#ETHAN FREEMAN

[behindthemirrorofmusic]

Ethan Freeman and Jill Washington

[brideofmirrors]

ethan feeeman the man you are

x

[or-what-you-will]

More ethan!

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

A small (and by no means complete) collection of phantoms going Above and Beyond the Call of Horny

@meilas this one's for you

Greg Mills (w. Mary Michael Patterson, Broadway 2014)

Davis Gaines (w. Tracy Shayne, Broadway 1995)

Ethan Freeman (w. Anne Görner, Essen 2006)

Michael Crawford (w. Dale Kristien, Broadway 1988)

Michael Crawford (w. Dale Kristien, LA 1989)

Akutagawa Eiji (w. Hanaoka Hisako, Sapporo 1994)

Ian Jon Bourg (w. Olivia Safe, Hamburg 2001)

Scott Davies (w. Meredith Braun, West End 2000)

The same

John Owen Jones (w. Rachel Barrell, West End 2005)

[fitzrove]

Ethan Freeman, Hass and the original production of Elisabeth

Recently, @behindthemirrorofmusic shared an interview clip from her radio show with me (thank you so much!). In it, Ethan Freeman (original Lucheni) talks about, among other things, Hass and the criticism the number has gotten over the years.

Dannii: Several Jewish fans of the show have said it's a rather triggering song and makes them feel uncomfortable - making them feel that Lucheni is turning against them. Did you think about that or does this raise any feelings in you? Ethan: Ah, no. Lucheni is a cynic, but he certainly did not ally himself with the fascistic transition that happens in the course of that number, as it begins to look into the future and towards the growing demonization of Jews in the Elisabethan world moving towards the period of the Nazis. Again, as Che is with the Peronistic fascism [in Evita], Lucheni looks at it with bitter cynicism. I can see people being uncomfortable, but the scene and the number were designed to make everybody uncomfortable [laughs]. And the Austrian audience, who at the time had to - and perhaps to a bigger extent even now still has to - deal with its fascist and antisemitic past... That number was always met with a kind of deathly, breathless silence. Sometimes applause at the end, but first it was always this reaction of "[gasp] This was us!". And that's what the number was there for. Obviously, Harry Kupfer, the director, was a tremendous antifascist, and so he directed the number to hit very hard. I remember we performed the show [one night] and Jörg Haider, the leader of the ultra-right party in Austria at the time was in the audience of the show - and he walked out after the number! I knew I had done my job when I heard he had walked out. Because the number points a finger at exactly the kind of ideology he seemed to purvey. So... As a Jewish person myself, I want to show the world its ugly reflection. If it made me uncomfortable in any sense, watching the Jewish character getting beaten up in that scene, it's because it's supposed to make people feel - "oh, this is not good". I think good theatre is for people with strong stomachs, and if people are extremely sensitive to that sort of thing, then they have to figure out how to deal with it. I don't think for any reason that that [scene] should not be in the show. Because it was a reflection of the history of that time - but not only that time, obviously.

(Interview by Dannii Cohen, September 10, 2023. Emphasis mine. Transcribed from the first episode of the new series of Behind the Mirror of Music. Source)

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Shavua Tov! He crawl. Various Phantoms around the world absolutely mopping the stage. Army crawlers only. Not a speck of dust left. Roomba the heck out of that lair, my sewer man.

Featuring (clockwise from left): Ben Crawford (Broadway, 2022), John Owen-Jones (West End, 2004), Jon Robyns (West End, 2023, @shakeatradefeather, master), Ethan Freeman (Essen, 2006)

[ethanfreemanappreciation]

Happy Halloween!!

- Ethan performs "This is Halloween" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

[opera-ghost]

"but christine..."

[derschleierfallt]

Und alle Flüche sind gesagt

Und alle Segen revidiert

[wheel-of-fish]

Ethan Freeman weekend link roundup!

A huge thanks to Dannii at @behindthemirrorofmusic for organizing and to everyone who came out to celebrate his 65th birthday with us! It was so fun doing a collaboration like this.

Featured content

Full video: Ethan Freeman, Anne Gorner & Nikolaj Brucker (Essen 2006, his last performance as the Phantom)

Full video: Ethan Freeman, Julie Washington & Simon Bowman (London 1995)

Ethan Freeman at 65: Dannii's brand-new, hour-long documentary about Ethan and his career, featuring lots of interview footage and performance clips

Special birthday episode of Behind the Mirror of Music podcast: Features many rare recordings!

Albums

With You (solo album): Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

The Phantom of the Opera & Love Never Dies (Highlights) feat. Claire Moore and John Barrowman: Apple Music | Spotify

Other fun stuff

The Ethan Freeman Appreciation YouTube channel

@ethanfreemanappreciation here on Tumblr

Ethan reads excerpts from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

"'Til I Hear You Sing" (live)

Where to find Ethan

Instagram: @ethan_daniel_freemanactor and @art_ethandanielfreeman

Facebook

[behindthemirrorofmusic]

The Phantom anniversary special is now available to watch!!

In this big special we reach the highpoint of our Phantom of the Opera celebrations as Dannii Cohen is joined by four Phantoms to celebrate 115 years since the first chapter of the novel was published in the Gaulois (on September 23 1909.) four legendary Phantoms discuss the novel, the musical and more.

Ethan Freeman reveals how the book and Lon Chaney influenced his performance. He also dives into Erik and Christine's relationship, seeing Michael Crawford perform the role live and answers questions from Phans.

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Peter Karrie discusses memorable mishaps, his thoughts on Erik and his relationship with Christine and what he thinks Christine feels for him.

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Ciaran Sheehan shares how he moved from heavy metal to musical theatre just to play the Phantom and how it was the Susan Kay novel that shaped his performance.

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Jonathan Roxmouth discusses the difference between the musical and the book, Erik’s pain, Michael Crawford and what it was like to be "the only Phantom in the world".

Plus much more!!

[deeznutsthethrid]

Ethan!! Happy Birthday 🎊 happy 65th birthday

[meilas]

Bastard Phantom alignment diagram

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

hello!

Just wondering, who's your favorite Phantom from all the Phantom musical actors?

I answered a similar ask a few months back, so for the long answer you can read that

The short answer is Tim Martin Gleason. He's followed closely by Ethan Freeman and Ted Keegan.

Tim is a wholly subjective choice. To be honest, I've only seen one performance with him and there are things about it that I would change if I could, but the man has a hold on my brain that I can't shake.

Ethan and Ted are ones that I don't feel I need to explain. Ted Keegan needs to be talked about more. Shockingly consistent performance over a span of twenty years. That man KNOWS Erik inside and out. He can perform MOTN without his eyes ever ONCE leaving Christine.

And yet he never fails to surprise me (*cough* Philly 02 *cough cough*).

Ethan also KNOWS Erik, more from devotion than practice though, I think. Ethan Freeman loves this character and this story. He is so dedicated to the book, and his Erik is one of the scrungliest, wettest, most pathetic little goblin man performances I have ever seen. I want to give him big hugs and forehead kisses

[flagbridge]

Thirstiest non-Anglophone Phantoms: Part I

Inspired by @nerdywriter36's post on sluttiest Phantoms and @opera-ghost's post on "Jeremy Stolle heard 'slut' when the director called cut." here are some very slutty Phantoms from non-English language replicas.

In chronological order:

1. Henk Poort, Netherlands, 1993 (w/ Joke de Kruijf)

Solid boob grab AND face caress, sir.

2. Eiji Akutagawa, Japan, 1994

This is the famous "maneuver" and it lasts approximately 40 seconds.

3. Saulo Vasconcelos, Mexico, 2000 (w/Irrasema Terrazas)

Not his thirstiest moment but do it for the **magic hands**

4. Ethan Freeman, Germany, 2006 (w/Anne Görner)

Sir, you are on stage.

How the German Phantoms do not split their very tight pants every show is a mystery for the ages. You get two of Ethan because he is my comfort Phantom.

5. Dmitri Ermak, Russia, 2016 (w/Tamara Kotova)

No way this list was going to not have at least one Russian. The man looks like he's about to have Christine for dinner.

[ethanfreemanappreciation]

A very happy 38th anniversary to The Phantom of the Opera