#mikael samuelson

[kimwexlers-brownhair]

NEW FAVORITE VERSION

[glassprism]

I don't know if you've answered this question before, but do you have favorite Phantom/Christine pairings?

I have answered it before, but not too recently, so maybe it's time to make a big ole updated masterpost of all my favorites as of now!

Keep in mind that if a name isn't on here, it doesn't mean they're not a favorite or whatever, it might just mean I never saw them with a Phantom or Christine I particularly liked (e.g. Gina Beck is an all-time favorite but she's not on here because I never really saw her opposite a Phantom I also really enjoyed) or I preferred a slightly different pairing (e.g. I really liked Franc D'Ambrosio with Lisa Vroman but I slightly preferred the latter with Brad Little). And there may be one or two where I could not decide at all (e.g. do I prefer Kelly Mathieson with David Thaxton or Josh Piterman? I can't tell!). Anyway, here they are:

Michael Crawford/Sarah Brightman - The OG cast. It can't be helped, they both had such unique takes on the role and it makes them one of the most memorable pairings for me.

Dave Willetts/Jan Hartley Morris - His rougher take on the mold that Crawford left vs. Jan Hartley Morris's old-school, classical Christine is a winner.

Mikael Samuelson/Elisabeth Berg - I love Samuelson's slightly harsher vocals compared to Berg's operatic tones.

Alexander Goebel/Luzia Nistler - Goebel is eerie, ghostly, and unhinged at the end; Nistler has a lovely classical voice and a scared, slightly naive take on her Christine. It fits well.

Davis Gaines/Tracy Shayne - Gaines is commanding, sensual, elegant; Shayne is innocent but with a touch of maturity that brings a certain uniqueness to the role.

Saulo Vasconcelos/Irasema Terrazas - Hands! I think both were allowed a lot of freedom in the role and it's great.

Hans Peter Janssens/Ineke van Klinken - Janssens is both very nuts and very sad while van Klinken is a reserved yet steely-willed Christine who is more than a match for him.

Ian Jon Bourg/Alison Kelly - Bourg is good with so many Christines, but I loved Alison Kelly's feistiness.

Michael Nicholson/Olivia Safe - Just a fascinating pairing, and they were both understudies!

Yoon Young Seok/Hye Kyoung Lee - It didn't matter that both were speaking Korean, they were so emotional that I felt like I understood every aspect of their performance.

Brad Little/Lisa Vroman - Kind of mentioned above, but I love how well these two act together.

Hugh Panaro/Julie Hanson - Hugh Panaro is a sarcastic jokester of a man and it makes you really feel for Julie Hanson's child-like Christine at the end of the show.

Gary Mauer/Elizabeth Southard - A real-life married E/C couple brings all the chemistry!

Earl Carpenter/Rachel Barrell - Barrell is also really good with JOJ, and more spirited around him, but I love Earl Carpenter more.

John Cudia/Jennifer Hope Wills - Oh the sparks these two brought to the role! Cudia was scary and dominating but JHW was absolutely able to hold her own against him.

Simon Pryce/Julie Goodwin - The voices of these two!

Marcus Lovett/Anna O'Byrne - Leroux-accuracy heaven.

Jeremy Stolle/Samantha Hill - Again, I've seen these two give fantastic performances with multiple performers, but I really do love what they bring to the show together.

Tomas Ambt Kofod/Sibylle Glosted - Very detailed, nuanced performances in a production that was full of it.

Jonathan Roxmouth/Meghan Picerno - There was fire between these two! Roxmouth was intent on bending Christine to his will but Picerno was so fiercely independent that you knew he could never succeed.

Jeon Dong Seok/Son Ji-soo - JDS is a swoon-worthy Phantom while SJS brought lovely expressions to the role.

And I'm sure there are many others...

[lesser-known-composers]

Gustav Düben - Song XII: Aftonsång

Mikael Samuelson, baritone Thomas Schuback, harpsichord Sven Åberg, Lute Kari Ottesen, cello

[lucygold95]

La Fanciulla del West(The Girl of the (Golden) West) & The Music of the Night(+ ALW's Married Man) Comparison video.

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Don't forget to click 1080p at settings before watch!

1. 1)1954 Mario del Monaco -Quello che tacete: 0:01

2)Michael Crawford -The Music of the Night(Original lyrics version): 1:18

3)1954 Steber & Del Monaco duets: 2:56

2. 1)1961 Daniele Barioni -Quello che tacete: 5:06

2)Sarah Brightman -Married Man(The Music of the Night's previous version): 6:12

3)1961 Tebaldi & Barioni duets: 7:42

3. 1)1964 Franco Corelli -Quello che tacete: 9:50

2)John Owen Jones(West End) -The Music of the Night: 10:54

3)Kirsten & Corelli duets: 12:41

4. 1)1958 Mario Del Monaco -Quello che tacete: 14:49

2)Akutagawa(Japan), Samuelson(Sweden), McGillin(Broadway), Hofmann(Germany) -The Music of the Night: 15:56

3)Tebaldi & Del Monaco duets: 17:31

5. 1966 Kirsten, Corelli act 1 duet(Franco Corelli as Il Fantasma dell'Opera😉): 19:42

-The End-(BGM: Italian The Music of the Night(Luca Velletri)): 22:04

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Personally I think 'Beniamino Gigli' is closest tenor to Leroux Erik. (I also think swedish tenor Jussi Bjorling and french tenor Georges Thill are close tenor to Leroux Erik too.)

Gigli was perfect lyric tenor with honey-like sweet voice. Also, he sang Verdi's Otello (dramatic tenor's typical role) perfectly too.(+ To prevent misunderstanding: Opera Otello in Leroux's book is Rossini's opera Otello. Not Verdi's. Rossini's Otello is not dramatic tenor's role. But Leroux wrote Erik can sing like thunder, so I wrote about dramatic tenor's role.)

In addition, Gigli was italian tenor but he did huge success as Faust. And he was great Romeo. Of course, Gigli sang 'Rachel, quand du Seigneur' from french opera 'La Juive' greatly too.

+

Gigli's Ch'ella mi creda(from opera La Fanciulla del West): https://youtu.be/HSYSlY1vCwA

Jussi Bjorling's Ch'ella mi creda: https://youtu.be/ety0I1I_AxE

[soulsoaringphan]

Mikael Samuelson - Music of the Night (featuring, I believe, Elizabeth Berg). A short clip from the TV show ‘Dabrowski’ dated 1991.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE HANDS AND JUST HIS MOVEMENT IN GENERAL!

[lot666achandelierinpieces]

Phantom Of The Opera. September 22, 1991; Stockholm, Sweden Mikael Samuelson, Inger Olsson Moberg, Bengt Nordfors (?) Soundboard. Soundboard Audio taken from a Monitor Video and Remastered by MaskedLion.

[behindthemirrorofmusic]

Elisabeth Berg and Mikael Samuelson Stockholm 1989

[marleneoftheopera]

Hey there~ Not sure if you'll know what I am referring to, but in the Graveyard scene (Wandering Child specifically during the part where they both sing together), do you notice how some Phantoms sing it an octave lower than Christine, and some sing a completely different pattern and harmonize with her? Do you know who that started with/where? I am new to Phantom and just noticed that!

I have! I’m not exactly sure when, who, or where it started. I’ve heard a few actors do it from time to time. Mikael Samuelson does it on the Swedish cast recording, I’ve heard Geronimo Rauch do it a few times, and there have been others but I’d have to go back and listen to a bunch of recordings haha. I don’t know exactly why it’s done, maybe if the actor is a bit under the weather it’s a note they can take down that won’t be really noticed? Maybe it’s a personal preference? I would like to think that it has some kind of significance when they do it. If you listen to it, you definitely catch that they end on two different notes. And it makes you think why? And it doesn’t sound bad, but it doesn’t sound exactly right. So maybe they do it from time to time to add an element of uneasiness to the scene. Like a “Christine, there’s something not right, get out now” kind of moment. But like you said it’s not done by most actors or productions, so I’m not sure exactly why. :)

[kimwexlers-brownhair]

Mikael Samuelson - Nattens Musik (Music of the Night)

Favorite version just after Crawford’s.

Also, is it just me or does the Christine here (Johanne Brochmann, I think)  resemble Heather Sears, the Christine in the 1962 Hammer version?

[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.

[lesser-known-composers]

Adolf Fredrik Lindblad (1 February 1801, Skänninge – 23 August 1878, Linköping) was a Swedish composer from the Romantic era. Work: Ballade - Bröllopsfärden / The Wedding Journey (1838) Libretto: The composer Singer: Mikael Samuelson Pianist: Thomas Schuback

[soulsoaringphan]

Guys there’s a complete recording of the original Swedish production of Phantom staring Mikael Samuelson and Inger Olsson Moberg, did we know this existed?!

Hope you are all well and safe ❤️

[princesssarisa]

Count me as one! He’s an adorable character.

I love all the different possible characterizations that different baritones bring to him too. Sweet and cuddly like Håkan Hagegård in the Bergman film, or a little more snarky and streetwise (er... forest-wise) like Nathan Gunn’s portrayal, or kooky and mischievous like Mikael Samuelson in the 1989 Drottningholm telecast, or a schlubby “tragic clown” like Simon Keenlyside in the 2003 Covent Garden version, etc. Not to mention all the creative ways designers have found to costume him!

I’m currently trying to publish a gender-bent Magic Flute retelling I’ve written called An Eternal Crown. The girl-Papageno character is named Lorikeet (I picked that name because the name “Papageno” can be translated as “little parrot” – a lorikeet is a little parrot) and I’ve loved writing her. When push comes to shove, she’s probably the character in the book who’s most like me.

Where are the Papageno stans? Is there Magic Flute Tumblr I have just never found?

[andrewlloydwebber]

Two photos from the original Stockholm production of The Phantom of the Opera. I hadn’t seen the first one (Mikael Samuelson as the Phantom) before. The second one (Elisabeth Berg and Mikael Samuelson) I have seen before but not at this length. Photos by Joakim Strömholm, from his website,

[marleneoftheopera]

For the questions; 1, 26 and 30?

1. Who is your favorite ALW musical Phantom?

Since picking one is just too darn hard, here's a list instead:

Michael Crawford

Gary Mauer

Hugh Panaro

Norm Lewis

Jeremy Stolle

John Owen Jones

Ramin Karimloo

Scott Davies

Ben Forster

Geronimo Rauch

Mikael Samuelson

If I had to pick one though, I'd probably go with Michael Crawford. He was the first Phantom I ever listened to, so I am a little biased. I adore his detailed and well-thought performance, with the ability to be both hauntingly elegant and show the Phantom's hurt and despair. His voice was just so lovely as well. My mom saw him many times and she described him as "seeming to walk an inch off the ground"; I agree with this. Crawford had this kind of hypnotic, larger than life, poised way of doing the role, which I think most Phantom's try to incorporate into their performance. And I hold such respect towards him just for being the first Phantom and creating the mold for the character.

26. Do you feel the urge to teach people more about PotO when they only know the ALW musical and/or the Gerard Butler movie?

YES. In my ideal world, everyone would talk about musical theatre and obsess over Phantom with me. Mostly I'll  tell them about the musical. You know, what the intention of certain things are, how certain things work, obsess over certain actors, etc. As far as books, other movies, other takes on the story, elooking more deeply into Leroux’s novel?I would love to do that, but alas there are few people I know who are interested in learning about POTO beyond the musical. But I hope someday they will have a specific class for it, like Phantom 101, hahaha.

30. How does Erik look in your imagination?

I have never really given it much thought, but I always thought that how Leroux described him was rather fitting. I also have pretty much always known Erik from the ALW musical, so I am a little biased to think that he should look something like that. A slender, maybe bulkier around the shoulders kind of build, while being on the taller side to give a more overbearing presence. As far as the deformity, I would imagine a mix between Leroux's and ALW's. Something showing the bone/skull aspect, while also having sympathy within it (like the raised lip, for example).