Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera first opened in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre in May of 1989. Michael Crawford reprised his Tony-Award winning performance. The late Robert Guillaume took over and the show concluded its run in 1993 with its longest-running Phantom: Davis Gaines. In the role of Christine with all three was Dale Kristien. The two co-stars are taking to the stage at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Friday in a concert entitled Together Again … for the First Time: Davis Gaines and Dale Kristien.
Gaines and Kristien performed together in Phantom longer than any two leads during the Los Angeles run of the overwhelmingly popular musical.
Kristien also appeared on Broadway in a revival of Show Boat and a revival of Camelot with Richards Burton & Harrison. Gaines also appeared in a Broadway revival of the Lerner and Loewe musical with Burton. (See they have stories to tell from more than just Phantom.)
Locally we’ve seen more of Gaines than we have of Kristien. Both appear as guests for local concerts.
This show will find them performing separately and together and sharing stories of their many years on the stage.
But can we finally discuss one reality about The Phantom of the Opera? Isn’t the title character ultimately a bit like Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love? His role only requires an actor to be on stage for 27 minutes of its performance time. Whereas Christine is on stage for two-and-a-half hours. Not to take anything away from the fine actors who have played the part of the Phantom, but behind every great masked character is clearly a very strong and very visible woman.
Photos of Davis Gaines and Dale Kristien courtesy of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.