Distinguished Career

International performer Michael Crawford is probably best known the world over for originating the title character in The Phantom of the Opera in the West End, on Broadway, and an extended engagement in Los Angeles. But his seventy year career goes far beyond that one show. Prior to The Phantom of the Opera Mr. Crawford appeared regularly on the West End in such productions as Barnum, Black Comedy, Flowers for Algernon, and Billy. You might also remember him from his performance of Cornelius Hackl in the movie version of Hello Dolly. He also appeared in EFX at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as well as having a very successful concert and solo recording career.

Recently, Michael Crawford was an honoree at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors in a class alongside KISS, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, and Sylvester Stallone. You can watch the show, which took place on December 7th, when it airs on CBS and Paramount+ on December 23rd at 8:00pm.

One thing you might not know about Michael Crawford is that he was a big influence on BroadwayWorld’s founder Robert Dimond in starting the site. Rob ran Michael’s web site before BroadwayWorld and to this day is a fan of The Phantom of the Opera.

It is not often that I get to interview someone of Michael Crawford's status. It’s even less often that the interview comes in the form of a phone call. What follows are excerpts from a wonderful sixty minute exchange I had with the true talent that is Michael Crawford. As you will read, he has some wonderful stories from his long and distinguished career.

Who would you say, who would you say had the biggest influence on you becoming a performer?

The biggest influences before I became a performer were Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy. They used to make me laugh so much, and I think I could still laugh at the same level at my age now because I never tire of their comedy. I didn't know what the word genius meant then, but when I look back on it at a slightly later age they were true geniuses at what they did. Watching the great MGM musicals with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Gene Kelly, who I would later work with. He was the strongest influence about discipline, about being brave and about using my entire body to inhibit a character from the tips of my fingers to the tips of my toes. Every part of you becomes the character. That advice helped immensely when I eventually got The Phantom of the Opera.

 Where did you receive your training?

I didn't have any training. I had my first singing lesson when I was 30. I regret it enormously because I could have saved a few years of singing for a start because I started in opera when I was 12 for the English Opera Group in The Little Sweep by Benjamin Britten. I auditioned for Turn of the Screw, which was the one before that but I didn't get it.

What was your first reaction after being told you were going to be a 2025 Kennedy Center honoree?

Just silence. I was flabbergasted. It was astonishing. I knew about the awards because I'd seen them on television and spent some time in America. I'm married to an American girl. We spent a lot of time with her family there. So, over the years I'd seen them

I got a couple of letters that were advising me, I shouldn't accept and I thought, I'm not political. I am completely nonpolitical. I'm also not an American and I'm also an actor who works and is influenced by an audience.

I don't want to get involved in a foreign argument about anything, so I just thought I'm going to accept this in the spirit that it's been offered to me. Once I got that into my head, I was fine about it.

When you were offered The Phantom of the Opera, did you have any, I did you have any idea that that show was going to land as big as it did?

Absolutely not. If you are a passionate person about your profession, you are acting a dancer, a thing. Every single job you get, you think, oh, this is wonderful.

The whole six weeks of rehearsal could be to find out that it's not going be as good as you thought it might be. The show had Andrew’s music attached to it but not all of his shows have been successful. I think when we had our first preview you could feel the audience involvement so after the first couple of shows with the reaction that we were getting and Hal Prince’s direction and correction Andrew's satisfaction at what was going on you knew something special was happening. If a show can influence kids of ages 7,8,9 onward it can change the rest of your life. There is so much power in the theatre.

American audiences should remember your performance of Cornelius Hackl in the film version of Hello Dolly. How did you get that job and once it was booked, did you find it intimidating at all being directed by legendary dancer director, Gene Kelly, or playing a scene with Barbra Streisand?

Roger Edens had come to see me in Black Comedy and told Gene Kelly about me. I had flown back to London after the run finished and Roger asked me to fly to San Francisco to meet Gene Kelly. Gene liked the fact that I was very physical. He got up on a table and asked me to join him. he said, “Get up here”. “Listen, can you dance? Can You count to four?” I said, I certainly can. So, he did these steps, counted to four, and did these steps on top of the coffee table.  Then he had me do them. After he said, “You can dance.” I said, really? I've never been told that before. I was taught the steps for my screen test by Leo Kharibian. I sang “It Only Takes a Moment” and “Put on Your Sunday Clothes.” When I was hired, the producers wanted to dub my singing, but Gene wouldn’t allow it. When we finished shooting “It Only Takes a Moment” Gene had tears in his eyes.

I got along with Barbra because we were the same age and would constantly tell her you are the same on both sides because she would constantly ask which side of the camera I should shoot with. She used to say to me “You are so innocent but so rude.”

You were the lead in a musical called Flowers for Algernon on the West End. The score was by Charles Strouse and David Rogers. One of your co-stars was a mouse whose character figured prominently into the story. Can you please talk about the experience of putting that show together and what was it like playing opposite a mouse and also for those not familiar, can you please give a brief overview of the show itself?

The composer Charles Strouse wanted me to do it. It’s based on a movie called Charly that starred Cliff Robertson. It's about a mentally disabled man who has experiments done by these doctors with various forms of medication that bring him out to become almost genius. His journey continues as his nurse played by the wonderful Cheryl Kennedy brings him out before he begins to regress and in the end he goes completely back where he started. And it's a beautiful story and it's the best thing I have I've ever done.

I asked if I could take the mouse home so I could train it. The show only ran six weeks. It might have been just the wrong time for it. The title song was a big vaudeville number where I walk from one side of the stage to the other, and the mouse follows me all the way across and at the end I pick her up and give her a kiss on the nose. The crowd went crazy.

After the show closed I took her home and when she passed I buried her in my garden.

When I did The Women in White for Andrew, I trained a rat. How many times could this possibly happen in one’s career?

You played PT Barnum in Barnum on the West End. Thankfully, your performance is preserved on the cast recording and DVD for all of us to enjoy. How fun was it performing that show eight times a week.

It was incredible. We still have cast reunions to this day. We did two years at the Palladium, which is a long run for that venue, and then another year at the Victoria Palace which is where the DVD was recorded. We would show up on our own at four o’clock every day and practice our circus skills. I don’ think that you would find that today.

You've had a long and distinguished career on stage in film recordings and more. What do you consider to be some of the biggest highlights?

Hello Dolly, for sure. Even on days I wasn’t called I would show up just to watch choreographer Michael Kidd and Gene work.

On the stage, Barnum for the happiness and the joy it brought into ours and everyone’s lives.

Phantom changed my life. It gave me the opportunity to do concert work, and I never thought I was going to do that. To be able to go tell funny stories including things that always went wrong and then to be able to sing something from someone else's show that you loved was just amazing.

Special thanks to Kennedy Center's Director of Public Relations- Institution Allie Marvin for her assistance in coordinating this interview.