Carlotta is the anti-hero who had held the role of lead soprano a little bit too long for the Phantom’s liking but was still the main stay at the Paris Opera house…until Christine comes along and steals her spotlight. Played by Trista Moldovan, Carlotta was, in a word, perfect. First I want to touch on the diva Carlotta. The two leads are only as good as their supporting cast and in the Phantom of the Opera there are so many critical roles that must be performed correctly for the story line to be believable. His songs were smooth, silky and like a magical lasso pulled everyone into his world and made the all of our heart’s break for the Phantom.

He has to come across hard and cruel on the outside but show that on the inside he’s a scared and lonely man longing to be loved with a deeply rooted passion for music. You just have to be prepared for anything and react quickly.“Rooftop” (From L) Eva Tavares as Christine Daaé and Jordan Craig as Raoul Photo: Matthew Murphyĭavis had the most difficult role, the Phantom is sort of a Jekyll and Hyde character. One night, as Christine was handing me back my mask as I was crawling across the stage in the ‘Stranger than you dreamt it’ sequence, the mask twanged and pinged right out of my hand and into the pit! So I had to use my hand as a mask, grab her hand and say: ‘Come we must return’ as we ran off the stage. Occasionally you have to improvise if something doesn’t go to plan. He does manipulate Christine – think of those lines ‘Turn your face away/ From the garish light of day’ – he’s actually turning her head without touching her – she’s watching his movements and his hands and she’s magnetised by him. I wanted a kind of maturity about the Phantom as well as the period it’s set in. I love telling a story with my hands and use them to express a lot of things, to make them kind of artistic and expressive so people focus on them.

But because you’re masked you can’t convey things with facial expression, so body language is really important. In some ways it’s an easy role because you’re not actually on stage that much, although when you are there’s a huge impact. Simon: Of course the Phantom is a very different role from Raoul and it was exciting to make that transition to my first mature lead.

Phantom of the opera cast today