Ramin Karimloo Will Star in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in Italy
The music of the night is coming to Italia with a very big Broadway star! The country’s premiere production of The Phantom of the Opera will feature Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom when it opens later this summer in Trieste, Italy, at the Teatro Stabile del Friuli Venezia Giulia on July 4.
Federico Bellone will direct, having previously Dirty Dancing in London’s West End, in addition to international productions of, among others, The Addams Family, An American in Paris, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, West Side Story, and Fame, the latter of which he also translated.
Karimloo is currently starring as Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl opposite Lea Michele. made his Broadway debut in 2014 with his Tony-nominated performance as Jean Valjean in the revival of Les Misérables. He followed that up by playing Gleb in Anastasia and has become a household name thanks to his numerous West End/international stage credits (including The Phantom of the Opera), two personal albums, and, more. Recently, he appeared in benefit concert Broadway stagings of Chess and The Pirates of Penzance.
Additional casting and creative team members will be announced at a later date. Tickets will be available to the general public, beginning March 9. For more information, click here.
Meanwhile, The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway is currently planning to close after 35 years of playing at the Majestic Theatre. It opened January 26, 1988, and went on to win 7 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. In addition to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Phantom features lyrics by Charles Hart with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe and a book by Richard Stilgoe and Lloyd Webber.
The musical became the longest-running show in Broadway history on January 9, 2006, when the New York production surpassed the 7,485 performance, 18-year run of Cats (another show from Lloyd Webber). Phantom has played more than 13,500 performances, been seen by 19.5 million people, and grossed nearly $1.3 billion.
