The longest runway show in the history of Broadway is certainly “The Phantom of the Opera.” Throughout history thirteen men played the role of the Phantom in Broadway but only one of them kept the front pages of the newspapers and this man is Norm Lewis.
The plot of the story presents as a bitter man known as The Phantom who is leaving in the sewers underneath the Paris Opera House. He falls in love with Christine the beautiful soprano who had lesson with, without the girl knowing who helped her and believing it is her protective angel. Even if Christine is fascinated and drawn towards by the phantom this doesn’t mean she loves him, Christine being in love with her childhood sweetheart Raoul. For this reason, the phantom got jealous and had kidnapped Christine and had threatened to kill Raoul. Christine had agreed to married to phantom and gave him a kiss and the phantom released Raoul and then disappeared forever.
The thing that made Norm Lewis so famous is the fact that he is the first African American Phantom of the Opera in Broadway. He believed that minorities didn’t feat in the particular vision that people had for a particular character like the phantom but still he had faith that people nowadays will be more open minded to that. So for that reason he followed his dream, get to the auditions and get the role and on 12 May 2014 he had his first performance as the phantom. For Andrew Lloyd Webber, the legendary creator of the show was a big deal to have Norm Lewis on this role, believing that this will open new doors for the show. The feeling that Webber had when he accepted Norm to play this role was that the premier will be like “an opening night all over again.” (Godie)
The role of phantom for Norm was a little problematic. Even is the role didn’t come with a description of race, it was traditionally played all the time by white actors. The last twelve men that performed it were all Caucasian, as the role requires when Norm need to be disguised as Piangi, a Caucasian man, but Norm did a really great job performing it and in the end he converted into a one sexy Phantom. Nowadays only a few performers has such a sonorous voice as Norm has, but even him had little difficulties to bring to a close the highest phrase with his lush baritone voice but Andrew Lloyd Webber believed that not the color but the actor presence is important for the role.
The opera can be seen at the Majestic Theatre from Broadway. The music is made by the stunning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and is directed by Harold Prince. The opera is produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group from the Richard Stilgoe’s book. Having now in the main roles Norm Lewis as The Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine The Phantom of the Opera is a must see for everyone, being one of the longest shows played more than 26 record breaking years for more than 16 million people which recently surpassed the milestone of performance defeating an unprecedented feat that wasn’t achieved by another Broadway show- 11, 000 in New York.
Works cited:
BWW News Desk. “Tony Nominee Norm Lewis Extends Run in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA; Sierra Boggess' Successor Announced.” Broadway World. 3 September 2014. Web. 23 November 2014. Available at http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Tony-Nominee-Norm-Lewis-Extends-Run-in-THE-PHANTOM-OF-THE-OPERA-Sierra-Boggess-Successor-Announced-20140903
Caggiano, C. “Review- The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway” About Entertainment. Web. 23 November 2014. Available at http://theater.about.com/od/musicals/fl/Review-The-Phantom-of-the-Opera-on-Broadway.htm
Clark, J. “Watch Norm Lewis as Broadway’s first African- American ‘Phantom’.” Entertainment Weekly. 20 August 2014. Web. 23 November 2014. Available at http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/08/20/watch-norm-lewis-as-broadways-first-african-american-phantom/
Godie, M. “Person of the Week: Norm Lewis Becomes Broadway’s 1st Black Phantom” ABC NEWS. 4 April 2014. Web. 23 November 2014. Available at http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2014/04/person-of-the-week-norm-lewis-becomes-broadways-1st-black-phantom/
Isherwood, C. “The Music of 10,000 Nights.” The New York Times. 17 August 2014. Web. 23 November 2014. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/theater/the-phantom-of-the-opera-retains-its-luster.html?_r=0
