Robert Guillaume (Benson) as The Phantom?

[Overkill]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 2:55am

I recently learned that Robert Guillaume (TV's SOAP, BENSON and Rafiki in THE LION KING) replaced Michael Crawford as The Phantom in the first national tour of Phantom of the Opera. Wiki says no recordings exist of his performance. He recorded "Music of the Night" on his album and it's interesting. Also,it said that he is the only black actor to ever play Phantom. Anyone happen to see him way back or have any stories?

[jbm2]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 3:11am

I saw him in Pasadena...and He (and the show) were amazing!

[My Oh My]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 3:19am

I saw the original Los Angeles production three times but didn't get to see him or Crawford. Davis Gaines was my Phantom...no complaints there!!!

I have some brief clips over on YouTube of Guillaume performing in the show as part of a news segment on the show's closing. I'd link to it, but don't know if I'm allowed, since the last two video links I've posted have been deleted.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 3:46am

He looks fabulous!

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 7:35am

I saw it three times in Los Angeles. The first two times with Michael Crawford, and the last time with Robert Guillaume. The rest of the cast was identical.

Guillaume sang it very well, but it was his physicality that made the performance feel flat. Of course, following on the heels of Crawford in the same theatre with the same cast draws unfortunate comparisons.

I have never seen anyone else in that role have the same physical energy that Michael Crawford had. He was so eccentric in his movement, almost as if he were moving in slow-motion. Gravity behaved differently for him and around him. It was "other worldly" and also very sensual in a creepy-but-beautiful way.

Guillaume, on the other hand, stood stiffly, usually in one place, and commanded the stage. Simple, strong gestures, and not much else. But when you're acting behind a mask, there isn't much helping you out visually unless your body is engaged as well.

Now, looking back, I realize he was still one of the best Phantoms, by comparison. I haven't seen any actor since come close to doing what Michael Crawford did with the role. He's in a league all his own.

But "Benson" did well, taking over for him.

One interesting thing happened, though. When Crawford played the part, the show was definitely his. He commanded the stage and the production from start to finish, and you felt his presence even when he wasn't on. His "wattage" was that mesmerizing, palpable, and overwhelming (I saw him do it twice). Someone at the time pointed out that the Phantom is actually only on stage for 22 minutes. That's it. The other characters talk about him a lot, and you hear him occasionally echoing off-stage, but his on-stage time is only 22 minutes. (Actually, this is less surprising when you realize Margaret Hamilton is only on screen in The Wizard of Oz for 12 minutes.) When Guillaume took over as the Phantom, it became Chrstine's show. Same actress (Dale Kristien) in the role. Same cast around them (Reece Holland, Barbara Lang, Calvin Remsberg, Leigh Munro). But Christine was now clearly the star and the focus of the story, as, I believe, originally intended by Lloyd Webber, who had written the show and role for his then-wife Sarah Brightman. It was that noticeable of a shift. This was a story about Christine Daae and her plight. But when Crawford played it, he owned the entire production and story from beginning to end.

Updated On: 4/11/11 at 07:35 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 7:35am

He sounds amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hao56sXSdCE

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 9:20am

There was a single cd released. I didn't think on this cd that he was all that great. He had trouble with the high notes.
Link

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 9:23am

"Someone at the time pointed out that the Phantom is actually only on stage for 22 minutes. That's it. The other characters talk about him a lot, and you hear him occasionally echoing off-stage, but his on-stage time is only 22 minutes. (Actually, this is less surprising when you realize Margaret Hamilton is only on screen in The Wizard of Oz for 12 minutes.)"

Judi Dench won an Oscar for something like 8 minutes of screen time.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 9:28am

And Dench is not even the record holder, Goth. Beatrice Straight won Best Supporting Actress for a single five-minute scene in "Network."

It's all about impact, not size.

*waits*

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 9:39am

I really don't like his Music of the Night.

[crewdude]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 10:40am

I saw one of his performances in his first couple of weeks in the role and have some very distinct memories of the show. He did indeed struggle with the high notes. He wasn't a very ominous presence. He was rather stiff in the role. All of which were forgivable for it being early in his run - even though I still say, you need to be at full performance level before you charge full price for a show, but that's a separate discussion.
The most interesting story, and what I assume you are alluding to by bringing up his being the only black man to play the role, is .........this whole "color blind casting" was relatively new, the role was heavily identified as Crawford's, a white man. The audience was willing to take the journey with Guillaume. We realized it didn't matter what race Phantom was even though as Americans it was still troubling for some to see a black man wanting to "get with" a white woman. The character is so far removed from reality that any "racial tension" was pretty much ignored. BUT........

There was an outdoor scene where Christine is sitting facing the audience. She is expecting to be meeting Raoul. Phantom comes up behind her and waves her hands in front of her face. She asks "Raoul?". The orchestra broke out in scattered guffaws."Color blind" casting can only go so far, but it had apparently made Christine completely blind. Christine had become such an imbecile that she thought a pair of black hands waving in her eyes were that of her white boyfriend? A friend working the L.A. company says they eventually put gloves on Guillaume's hands after they found out why the audience was laughing show after show.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 10:57am

There was an outdoor scene where Christine is sitting facing the audience. She is expecting to be meeting Raoul. Phantom comes up behind her and waves her hands in front of her face. She asks "Raoul?". The orchestra broke out in scattered guffaws."Color blind" casting can only go so far, but it had apparently made Christine completely blind. Christine had become such an imbecile that she thought a pair of black hands waving in her eyes were that of her white boyfriend?

Huh? There's no scene where Christine mistakes the Phantom for Raoul. Are you thinking of "Point of No Return" where the Phantom pretends to be Piangi?

[Okayfine]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 11:26am

I think this person may be referring to the mauseoleum (sp?) scene. Supposedly, the Phantom has mesmerized Christine & she has to "snap out of it" to see him for what he is, but only does so after Raoul does his Knight in Shining Armor routine by rushing in & calling her name breathlessly again.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 11:30am

Yeah, but she still doesn't mistake the Phantom for Raoul. She does, however, mistake the Phantom for her father.

[Almira]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 11:35am

I saw Guillaume as the Phantom. At the time rumors about who would replace Crawford where flying all over the place. The names I remember most where Sting and Jack Jones. Jack Jones would have been hilarious.

When Guillaume was announce you could almost hear the collective "wtf?" in L.A.



Check out this thread.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?boardid=1&boardname=bway&thread=993268#3799350

Updated On: 4/11/11 at 11:35 AM

[nealb1]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 3:51pm

Best12bars, your description of Crawford's performance is perfect. Thank you for that.

Never saw Robert G in the role. I saw Crawford 4 times. Twice in the first year, then twice again when he came back, after Robert G left. Saw Davis Gaines in the show as well.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 4:41pm

Best 12 you are spot on. I was at the opening night in London and saw3 MC twice later. Nobody ever managed the physicality like him- I particularly remember the way he physically shrank/ collapsed imploded when unmasked. It was an incredible performance.

I also agree totally about the shift of focus after he left.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 4:42pm

Deflated. That's the word. MC's phantom deflated when he was unmasked.

[pennydreadful]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 4:56pm

I'd kill to see MC's Phantom live. Sadly, without a time machine, I think I'm stuck with my bootleg DVDs. I've also seen a bootleg of Guillaume, and though it's not fair to judge someone on a bootleg...wow, he sucked. Stiff, angry, no chemistry with anyone, couldn't hit the notes. I read an interview with him where he said he wanted to bring a "modern black sensibility" to Phantom, but it didn't work, imo.

He was also terrified of heights, and the Phantom is on ladders, swinging from the angel, etc, all the bloody time. I believe that's one of the reasons he left the role.

Edited to add: That's so true about lesser Phantoms giving way to Christine. I recently saw a poor understudy on for Panaro, and found myself focused entirely on Christine and Raoul (the excellent Ford and MacLaughlin) for once. Updated On: 4/11/11 at 04:56 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 5:23pm

Crewdude's memory is correct. Audiences in Mississippi almost torched the theater over the black Phantom trying to get with the white chick. Also, owing to audience laughter, they had to change the banquet meal from fried chicken to roast beef. Audiences just weren't as racially sophisticated way back in 1990.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 7:41pm

Best12Bars, I appreciate your (what I feel was an accurate) description of Michael Crawford's performance in Phantom. I saw him twice in the LA production and felt his performance was simply seductive. He put his entire person into the performance and it was all anyone could talk about afterwards. He was surely the best Phantom I had ever seen. I am not certain where the Crawford hate comes from at times - I wonder if it was from the Dance of the Vampires show he was in, which I understood stunk.

I also saw Robert Guillaume in the title role and enjoyed his interpretation, although it was very aggressive and short tempered. I don't think the color of his skin was a distraction, if anything it added another dynamic to the story.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 7:53pm

My repertoire of appearing as a audience member at "Phantom of the Opera" includes the fifth regular performance of the show at Her Majesty's Theater in London, the night-after-opening night on Broadway and a whole s-load of times in Los Angeles. I took my parents to Crawford's closing night and I saw Guillaume twice. I wasn't surprised when he got the role because I had seen him as Sky Masterton in the all-black (that's what the called it) version of "Guys And Dolls in the 70s (GREAT Duke Ellington-ish version of the overture, BTW).

Guillaume was a bit of a stiff on stage, but he could sing the role. The difference was, Crawford just seemed to open his mouth and those incredible top notes poured out effortlessly. Robert Guillaume had to pull them out with a tractor, but he delivered - and sweated and sprayed - the goods. He spent so much time trying to sing the score, I think he lost focus on the physicality.

[morosco]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 8:49pm

I just read that Guillaume played the role in L.A. for 8 months and then Michael Crawford returned to the role for 3 months?

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 9:19pm

I know that the L.A. Phantom is still the longest running "sit down" production the city has ever had. It ran close to five years at the Ahmanson, forcing their usual subscription series to move to the Doolittle for an extended contract for several years running.

The frustrating thing for me with Crawford's performance is that it doesn't translate well on film or TV (or YouTube). Even at the Tonys, his highly unusual physical style didn't "read" the same.

Because he did seem to be moving slightly in slow-motion with his etherial floating gestures, etc., on TV, at best, it looks like a slight camera trick. Mostly, it just doesn't come across at all. Seeing him live made all the difference in the world (or the "otherworld").

I definitely remember him recoiling and "deflating" as devonian.t put it when the mask was taken off. But even more, I remember him on top of the roof at the end of Act I watching Christine and Raoul sing "All I Ask of You." He cradled his own masked face and sobbed, and then he, almost sensually, rubbed his hands and long arms along the roofline. It was so eccentric and seductive (as I said before), and it ultimately broke my heart.

Again, nobody's even come close to doing that.

Morosco, I do believe Crawford came back before Davis Gaines took over the role (and played it for many years). The L.A. cast in general was superb. Dale Kristien had a lovely voice and she was SO beautiful. Reece Holland was sort of a "non-traditional" choice for Raoul, in that he was impish and plucky, not a Ken Doll generic. He also had a magnificent voice (best Raoul I've ever heard), and his acting was terrific. The Carlotta (Leigh Munro) was a true opera singer and blew the roof off with her high notes and her "diva humor." And Calvin Remsberg (the Beadle from the "Sweeney" DVD with Hearn & Lansbury) and Norman Large were great as the opera company owners. And then there was Barbara Lang as Madame Giry, whom I had seen at the age of seven as Abigail Adams in 1776, and who then was in the original "Night Music" on Broadway two years later. It was great to see her on stage again.

I have very special memories of seeing "Phantom" those first three times. Sixteen years later, I decided (with a comp ticket helping to persuade me) to see the show on Broadway with Howard McGillin and Lisa Vroman. I was surprised to see how "reduced" the show was. Everything looked and felt smaller, from the sets to the orchestra. It was smaller than when it first opened. That's how you keep a show running for 2-plus decades. McGillin was okay (kinda tired in the role, if you ask me), and Lisa Vroman had a gorgeous voice but seemed a little too confident and perhaps too old to be the naive Christine Daae. I enjoyed it, but it didn't compare to the epic production with Crawford at the Ahmanson. Not even close.

Updated On: 4/11/11 at 09:19 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 9:25pm

Here's a news clip with Dale Kristien and all three of the L.A. Phantoms: Michael Crawford, Robert Guillaume, and Davis Gaines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoyflTp6pl8