As The Phantom of the Opera heads in to its 34th year in the West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh have announced that leading Australian performer Josh Piterman will play The Phantom from 9 September 2019 at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London.
A popular Australian musical theatre performer and classical crossover artist, Piterman was part of the international pop opera group, The Ten Tenors, and in 2018, he released his self-titled debut solo album which went to Number 1 in the Australian Classical Crossover iTunes chart.
His Australian musical theatre credits include West Side Story (Tony); The Last Five Years (Jamie); Blood Brothers (Edward); and Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (Gerry Goffin). He was also seen in the 2016 of Cats (Bustopher Jones/Gus/Growltiger) – for which he won the Green Room Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.
Piterman’s UK theatre credits include playing Corny Collins in the UK Tour of Hairspray. Playing The Phantom will mark Josh’s West End debut.
“It’s quite literally a dream come true,” said Piterman. “I’ve fantasised about performing in this show since I was 17 years old singing along to an Anthony Warlow CD at my best friend’s house. But to think that 16 years later I would have the opportunity to don the mask in the theatre where this show originated is something I still can’t quite believe. The level of gratitude I feel right now is pretty extreme. I’m constantly pinching myself.”
Also joining the cast will be Britt Lenting as Carlotta Giudicelli and Richard Woodford as Monsieur André. Continuing in the show will be Kelly Mathieson as Christine Daaé; Ross Dawes as Monsieur Firmin; Jacinta Mulcahy as Madame Giry; Paul Ettore Tabone as Ubaldo Piangi; Georgia Ware as Meg Giry; and Scott Davies as the standby Phantom. Danny Whitehead will now play Raoul and Bridget Costello will now play the alternate Christine Daaé.
The cast is completed by Zoe Arshamian, Matthew Barrow, James Butcher, Grace Castle, Sophie Caton, Sophie Cottrill, Corinne Cowling, Hadrian Delacey, Morven Douglas, Paul Erbs, Philip Griffiths, Katy Hanna, Ellen Jackson, Adam Robert Lewis, Kris Manuel, Tim Morgan, Danielle Pullum, Rebecca Ridout, Eleanor Sanderson-Nash, Anna Shircliff, Alistair So, John Stacey, Manon Taris, Andrei Teodor Iliescu, Ben Tyler, Claire Tilling, Victoria Ward and Simon Whitaker.
The Phantom of the Opera continues at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London. For more information, visit: www.thephantomoftheopera.com for details.
Image: Josh Piterman