Raoul Gets Real: Five Things You Need to Know About PHANTOM Star Jay Armstrong Johnson

Before now, eighteen different men have fallen for Christine as the Vicomte de Chagny. Nineteenth in line is Jay Armstrong Johnson, who earlier this summer officially took over the role of 'Raoul' in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, succeeding Rodney Ingram, who played the role for over 400 performances.

What do you need to know about Phantom's new star? Let us break it down for you...

---

How he got the role:

Jay got the OK from the man at the top! "Because I worked with Hal Prince in Candide in the New York City Opera a couple of seasons ago, he's kind of become a mentor of mine," explains Johnson. "When Quantico on ABC got cancelled and when my character got put into jail at the very first episode in season three, then I was like, 'Oh great, I'm unemployed with no means to pay rent and student loans.' So I called Hal and I asked for some advice... just for some guidance. It turns out that Raul was opening up, and he thought I might have been a little too young for it, but he said, 'Come in and audition.' So I gave it a few auditions and three weeks later I was Raul and he said, 'Grow a mustache.'"

Speaking of that mustache:

"I didn't think I could grow this thing!" jokes Johnson. "This took about three months of growth and I've been trimming it a bit just to try to keep it under control. But at first I had to grow it out and Hal was like, 'Shave it off, I don't trust a man with a mustache,' and I shaved it off and I had my put-in for Phantom and he saw that I looked like I was seventeen on stage next to everyone else and he was like, 'Just kidding, grow it back.'"

How he got his start in NYC:

"I decided to go to NYU School of Vocal Performance Steinhart and all while going to school I was auditioning for Broadway replacement for Patti LuPone's Gypsy. A Chorus Line was playing at that time., so I was going to a lot of dance calls because I grew up dancing in Texas. I think I auditioned for A Chorus Line for a good year and a half while in college before I got the national tour."

Working with kids today:

"Teaching master classes is a second love of mine. I'm always going home to Texas to teach dance classes or vocal master classes... Anytime that I can be around younger musical theater-aspiring kids it just reminds me of when I was that age and how much I appreciated when my heroes or people I looked up to came and taught me. It's a way to give back, a way to learn a lot about myself by watching others, it's just fun..."

The best Phantom moment so far:

"I had only done the show maybe five or six times and when I'm supposed to jump off the bridge into the trap door. I looked down and I see the boat and it's just there, stagnant, and there is supposed to be a hole in the stage where I'm supposed to jump. I hear a voice from off stage yell, 'Don't jump!' So I was like 'Okay, this is your first week of shows, they told you if you don't jump you do what? You exit stage right' and so I did. And it was crazy, the boat stalled there for a while, so I had to run off stage right, go down this ladder, run all the way down to the basement... then I'm supposed to come back up through the trap door, but the boat was still stalled on the trap door Then I had to run back up the stairs, and I got to walk on water to go save Christine. [Laughs] So that has been my most fun, exciting, and kind of terrifying memory so far and it's happened twice since I've started the show. It's funny because apparently no Raul has ever had to do that and I've done it twice in like two and a half months which is kind of crazy!"

Jay Armstrong Johnson has appeared in the original Broadway casts of Hair (revival, in his Broadway debut), Catch Me If You Can, Hands on a Hardbody and On the Town, as well as in the national tour of A Chorus Line. Off-Broadway, he most recently appeared in the world premiere of Terence McNally's Fire and Air, as well as Wild Animals You Should Know, Working (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble) and The Mad Ones.

Other New York City appearances include the title role in Harold Prince's recent production of Candide (New York City Opera), co-starring alongside Emma Thompson and Audra McDonald in Sweeney Todd with the New York Philharmonic (Avery Fisher Hall, filmed for PBS), The Most Happy Fella (City CenterEncores!) and starring opposite Kelli O'Hara in Babes in Toyland (Carnegie Hall). On TV, he played 'Will Olsen' in the hit ABC drama "Quantico." His solo show Jay Armstrong Johnson LIVE at Feinstein's 54 Below is available on BroadwayRecords.com and iTunes. He is a native of Fort Worth, TX.