Michael Crawford, wearing a fat suit and facial prosthetics, is undeniably funny as the villain of the piece, the obese Italian Count Fosco, and he delivers the show's most entertaining number with great panache, a live rat crawling round his neck. -The Daily Telegraph
We do however get one enjoyable little mystery: Michael Crawford is given star billing but is he actually on stage? Well, look very closely and you'll see that underneath the gargantuan frame of the superbly evil Count Fosco is, indeed, an actor who spends as much time on make up as he does on characterization. -The Daily Express
Back in the drama, happily, Michael Crawford arrived. Veteran musical star Crawford, in an immense fat suit, plays Count Fosco, an amoral, hunchbacked freeloader with a menagerie of mice and caged birds. From Crawford's first entrance the show lifted, deriving some much-needed levity as he twinkled and minced and darted...The singing, throughout, is excellent, with some thrilling close harmony passages and Friedman and Crawford excelling in a sprightly duet. -The Daily Mail
Michael Crawford offers a lovely antidote to the strident melodramatics in the perky, preening shape of the randily insinuating, bird-loving Fosco. His You Can Get Away With Anything is a comic delight. -The London Evening Standard
The pleasures are richer still when they involve Michael Crawford, the erstwhile star of "Phantom," here returning to the London stage for the first time in 18 years to play the portly Count Fosco. Dressed to resemble a curly-haired human blimp, Crawford fully justifies the anticipation that has been building in London about what, after all, constitutes a kind of comeback - a comeback in a transforming fat suit...
...We get the pleasure of a consummate showman savoring a delicious comic song that, amid all the frenzy of "The Woman In White," turns out to be a very nice place to be. -International Herald Tribune
Michael Crawford’s fatsuit and make-up are brilliant creations, his half-comic, half-villainous Count Fosco is nicely played, and his pet mouse is such a scene stealer it will probably be cut within the week. -The Scotsman
An unrecognizable Mr. Crawford...with a more disciplined comic performance. ...He admirably keeps his cool as the count's pet rat scurries over his shoulders during a solo called "You Can Get Away With Anything." -The New York Times
Adding an element of farce and generally stealing the show is Crawford, who wears a padded costume and a prosthetic jowl to cut a ridiculous figure as the vain, flamboyant Count Fosco. He and Friedman -- whose powerful singing voice and appealing presence put her at the show's emotional center -- are easily the musical's strongest performers. -Associated Press
The stars of the show are Maria Friedman, as Laura's half-sister, Marian Halcombe, and Michael Crawford, as Count Fosco, Sir Percival's comrade in crime. Fosco is a shady Italian exile who, in the book, gets shadier and shadier. His charm, poise and self-confidence are, right from the start, extremely sinister. Here, his political background is left out, as is the nature of his criminal alliance with Glyde. What you get is a lovable rogue, an oily charmer who gradually becomes a comic character. His big number is a wonderful pastiche of Italian popular song, introduced by a familiar chord by Verdi, with which Crawford brings down the house and almost makes you forget that Fosco quite likes to poison people. -The Sunday UK Times
Of course, the show isn't over till the fat man sings. It's almost worth going to The Woman in White to see if you can detect Michael Crawford inside the huge bulk that swaddles him: his face is perched on a great pear-shaped bulge of a neckless head, his body is round as a globe. Patent slippers pawing the ground in excitement, a white mouse scampering in and out of his shirt, he delivers his sveltely comic numbers with pattering aplomb. -The Observer
The leads fare better. Michael Crawford, as the greasy, lumpy Count Fosco, one of the dastardly pair who tries to bilk Laura of her money, sings a merry tribute to evil as a white rat crawls around his neck. -Newsweek
His padded paunch and prosthetic jowls would be enough to ensure that he cuts a striking figure; so would his gorgeous smoking jackets, his mustachios and his pet birds and mice. But he also brings a good deal of humour and panache to the role... Fosco expounds his credo in a delightful comic-opera number, "You Can Get Away with Anything". -The Sunday Telegraph
The wicked fatso Count Fosco - played by an unrecognizably wadded Michael Crawford - also enjoys himself in the style of a vintage Italian tenor. -The Independent
Overall it's Michael Crawford who steals the show as Count Fosco, an alarmingly overweight dandy whose surface charm hides a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing (including murder) where money is concerned. -LastMinute.com
Nonetheless, Crawford...re-stakes his dormant reputation as a brilliant character actor. Even in his fat suit, he has an easy command of the stage, preening and prancing with joy. Extra points for hitting a long high note in his showstopping A Gift for Living Well with a large, live rat crawling around his neck. -Time Magazine
Despite the loss of some of Collins' characters, there are gains. There is no Countess Fosco, but this enables an enlarged and interesting relationship between Fosco and Marian. It also provides a brilliant star turn for Michael Crawford as the Count. Unrecognizable beneath fatsuit and prosthetic jowls, he is witty and charming. Crawford even adds another talent to his Barnum circus skills, that of mouse tamer, when he shares a comic moment with the Count's pet rodent. -ReviewsGate.com
"Leave them wanting more," trills Michael Crawford as blimpish Count Fosco, minutes before one of Victorian literature's most famous villains exits "The Woman in White." And boy, does Crawford follow Fosco's advice. When Crawford is centerstage -- for the first time in 18 years in London, a return home that itself constitutes news -- this sung-through adaptation of the Wilkie Collins novel has a sly, spry wit. Despite the caricatured appearance, with curly mop of black hair, the performance is extremely nuanced. Its mock-Italianate aspect isn't nearly as laden with shtick as might be indicated by lines like, "As we Italians say/the plot she thickens." And in the second act, the actor delivers a double coup: His jaunty crowd-pleasing "I Can Get Away With Anything" -- sung with gusto while a real-life rodent all but scurries into his mouth -- follows a beautifully acted seduction scene with Marian in which Crawford's pixie-ish visage imperceptibly hardens, to suit the plot. Crawford was a surprise choice for the production, and his turn as a wide-eyed Pavarotti turns out to be its ace in the hole, both absurd and graceful as required.
-Variety
"Were it not that I personally know Michael Crawford's singing teacher to be the kindest and mildest of men, I would swear that Mr. Crawford had sold his soul to the Devil to acquire the rich and powerful voice with which he floods the theatre and holds us hypnotized in his presence....It is surely one of the greatest performances, not only in a musical but on any stage and in any year. As for Michael Crawford, there is just no other artist in this country today who can touch his command of a stage or match his daring in meeting a new challenge." --Jack Tinker, Daily Mail, October 10, 1986
"Michael Crawford as the Phantom, above all, brings out the character's solitary pathos rather than his demonic horror: it is the humanity under the mask that seizes the attention, not least when his flickering desperate hands suddenly emerge from behind an Angel of Music hovering over the lovers on the Opera House rooftop."--Michael Billington, The Guardian, October 11, 1986
"Using subtle vocal intonation and body movement in an extraordinarily moving performance, an almost unrecognizable Michael Crawford devastates us with the anguish and despair of the Phantom...Michael Crawford's magnificent performance permeates all to produce a dramatic unity ultimately with pathos." --Richard Barkley, Sunday Express, October 12, 1986
If you didn't know, a thousand guesses wouldn't exact the name of Michael Crawford from behind the half mask. In stature, poise and unhammed ghoulishness he is superb; only a mellifluous singing voice betrays his identity."--Robert Langton, Plays and Players Magazine, December, 1986
"That those (dark) emotions are vividly conveyed is due to the star performance of Michael Crawford...It is Crawford who dominates the show with his powerful acting."--Matthew Wolf, The Chicago Tribune, October 26, 1986
"Michael Crawford is magical as the phantom (he vanishes but he's indelible). And, believe me, when he cries out to Christine at the very end ("You alone can make my song take flight / it's over now, the music of the night..."), your heart will skip a beat. Crawford sings and acts eloquently. It's the performance of his life."--Kevin Kelly, The Boston Globe, May 22, 1987
"It remains the province of Mr. Crawford to deliver the play's emotional punch--to make us care about the man behind the mask. And it is here that Crawford's controlled, utterly self-respecting Phantom works a particular magic...Crawford's intensely human Phantom is the supple hinge upon which the production successfully swings. When in the play's final secne, he sobs his last "I love you" into the fleeing Christine's veil, declaring "You alone made my soul take flight," it is a moment of elemental tragedy."--Hillary DeVries, The Christian Science Monitor, February 11, 1987
"Mr. Crawford's appearances are eagerly anticipated not because he's really scary but because his acting gives "Phantom" most of what emotional heat it has...Those who visit the Majestic expecting only to applaud a chandelier--or who have 20-year-old impressions of Mr. Crawford as the lightweight screen juvenile of The Knack and Hello Dolly!--will be stunned by the force of his Phantom."--Frank Rich, The New York Times, January 27, 1988
"And it is here in the portrayal of that touching unrequited love that Michael Crawford rises to brilliance as the masked, disfigured "phantom"...Crawford softly croons his music in an exceptionally unusual tenor...The show, in fact, as far as performance goes, BELONGS to Michael Crawford. He is quite unforgettable!"--William A. Raidy, The Star-Ledger (NJ), January 27, 1988
"Crawford creates a creature both frightening and vulnerable, a grotesque whose mesmerizing power springs alike from the mystery of his origins and his role as the uncrowned king of the subterranean realm beneath the opera house. Crawford soars vocally with the emotion of the music and of Charles Hart's lyrics."--John Beaufort, The Christian Science Monitor, January 27, 1988
"But the unquestioned star of this production is Michael Crawford, who brings to the musical's title role a range of passion and poetry...His is a performance of grand proportions that never tips into grandiosity. His gestures are big, and his emotions are played full out, as befitting a 19th Century style of operatic acting, but he invests his stiff, painful walk with noble grace, and his final cry when he realizes that he has lost Christine forever is unforgettably eerie. Through such methods he makes palpable the agony that the detailed makeup of his scarred face depicts...Heaven only knows how and when the show will be able to tour, but for the moment, in New York, Lloyd Webber's music, Prince's staging and Crawford's performance are making this Phantom a show of fabulous proportions."--Richard Christiansen, The Chicago Tribune, January 27, 1988
"Let the experts complain all they want of repeated musical themes...The rest of us mere mortals will continue to enjoy the pleasant memory of wonderfully old-fashioned romantic music, state-of-the-art special effects and the once-in-a-lifetime performance by Michael Crawford." --a reader of The Washington Post, February 6, 1988
"You would be well advised to have the Kleenex handy. This, I have to say, is due not just to the power of the music, which gathers irresistibly, but to the performance of Michael Crawford, reasserting his preeminence as the outstanding star of our musical theatre...[He] sings like an angel." --Michael Coveney, Financial Times, October 10, 1986
"A mesmerizing performance from Michael Crawford...[He] is giving the performance of his life in this show." --Sue Jameson, London Broadcasting, October 10, 1986
"This is not a review. These are a fan's notes. I apologize...I've fallen under the spell of the mysterious masked man...What makes this musical so spell-binding, so emotionally moving, so unforgettable, can be summed up in two words: Michael Crawford." --Richard Stayton, Herald Examiner, June 2, 1989
"But Phantom is perfectly serious about its phantom, whom Michael Crawford plays even more quietly and intensely at the Ahmanson than he did on Broadway...No one could accuse Michael Crawford of giving a canned performance. Crawford's crepuscular voice and his lynx-like moves do stir sympathy for our poor benighted Phantom, and you have to respond to his commitment as a performer--he couldn't give more to this part if it were written by Dante. Crawford's Phantom combines size and intimacy in a way that only a very experienced musical theater performer could achieve. He comes close to us, and yet he brings off the grand gesture. The final renunciation scene is especially well-judged. Almost, he makes us believe."--Dan Sullivan, The Los Angeles Times, June 2, 1989
"Mr. Crawford, always a generous artist, is giving what is almost always in the theatre referred to as "the performance of a lifetime," playing "the role he was born to play." Richly, beautifully sung and acted, Crawford's Phantom holds the stage even when he is elsewhere. This twisted, perverse monster is given almost tragic dimension in the actor's deeply felt characterization. It is a contained, even restrained performance of a larger-than-life character who is not fully revealed until the very last moments of the play. With a passionate cry of need and loss, Crawford will simply break your heart. He is wonderful."--Peter Vogt, L.A.Review, June 16-29, 1989
"What makes this musical so spellbinding, so emotionally moving, so unforgettable, can be summed up in two words: Michael Crawford. His genius as the disfigured, love-sick composer haunting the Paris Opera is uncanny. It's one of the great performances of our era. Considering that his face is almost constantly hidden behind a half-mask, that he must act under hats and capes, it's a miracle that Crawford still projects a poignant vulnerability and sexual charisma. Just with his hands he orchestrates a universe of feelings. I can't imagine seeing The Phantom without him. He was brilliant in London, brilliant in New York, and now brilliant in L.A. Seeing The Phantom without Michael Crawford would be like seeing the Lakers without Magic Johnson."--Richard Stayton, The Los Angeles Herald Examiner, June 2, 1989
"Michael Crawford gives it his all--and Crawford's all is a stunning talent and a positive genius for exuberance...(He) could easily have won his own spot in the Greatest Show on Earth." --Douglas Orgil, Daily Express, June 1981
"But in the end the evening belongs to Michael Crawford...Crawford has the star's secret of making it look as if he loves being up there on stage; and he contributes mightily to an evening of raucously, enjoyable, technicoulour popular theatre."--Michael Billington, The Guardian, June 1981
"...That Crawford can move exceedingly fast, and in strange directions, one has known ever since the wonderful and revelatory first night of "No Sex Please--We're British." But he can also stand still, significantly still, and as every actor knows this is a very difficult thing. In "Barnum" at one point Crawford does it to enormous effect...And yet his figure does not look like a statue; it is vibrant with life, with joy, with discovery. This is a moment which is instructive to all aspiring young actors, and spellbinding to an audience."--Harold Hobson, The Times of London, June 19, 1981
"Michael Crawford...is tremendous. He hurls himself at the audience, juggles, walks the high wire, slides down ropes, sings and dances...He is inexhaustible, vital, and unabashedly, old-fashioned charming: a real star." --Martin Hoyle, Financial Times, March 1981
"Mr. Crawford won the longest standing ovation I have ever witnessed, a tribute to his energy and intrepidity." --Robert Cushman, Observer, June 1981
"Every now and then in the commercial theatre, if you are very lucky, you get to see a star invade and inhabit and overtake an entire musical...This is a performance...which ought to be shown to anyone who has ever wondered about the nature of star quality...Mr. Crawford is giving...the greatest star-turn performance in the whole of the West End." --Sheridan Morley, Punch, 1985
"The audience responded with the most spontaneous standing ovation I have seen in a London theatre. Even allowing for First Night hysteria...Michael Crawford deserved nothing less." --Michael Coveney, Financial Times, June 1981
 |
