arqueete | PHANTOM SWING THOUGHTS (Reply)

Excuse me, I'm about to go Phantom geeky.

I was looking at this old archive of PotO cast lists by month for, um, every month ever up until Jan 2007, to figure out when it was that Jeff Keller and George Lee Andrews switched roles as mentioned in the latest [tos] show (it was April 2001, by the way).

In the chat we'd been discussing the Spring Awakening cast changes and why understudies don't usually seem to be promoted to leads ever in shows. Well, looking at these Phantom lists, I'm kind of amazed at how much ensemble members/understudies DO get promoted to leads in Phantom.

LET US EXAMINE THIS

First, the OBC of Phantom. January 1988. These are just the names I recognize offhand:

Monsieur André ... Cris Groenendaal <-- Would become Phantom March 1989
Porter/Marksman ... Jeff Keller <-- Would become André April 1989 (Replacing Cris) -- Apparently also Phantom in May 94
Princess (Usually also Christine u/s) ... Rebecca Luker <-- Becomes Christine March 1989
Don Attilio/ Passarino ... George Lee Andrews <-- Becomes Firmin May 1990 (and then André in the switch)

That's just the OBC. Some other notable names I came across in skimming the lists:

(I blabbed a lot, so I've picked out the swings/princesses/similar that went on to the leads and left everything else under a cut)

*Laurie Gayle Stephenson became a swing in 5/93. I'm pretty sure she's played Christine. -- YES I'M RIGHT SHE DID
*Brad Little was a swing in 3/94 and he's been Phantom... That surprises me. He's also been Raoul.
*Kimilee Bryant was Princess around 94, she's been Christine
*Gary Mauer became a swing in 7/95. He's been Raoul and Phantom.
*Melissa Dye became Princess in 8/95. She'd be a Toronto Christine around the time Paul Stanley was in the show.
*Rebecca Pitcher became Princess in 2/98, she'd later be Christine
*Jim Weitzer became a swing in 7/98 -- he'd later play Raoul.
*Elizabeth Southard started as Princess in 7/99. She'd later play Christine on tour among other places.
*Marie Danvers started as Princess in 12/99. She'd later play Christine (she replaced Southard, here, and it's a little ironic because she and Southard were Christine/alt on tour at the same time while Southard's husband Gary Mauer played Phantom, and at the time this princess switching was going on Gary was playing Raoul)

* Steve Barton started as Raoul and would later play Phantom
* Davis Gaines started as Raoul in 3/90 and would later play Phantom
*Elena Jeanne Batman started as Page in 5/90 and would later play Carlotta on Broadway and in Vegas -- Patta saw her, I think?
*Kevin Gray was Raoul for a whileIdon'trememberwhenandI'mnotgoingbacktocheck and he played Phantom starting 12/90 (I GOT THAT DATE)
*Hugh Panaro started as Raoul in 12/90. If you didn't know he played Phantom you haven't been around me long enough.
*Thomas James O'Leary started as Reyer in 2/93. He'd later play Phantom.
*Grant Norman became a swing in 6/93. He's played... Raoul, I think? Name's familiar anyway.
*Ciaran Sheehan started as Raoul in '94, I think he played Phantom
*Ted Keegan started as Reyer in 7/95 -- He'd later play Phantom.
*Megan Starr-Levitt started as Princess in 9/95. I think she's played Meg and I know she's gone on for Christine at least once. Pretty sure, anyway.
*D.C. Anderson became a swing in 8/98. He played either Andre or Firmin, Firmin I think, later, on tour at least.
*Heather McFadden joined the Ballet Chorus around 10/97, she later played Meg.
*Susan Owen became Princess in 5/99. This isn't significant because she's gone on to play any greater role. It's because she's playing that same role today (not straight from then to now) and never played Christine fo realz despite supposedly being very good at it. She has been alternate for short periods during vacations, though.
*Kate Wray joined the ballet chorus 10/98, she'd later play Meg.
*David Gaschen started as hairdresser in 11/99. I think he's played Phantom. I think he's played someone. Don't remember for sure. -- Apparently he played Piangi for a little bit, and also played Firmin and Phantom for short periods during vacations and such.
*John Cudia started as Raoul in 03/04ish and would later be Phantom
*Stephen R. Buntrock was a swing in 6/05. He's played Phantom and Raoul for bits of time.

*Special mention to James Romick because I hadn't realized he's been a swing for so. many. years. He got to represent Phantom at the Broadway's Back concert.