The Phantom of the Opera: Broadway - March, 1990

The Phantom of the Opera
Live on Broadway
March, 1990
Starring: Jeff Keller (u/s Phantom), Rebecca Luker (Christine), Davis Gaines (Raoul), George Lee Andrews (Firmin), Lelia Martin (Madame Giry)
Here we have an audio of Jeff Keller as The Phantom, whom has a very interesting history with the show!
Jeff was actually a part of the original 1988 Broadway cast, in the ensemble (Porter/Marksman). However, he was also given the major honor to be cast as the understudy to Michael Crawford as The Phantom--making him the first American to play the role on Broadway!
He later took over as principle André, opposite another original cast ensemble member George Lee Andrews as Firmin (fun fact: he was also one of the original understudy to both Firmin AND André!), and they remained in those roles until 2001...when they simply switched roles and George Lee Andrews began playing André and Jeff started playing Firmin!
During this period, Jeff continued to understudy The Phantom, that is with the exception of a brief period in 1994, brought on by extraordinary circumstances.
Marcus Lovett, whom joined the company as principle Phantom in May 1993, was contracted until April 30, 1994. It was nearing the end of his contract, with about 10 or so days to go, that a rather great misfortune struck the cast of "Carousel" at the Lincoln Center. Both the principle and understudy for the leading male role of Billy Bigelow were struck with illness, and unable to perform. Having nobody to play the lead, several performances had to be cancelled completely. Marcus Lovett, after they had to quickly hold auditions to find a replacement, was chosen to take over the role, with only TWO DAYS to learn the entirety of the part in what is a nearly 3 hour musical before performing the role for an audience.
Cameron Mackintosh allowed Marcus Lovett out of his contract early, which meant that a temporary new principle for the Phantom had to be arranged for the remaining period of that contract. This led to Jeff Keller becoming the official principle Phantom for the remainder of the month. His name was put as principle in the Playbill, and he was even given his own official photographs in the role!
Jeff Keller stayed with the show until late 2005 as Firmin, and through out his entire time with the show he was an understudy to the Phantom--unfortunately the statistics on how many times he would've played the role in the 2000s when the number of Phantom understudies began to increase is unclear.
In any case, he had a long and amazing time with the show, and is an important part of Broadway Phantom history! Making this audio an essential listen.
We also have the late, great Rebecca Luker as Christine, and a previously covered Phantom legend Davis Gaines in what was his first stint with the musical as Raoul.
I've done some work cleaning up the audio, but the quality is a bit uneven between act one and two due the source audio being the same way--regardless it is an improvement!
Enjoy!

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