How Michael Became the Phantom (MALW version)/the Raoul story

During the ALW concert tour, Michael tells the story about how he became the Phantom of the Opera. It was after the previews for Starlight Express. He was upstairs in an anteroom, when suddenly Andrew Lloyd Webber came rushing through and as he was about to leave, he turned and said, "MICHAEL, w-w-w-w-e MUST do "Phantom of the Opera" together!" Michael said, "not being a fool", "Yes, Andrew, love to"! The next morning Michael rushed out and bought the book. He read through it a couple of times and realized quickly that there were only two male parts of any consequence - the first being the young Counte de Chagny, Raoul, (he grins and sort of does a little take on how the macho Raoul would look) and the other a "slightly older man", (grins again and hesitates) "- the Phantom". In his foolishness, he assumed that Andrew had him in mind for the role of the young Count de Chagny, Raoul - as "I've never played an adult role before." To this he grins mischievously again. So the next day he bought a couple of video versions of POTO. The first was the Lon Chaney version, "which didn't have a lot of speaking in it" - then the Claude Raines version which had a lot of speaking and also a Raoul character played by Nelson Eddy. Well, for the next twelve months, Michael studied the Claude Raines version, morning, noon and night. Michael lived and breathed Nelson Eddy. He looked like Nelson Eddy, he talked like Nelson Eddy, he even "walked" like Nelson Eddy! In fact, he said he nearly got arrested for walking like Nelson Eddy!. (Michael gives a demonstration here of his Nelson Eddy walk) After about a year and a half, Andrew called ("Don't be ridiculous operator, of course I'll accept the charges!") Andrew told Michael he wanted to see him the next morning, so the next morning Michael ran, no he says he "walked" as fast as he could. Michael says he walked through the door and Andrew took one look and said, "No, no, no, - we've already got one of those."

So, Michael says, that was the end of his dream of playing Raoul and now here he stands l300 performances later with no masks, mirrors, playing the character that changed his life forever. Michael says, he DOES, however, have one or two regrets. "I'm not a bitter man, but I did, after all, waste twelve months of my life. So I thought that this evening would give you an opportunity to see some of the work that I put into my Nelson Eddy period. So maybe . . . . I could show you . . . my Raoul. .. . .(Huge cheers and laughs from the audience) So, he continues, "Let me put that another way - Maybe I could show you my *interpretation* of Raoul." And so was his introduction to "All I Ask Of You," the duet he sang so beautifully during the ALW concert tour.

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