The Phantom May Change, but the Marketing Won’t

Stars come and go. But the Phantom’s the thing.

To some aficionados, it may be important that Robert Guillaume will replace Michael Crawford in “Phantom of the Opera,” beginning Tuesday, but you won’t be able to tell it from the marketing approach. It’s gone essentially unnoticed by the public, but “Phantom” is one of the few musicals in memory that does not advertise the name of its star, or any other actor in the show.

There are no souvenir “Phantom” posters bearing Crawford’s name. There is no “above the title” credit. The production, in London, New York, Vienna, Los Angeles, wherever it plays, consistently practices a marketing strategy that calls attention to the phantom and the show, never to the actor behind the mask.

“There will be no change in that policy,” said the production’s local spokesperson, Anne Abrams. And with a $13.5 million advance through mid-December, the show’s box office will not be affected by the cast change. The show is open-ended and could prevail deep into 1991, if not longer.

Since the musical’s opening here 11 months ago, box office grosses at the Ahmanson Theater have totaled $33,248,077--$22.5 million last year and $10.7 million to date this year.

To most of the public, Guillaume is a TV star, but the producers aren’t worried about that perception. Mitchell Lemsky, the show’s production supervisor, said “theatergoers will readily see that Guillaume is classically trained in theater and voice. He’s done ‘Purlie,’ ‘Porgy and Bess,’ ‘Guys and Dolls.’ He has quite a lot of legitimate stage credits.”

The obsessed phantom is not Crawford’s exclusive domain anyway, the producers argue, although he’s the actor with the most laurels. Other phantoms have included Timothy Nolan and, currently, Steve Barton on Broadway and Chris Groendahl and the current Dave Willitz in London.

After casting agents had winnowed through hundreds of aspirants, Guillaume beat out 50 handpicked finalists who were personally auditioned by director Harold Prince. Many of those finalists were of celebrity status.

The producers, who had already replaced Crawford in the show twice before (after he opened “Phantom” in London and in New York) began their search for a second Los Angeles phantom last September in anticipation that Crawford would finally depart.

At the same time, from the same group of 50 finalists auditioned before Prince and his key aides in New York, the producers found their man (as yet unannounced) to kick off the national touring company in Chicago in June.

“Guillaume won the role based on his vocal abilities, his instinct and his approach to the part,” Lemsky said.

Guillaume has been rehearsing for the last five weeks, half of that time with Lemsky and the Los Angeles stage manager, David Rubinstein, and the other half under the direct guidance of Prince (who is known to allow actors a great deal of personal freedom in taking over a part, but within definite parameters). The rest of the cast will remain intact.

As far as the producers are concerned, the whole show remains intact because the identity of the actor behind the mask is irrelevant.

Of course, not everyone agrees. When an understudy recently filled in for Crawford, a Times report that “Phantom” refund requests would not be granted--because the star’s name did not appear over the title--drew this response from reader Neil W. Pearson: “It is a denial of reality of dumbfounding proportions to purport that Mr. Crawford is not the star of the production. Much of the huge success of ‘Phantom’ is due in large part to this one man.”

Meanwhile, tickets sold at auction to Crawford’s final matinee skyrocketed into the five-digit stratosphere for a pair (proceeds are going to charity). Some die-hard fans have been camping at the Music Center, hoping for cancellations that would enable them to see one of Crawford’s final performances. You might not find his name emblazoned around the theater, but no one is going to ask--as some did when he opened the show last year--Michael who ?