Guillaume’s ‘Phantom’ Is Spirited Performance

“The Phantom of the Opera,” May 1, 1990. Act I, Scene I. Fade out Crawford. Fade in Guillaume.

Actor Robert Guillaume on Tuesday stepped into the mask of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical at the Ahmanson Theatre, only two days after original Phantom Michael Crawford took his final bows and left the same stage to thunderous ovations and cries of “Please Don’t Go!”

When Guillaume was first announced as Crawford’s replacement in the Los Angeles production, numerous Phantom freaks didn’t give him an opera ghost of a chance. How could an sitcom actor best known for playing a wisecracking butler-turned-lieutenant governor possibly possess the sensuality, strong voice and charisma of Crawford’s Phantom? they asked.

But many in attendance on Guillaume’s opening night were singing a different tune by the end of the performance.

The consensus? Guillaume wasn’t Crawford. But he also wasn’t bad. As the talkative crowd filed out of the Ahmanson, some were saying Guillaume was just as effective as his predecessor. Others said he was even better.

“I loved him, I loved him, I loved him!” said Beverly Kelly, 37, as she left the theater with a bag stuffed with Phantom souvenirs. “I thought it was great. I’m so glad I saw him instead of Crawford.”

Kelly, a special education teacher, said she received the tickets in February as a birthday present, and was disappointed when she heard Crawford would be leaving before she got a chance to see him. “Now I feel the money didn’t go to waste,” she said.

John Toay, 59, a pastor at a Presbyterian church in Downey, said: “Guillaume was fabulous. I saw the play before with Crawford, and of course he was great. But I really liked Robert Guillaume in the part. I would see the play again with him in it.”

The capacity audience awarded the actor with a standing ovation, supplemented by whoops and cheers. While the response didn’t quite approach the adulation that Sunday’s audience bestowed upon Crawford, it still appeared to be a triumph for the 62-year-old Guillaume, who greeted the applause with a smile during his curtain call.