#Rick hilsabeck

[marleneoftheopera]

1995 TV Special of the Raoul Company US Tour, which includes some footage of Rick Hilsabeck and Sarah Pfisterer!

[meilas]

just discovered this guy and he and this video are hitting all the right marks. the lighting is chef's kiss and the way he moves is so deliberate. his voice goes from so, so quiet, to the only thing you can hear (idk maybe the orchestra was too quiet at points?) watch how he stands up from the organ before motn, he looks like a predator. this man is 100% in control. those high notes sound effortless. and his hand movements are particularly erotic.

[glassprism]

MC and Franc D’Ambrosio both started off playing the phantom at the start of their runs, but what other old school actors also started as the phantom?

Well, assuming a random cut-off date of the year 2000 for "old school Phantoms", I'd say... quite a lot of actors? Remember, when the show first started, there's no pool of former Raouls (or less commonly, former Andres or Piangis) to draw upon for Phantom actors. A lot of principal actors for Phantom in the early days started off playing the Phantom.

So a small listing of them, across multiple productions, might include: Michael Crawford, Dave Willetts, Martin Smith, Peter Polycarpou, Peter Karrie, Mark McKerracher, Mark Jacoby, Marcus Lovett, Robert Guillaume, Rick Hilsabeck, Ron Bohmer, Masachika Ichimura, Alexander Goebel, Colm Wilkinson, Jeff Hyslop, Paul Stanley, Anthony Warlow, Rob Guest, Mikael Samuelson, Peter Hofmann, Tim Tobin, Henk Poort, Florian Schneider, Juan Navarro, Saulo Vasconcelos. Among others, I'm sure.

[phantomonabudget]

Favorite phantom mask?

Definitely the early-late ‘90s Broadway and US National Tour masks, back when they were still custom molded and fitted to each actor.  These were more stylized than the original West End mask, with a more prominent brow, but unlike today, I feel like the brow is more expressive and less overwhelming. Like this one on Davis Gaines:

...and this one on Franc D’Ambrosio:

...and this beauty on the late (and great) Kevin Gray:

...and this one on Marcus Lovett:

....and Rick Hilsabeck:

...and Ted Keegan!!!

....and lastly, this guy on Ian Jon Bourg when he was on the National Tour:

That era is followed very closely in second by the original mask Crawford wore.  It’s simplicity cannot be undervalued: 

[behindthemirrorofmusic]

Rick Hilsabeck early 90's US National Tour Phantom

[wheel-of-fish]

Hey Fish! Do you know which actors, who have played Erik & Christine, have become a couple IRL? I saw it mentioned on your blog, but couldn’t figure it out. Thank you!!

This isn’t really my area, but here are the applicable couples I know of:

Gary Mauer & Elizabeth Southard

Kevin Gray & Dodie Pettit

Rick Hilsabeck & Sarah Pfisterer

Ron Bohmer & Sandra Joseph

If there are more (and there probably are), @glassprism will know. :)

[gabriezzu]

Oh. My. God.

This is AMAZING! I can’t believe I just find out about this phantom!

The illumination (or rather, the lack of) and the low, barely-there music make this interpretation incredible. The darkness hides the majority of the Phantom’s face, and the light hits him just right so that the mask shines more. His eyes get hid under the shadows during the whole video, and it gives him such a supernatural, creepy vibe! Makes you feel like he will do something strange and unexpected, wich I think is perfect for a character as mysterious as the Phantom is at this point of the story. The low music makes his voice the center of attention, and the movement of his hands (very fine hands btw) are hypnotic.

It’s so creepy.

I. LOVED. IT.

We need more creepy, strange Phantoms! 

[anna-williams-wins]

A little memento from the first time I saw Phantom of the Opera live. I saw Rick Hilsabeck and Susan Owen and they were amazing.

[arqueete]

A little while back I went to a concert that was raising money for a local high school’s trip to New York to appear in the Macy’s parade, starring former Phantom of the Opera cast members Sarah Pfisterer and Rick Hilsabeck. It was a good show (mostly just popular showtunes) and I thought the article they included on the back of the program was fascinating. 

(Coincidentally I also did see Sarah’s brother Steve in that (truly excellent) community theater production of Les Mis without having any idea they were related.)

[operafantomet]

Cause the MOTN pose is awesome out of context too

[glassprism]

Gary Mauer and Elizabeth Southard are the best! The Phantom doesn't really lose, he takes his Christine home with him at the end of the day. Those two are so cute, I love your videos of the happy married couple. Have there ever been any other real life couples who played Phantom and Christine or is it just them?

Oh there’s been quite a few, as well as real-life Raoul and Christine couples (and Phantom and Meg, Raoul and Meg, etc.). Of the Phantom and Christine couples, one of the most famous back in their day was Kevin Gray and Dodie Pettit. Ron Bohmer and Sandra Joseph are another, though I don’t believe they were married when they were playing the roles together. However, they fell in love during that time, or as Sandra Joseph herself puts it in this thread:

...when I was first cast as Christine I received a congratulatory letter in the mail from Rick Hilsabeck who was to be my Phantom. I was deeply touched by the gracious gesture. So when it was my turn to welcome a new Phantom (on the tour) I was mindful to write a similar letter to Ron Bohmer. He apparently appreciated it a lot. He's now my husband of eight years.

And if you want to see more, just check out Operafantomet’s exhaustive post here, which includes real-life couples across many different roles.

[oldschoolphantoms]

Rick Hilsabeck and Teri Bibb. US National Tour. Ca. 1993.

[glassprism]

i was reading a list of some baritone-y phantoms which got me thinking: any phantoms that had a distinctive really high-tenor voice? Idk if that’s the correct wording but hopefully the meaning is still clear!

Yeah, I realized I had lots of lists of baritone Phantoms and booming operatic Phantoms, but nothing of the tenor Phantoms! Off the top of my head, those with particularly light or tenor-like voices might include:

Michael Crawford

Masachika Ichimura (basically a Crawford clone)

Dave Willetts (another one very similar to Crawford)

Jeff Hyslop

Kevin Gray (to the point of being piercing)

Franc D’Ambrosio

Rick Hilsabeck

Rob Guest

Andrew Hambley-Smith

Thomas James O’Leary

Laird Mackintosh

Michael Nicholson

Hugh Panaro

Christian A. Muller

Peter Joback

Mathias Edenborn

Chris Mann

And I’m sure I missed a ton...

[glassprism]

Hi Glass To help counter the doom and gloom of recent times, I was wondering if you know of any POTO actors who were married or dated? And if they were part of the main 3, how do you think it effected their on stage chemistry? I saw Tam Mutu & Sierra Boggess in LND when they were dating and they did feel more genuine than Ramin & Sierra.

@operafantomet made a really good list here, and has more in her tag on real-life couples.

It’s actually fairly difficult for me to judge the chemistry of these real-life couples, because many have either gone unrecorded (this is the case of Brennan Holder and Amy Hudson or Juliette Audra Miller and Stephen Trafton), have only had audios taken of them (this goes for Ron Bohmer and Sandra Joseph, John Cudia and Kathy Voytko, Rick Hilsabeck and Sarah Pfisterer, and Kim So Hyun and Son Ju Ho), or have been filmed but not together (there’s footage of Carla Nicholson and Michael Nicholson, but with two other Phantoms and Christines).

So the only two married couples I can think of that I’ve actually seen footage of would be Kevin Gray and Dodie Pettit and Gary Mauer and Elizabeth Southard. Their chemistry was quite good - the duo of Mauer and Southard in particular is legendary - but I also feel like I’ve seen couples who were not in relationships who had just as remarkable chemistry. For me, I think it’s the real-life context that makes me go “aawww” - that, and the adorable stories.

[glassprism]

Hey GP! I was wondering if you could figure out who would have been in the main roles in March 1994?

Sure, though it depends on location (and I’ll just do the trio here):

London

Phantom: Ethan Freeman

Christine: Jill Washington

Christine alt.: Claire Moore

Raoul: Clive Carter

Broadway

Phantom: Marcus Lovett

Christine: Tracy Shayne

Christine alt.: Luann Aronson

Raoul: Ciaran Sheehan

1st National Tour (San Francisco)

Phantom: Franc D'Ambrosio

Christine: Lisa Vroman

Christine alt.: Cristin Mortenson

Raoul: Raymond Saar

2nd National Tour (Chicago)

Phantom: Rick Hilsabeck

Christine: Sarah Pfisterer

Christine alt.: Rita Harvey

Raoul: Nat Chandler

3rd National Tour

Phantom: Grant Norman

Christine: Adrienne McEwan

Christine alt.: Sylvia Rhyne

Raoul: John Schroeder

UK Tour

Unfortunately, the brochures available skip from October 1993 to November 1994, so I’m not quite sure when cast change occurred, so these are the possibilities.

Phantom:  Dave Willetts or Mark McKerracher

Christine: Lisa Hull or Nikki Ankara

Christine alt.: Josie Walker or Sarah Ryan

Raoul: Mike Sterling

Toronto:

A very confusing year; there aren’t brochures and I’m somewhat doubtful as to whether my videos from this production are labeled with the correct year. But it may have been...

Phantom: Peter Karrie

Christine: Teresa DeZarn

Christine alt: ?

Raoul: David Rogers

Canadian Tour:

Phantom: Jeff Hyslop

Christine: Patti Cohenour

Christine alt.: June Crowley

Raoul: David Rogers

Australian Tour

Phantom: Rob Guest

Christine: Maree Johnson

Christine alt.: Danielle Everett

Raoul: Peter Cousens

Japanese Tour (Sapporo)

The Japanese productions usually have at least three to four actors sharing each role, but unfortunately, all we know are the following three.

Phantom: Eiji Akutagawa

Christine: Hisako Hanaoka

Raoul: Kanji Ishimaru

Stockholm

Phantom: Mikael Samuelsson

Christine: Johanne Brochmann and Inger Olsson Moberg (shared the role)

Raoul: Jan Kyhle

Hamburg:

Phantom: Thomas Schulze

Phantom alt.: Simon Tunkin

Christine: Colby Thomas

Christine alt.: Renée Knapp

Raoul: Dale Tracy

Scheveningen:

Phantom: Henk Poort

Christine: Joke De Kruijf

Christine alt.: Els Bongers (most likely)

Raoul: Peter De Smet

[operafantomet]

Middle: David Huneyager (Firmin) and Rick Hilsabeck (André).

They originated the roles of the managers in the Chicago production in 1990 (eventually transforming into the 2nd National Tour). But they also both ended up playing the Phantom - Rick Hilsabeck in the 2nd National Tour from 1993-96 (right), as well as understudying the role on Broadway, while David Huneyager understudied the role in Hamburg 1997-99 (left). He also alternated as Firmin in 1997.