Press Clippings: Phantom of the Opera
"Were it not that I personally know Michael Crawford's singing teacher to be the kindest and mildest of men, I would swear that Mr. Crawford had sold his soul to the Devil to acquire the rich and powerful voice with which he floods the theatre and holds us hypnotised in his presence....It is surely one of the greatest performances, not only in a musical but on any stage and in any year. As for Michael Crawford, there is just no other artist in this country today who can touch his command of a stage or match his daring in meeting a new challenge." --Jack Tinker, Daily Mail, October 10, 1986
"Michael Crawford as the Phantom, above all, brings
out the character's solitary pathos rather than his demonic horror:
it is the humanity under the mask that seizes the attention, not
least when his flickering desperate hands suddenly emerge from
behind an Angel of Music hovering over the lovers on the Opera House
rooftop."--Michael Billington, The Guardian, October 11, 1986
"Using subtle vocal intonation and body movement in an extraordinarily moving performance, an almost unrecognisable Michael Crawford devastates us with the anguish and despair of the Phantom...Michael Crawford's magnificent performance permeates all to produce a dramatic unity ultimately with pathos." --Richard Barkley, Sunday Express, October 12, 1986
 "If you didn't know, a thousand guesses wouldn't
exact the name of Michael Crawford from behind the half mask. In
stature, poise and unhammed ghoulishness he is superb; only a
mellifluous singing voice betrays his identity."--Robert Langton, Plays and Players Magazine, December, 1986
"That those (dark) emotions are vividly conveyed is due
to the star performance of Michael Crawford...It is Crawford who dominates the show with his powerful acting."--Matthew Wolf, The Chicago Tribune, October 26, 1986
"Michael Crawford is magical as the phantom (he
vanishes but he's indelible). And, believe me, when he cries out to
Christine at the very end ("You alone can make my song take flight /
it's over now, the music of the night..."), your heart will skip a
beat. Crawford sings and acts eloquently. It's the performance of
his life."--Kevin Kelly, The Boston Globe, May 22, 1987
"It remains the province of Mr. Crawford to deliver the play's
emotional punch--to make us care about the man behind the mask. And
it is here that Crawford's controlled, utterly self-respecting
Phantom works a particular magic...Crawford's intensely human Phantom
is the supple hinge upon which the production successfully swings.
When in the play's final secne, he sobs his last "I love you" into the
fleeing Christine's veil, declaring "You alone made my soul take
flight," it is a moment of elemental tragedy."--Hillary DeVries, The Christian Science Monitor, February 11, 1987
"Mr. Crawford's appearances are eagerly anticipated not because he's
really scary but because his acting gives "Phantom" most of what
emotional heat it has...Those
who visit the Majestic expecting only to applaud a chandelier--or who
have 20-year-old impressions of Mr. Crawford as the lightweight
screen juvenile of The Knack and Hello Dolly!--will be stunned by
the force of his Phantom."--Frank Rich, The New York Times, January 27, 1988
"And it is here in the portrayal of that touching
unrequited love that Michael Crawford rises to brilliance as the
masked, disfigured "phantom"...Crawford softly croons his music in an exceptionally unusual tenor...The show, in fact, as far as performance goes, BELONGS to Michael Crawford. He is quite unforgettable!"--William A. Raidy, The Star-Ledger (NJ), January 27, 1988
"Crawford creates a creature both frightening and vulnerable, a grotesque whose
mesmerizing power springs alike from the mystery of his origins and
his role as the uncrowned king of the subterranean realm beneath the
opera house. Crawford soars vocally with the emotion of the music
and of Charles Hart's lyrics."--John Beaufort, The Christian Science Monitor, January 27, 1988
"But the unquestioned star of this production is Michael
Crawford, who brings to the musical's title role a range of passion
and poetry...His is a performance of grand proportions that never tips into grandiosity.
His gestures are big, and his emotions are played full out, as
befitting a 19th Century style of operatic acting, but he invests his
stiff, painful walk with noble grace, and his final cry when he
realizes that he has lost Christine forever is unforgettably eerie.
Through such methods he makes palpable the agony that the detailed
makeup of his scarred face depicts...Heaven only knows how and when
the show will be able to tour, but for the moment, in New York, Lloyd
Webber's music, Prince's staging and Crawford's performance are
making this Phantom a show of fabulous proportions."--Richard Christiansen, The Chicago Tribune, January 27, 1988
"Let the experts complain all they want of repeated musical themes...The rest of us mere mortals will continue to enjoy the pleasant memory of wonderfully old-fashioned romantic music, state-of-the-art special effects and the once-in-a-lifetime performance by Michael Crawford." --a reader of The Washington Post, February 6, 1988
"You would be well advised to have the Kleenex handy. This, I have to say, is due not just to the power of the music, which gathers irresistibly, but to the performance of Michael Crawford, reasserting his preeminence as the outstanding star of our musical theatre...[He] sings like an angel." --Michael Coveney, Financial Times, October 10, 1986
"A mesmerising performance from Michael Crawford...[He] is giving the performance of his life in this show." --Sue Jameson, London Broadcasting, October 10, 1986
"This is not a review. These are a fan's notes. I apologize...I've fallen under the spell of the mysterious masked man...What makes this musical so spell-binding, so emotionally moving, so unforgettable, can be summed up in two words: Michael Crawford." --Richard Stayton, Herald Examiner, June 2, 1989
 "But Phantom is perfectly serious about its phantom,
whom Michael Crawford plays even more quietly and intensely at the
Ahmanson than he did on Broadway...(N)o one could accuse Michael
Crawford of giving a canned performance. Crawford's crepuscular
voice and his lynx-like moves do stir sympathy for our poor benighted
Phantom, and you have to respond to his commitment as a performer--he
couldn't give more to this part if it were written by Dante.
Crawford's Phantom combines size and intimacy in a way that only a
very experienced musical theater performer could achieve. He comes
close to us, and yet he brings off the grand gesture. The final
renunciation scene is especially well-judged. Almost, he makes us
believe."--Dan Sullivan, The Los Angeles Times, June 2, 1989
"Mr. Crawford, always a generous artist, is giving what
is almost always in the theatre referred to as "the performance of a
lifetime," playing "the role he was born to play." Richly,
beautifully sung and acted, Crawford's Phantom holds the stage even
when he is elsewhere. This twisted, perverse monster is given almost
tragic dimension in the actor's deeply felt characterization. It is
a contained, even restrained performance of a larger-than-life
character who is not fully revealed until the very last moments of
the play. With a passionate cry of need and loss, Crawford will
simply break your heart. He is wonderful."--Peter Vogt, L.A.Review, June 16-29, 1989
"What makes this musical so spellbinding, so emotionally moving, so unforgettable, can be summed up in two words: Michael Crawford. His genius as the disfigured,
love-sick composer haunting the Paris Opera is uncanny. It's one of
the great performances of our era. Considering that his face is
almost constantly hidden behind a half-mask, that he must act under
hats and capes, it's a miracle that Crawford still projets a poignant
vulnerability and sexual charisma. Just with his hands he
orchestrates a universe of feelings. I can't imagine seeing The
Phantom without him. He was brilliant in London, brilliant in New
York, and now brilliant in L.A. Seeing The Phantom without Michael
Crawford would be like seeing the Lakers without Magic Johnson."--Richard Stayton, The Los Angeles Herald Examiner, June 2, 1989
photos by Clive Barda.
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"...That Crawford can move exceedingly fast, and in
strange directions, one has known ever since the wonderful and
revelatory first night of "No Sex Please--We're British." But he can
also stand still, significantly still, and as every actor knows this
is a very difficult thing. In "Barnum" at one point Crawford does it
to enormous effect...And yet his figure does not look like a
statue; it is vibrant with life, with joy, with discovery. This is a
moment which is instructive to all aspiring young actors, and
spellbinding to an audience."--Harold Hobson, The Times of London, June 19, 1981
Press Clippings: Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber
