Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford 1986
On 29 April 1991, three and a half years and over 1,300 performances into The Phantom of the Opera later, Crawford left the company. He admits to having been genuinely broken up at his own departure, and, during the Final Lair scene, altered the Phantom’s line to “Christine….I loved you…”, acknowledging that this was his last and final performance.
I don’t really touch her. I run my hands near to her, and I nearly touch her. I mean, I do push her face away, but it’s all…it’s a wanting, it’s a wrapping himself around her and hopefully the music will do that, the dry ice in the background will do that, and it makes for a very sexual piece without being overtly sexual. It must never become lewd. It must never become coarse.
-Michael Crawford (x)
#I just want to take him out for coffee and discuss this show and this character and all of his choices and then propose my hand in marriage
I’ve watched an interview with Michael from his POTO days and he was talking about this. He said if Christine were to take in a breath (raising her chest) as he ran his hand down her front, then it would become lewd. I think about this a lot when I watch other Phantoms. Michael put so much thought into his role and I love him for it. <3
