Crawford Unmasks Views on ‘Phantom’ Film

Will he or won’t he? The drumbeat of public support for the casting of Michael Crawford as the lead in the projected film version of “The Phantom of the Opera” continues to crescendo in a torrent of letters to Warner Bros., producer of the still-uncast picture.

But Crawford, who sings tonight and Saturday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, takes a modestly stoic position on that campaign. Much of it is conducted over a fan-operated Web site--https://www.phantommovie.com--devoted to lobbying Warner Bros. to stick to its original plan of having Crawford and co-star Sarah Brightman reprise their stage roles for the movie.

“It’s very flattering,” he said, “but it’s also slightly embarrassing, not just for me but for the other people whose names have been mentioned about playing the role. I’m happy that people would like for me to do it, but I’m not on a campaign for myself.

“I’ve done the performance, people have seen it, and if I’m asked to play it again, I’ll be more than delighted to do it,” he said. “But I still say, if I’m meant to do it, I’ll do it. And if I don’t, the world will go on, and it won’t matter to me.”

Still, it’s not just Crawford’s fans who have trouble understanding why a studio would not want to use the actor most closely identified with the role.

Some have suggested that if Warners feels the need for a bankable movie star in the film, why not cast Antonio Banderas (whose name has been mentioned prominently for the Phantom role) as Raoul and some hot young female actor as Christine?

“Sounds good to me,” the 57-year-old British actor and singer said with a chuckle. “But then, I’m not a studio executive, am I? And, in all honesty, I’ve got a lot of other things keeping me busy right now.”

Among them are a new Christmas album, which Crawford is approaching with special enthusiasm in light of the fact that his inspirational CD “On Eagle’s Wings” has just been certified gold. And the music on his current tour has been revamped to keep things fresh for Crawford and those fans who turn up for his every performance.

“There’ll be a lot of material that’s the same,” Crawford said. “But I’ve changed some of my stories, and I’m doing some songs I’ve never sung from shows that I haven’t been in, that I would like to have been in.

“I’ll do a couple of songs from ‘Man of La Mancha,’ a show that especially appeals to me, and a few others that will be a surprise,” he said. “Although I will give you a clue by telling you that I have a lot of respect for Robert Preston.”

Crawford also has just completed the story of his life, which he prefers not to call an autobiography.

“I hate the word,” he said. “It’s really just stories and memories from my childhood onward. In fact, I think I spent more time in my childhood in the book than in any other time. I remember it so clearly, and it had such an effect on my life and the person I am now and how I’ve grown.”

The book, “Parcel Arrived Safely, Tied With String”--the title is explained within the first few pages--will be published Sept. 2 by Random House. But only in the United Kingdom.

“I guess they were worried that America wasn’t mentioned until Page 300,” he said.

Crawford’s letter-writing fans might have more success getting his biography released in this country than with influencing casting decisions for the “Phantom” movie. Crawford himself seems content with his seminal place in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical’s evolution.

“To be historically associated and identified with a role such as the Phantom,” he said, “in a way that, say, Rex Harrison and Yul Brynner are remembered as Henry Higgins and the King of Siam, is tremendously gratifying, and quite enough in itself.”

But Crawford is still a bit reluctant to let go completely and noted, as he has before, that he would be willing to provide the voice track for whomever is cast in the film role.

“I loved playing the Phantom,” he said. “And if it meant that just my voice was allowed to be there still, that would make me happy. Because I loved creating the role, I have an enormous amount of love for the character, and the love is still there, every time I sing his songs.”

* Michael Crawford appears tonight at 8, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Also 8 p.m. Saturday. Sold out. (800) 300-4345.