I've recently read somewhere that Andrew Lloyd Webber had been involved in plans for Freddie to play the lead in the film version of Phantom of the Opera.
"The whole of Hollywood was desperate for Freddie to take the part. he would have been brilliant."
I was wondering if anybody had any details about this. There is a movie based on the musical, but it was made a few years ago, not when Freddie was alive.
Does anyone have more information about this??? For example was Freddie actually contacted about this? If so, did he turn it down or something? I'm very curious about this, since it involves my favorite singer and favorite musical. I want to know if this is true, because I probably would have known about this awhile ago if it were.
QueenMercury46 wrote: I probably would have known about this awhile ago if it were.
I think Mr Freestone was asked about this every time he went to a convention - his answer as I recall was that he was unaware of any approach, and didn't think Freddie would actually have done it. Other than that, AL-W's quote is all the information there is.
Mercury left about 70 percent of music material/stuff for 'The Phantom of opera' musical by L.Webber.Freddie might could be an actor.Freddie as Eric(Ghost). It could be real!!! Footage and shots should be take out of/from film Phantom of opera (1925) and then integrate with the queen music video: Phantom of opera or Show must go on.Phantom (overture)/The Music of the night by F.Mercury and M.Cabelle and separately by F.Mercury
Mercury done/made,kept and then abandoned music recording(s) in his private archives,in recording studio,which was located on/at Garden Lodge.Mercury took part in Miracle session. Maybe ,Brian and Rodger or Greg moved/shifted all material (recording tapes)to the record(ing) studio in London
Best vintage film scenes shows Phantom at the stage among the many harlequins and pierrots(scene looks like queen video'It is a hard life') Ghost in the skull mask and in a red coat try to fall over the joker. Mercury drew inspiration out of/from a 'Comedia Dell'arte ' (Mercury wore a pierrot's tight costumes and clothes). Scene/shot with Phantom was used on queen video 'Under pressure'
Mercury recorded about 70 percent of music material. I hope,that Queen members will use this a capella and Freddie's vocals and unpublished songs recorded on a tapes, and finish it/them off (queen version)
<2>witrabarbar555@gmail.com wrote:
Mercury recorded about 70 percent of music material. I hope,that Queen members will use this a capella and Freddie's vocals and unpublished songs recorded on a tapes, and finish it/them off (queen version)
So we've had Made In Heaven, the Freddie box, and Queen Forever, plus Lloyd-Webber being still alive and (presumably) having at least some rights to the recordings, and yet there's never been a hint of this...
Any link to any corroboration?
Shortly after Freddie died, my mum showed me an article in one of her women's magazines, Women or Women's Own, and it was entitled "The Secret We Kept For Freddie" or something. The picture in the article was the four of them in the Dominon at the '90 Brit Awards, and in that article it mentioned Phantom. I don't recall everything it said because it's so long since I've seen the article and I was much, much younger.....
The jist of the bit about Phantom was that Freddie was asked to do it and declined because of his commitments with Queen. I can't tell you what the journalist's source was, I can't tell you whether it was a formal approach or whether he just met someone in a bar who asked him.
It's quite possible that while working on Time, Freddie met a producer or director who either asked him or commented that they'd want him in the show. These rumours tend to grow arms and legs after any kind of information is leaked. It could have been something as simple as the producer of Phantom being overheard saying that he'd love to hear Freddie in the show, and someone leaked that to the press, and before you know it there's a rumoured album in the vaults somewhere......
This all comes about because ALW said that Fred would have been an interesting Phantom and he'd have loved to have had the chance to cast him. That's it.
- I think he said it during Freddie's lifetime though, or perhaps it was on a tribute show to Freddie shortly after he died. This article was released around the time of the 1992 Tribute concert
miraclesteinway wrote:
These rumours tend to grow arms and legs after any kind of information is leaked. It could have been something as simple as the producer of Phantom being overheard saying that he'd love to hear Freddie in the show, and someone leaked that to the press, and before you know it there's a rumoured album in the vaults somewhere......
Yeas I'm pretty sure that's the case. Something said by someone, which by the time it reaches the press its a story worth printing.
The one thing that seems to have been overlooked is that Freddie wasn't an actor, and in almost every Loyd Webber production the lead has always gone to an actor or someone with a background of having acted on stage. In musical theatre an actor who can sing is a better choice than a singer who can't act.
Sebastian wrote:
Was Jeff Fenholt an actor?
I agree that's what they do most of the time, but not always. Still, the story's largely implausible so we agree there.
He certainly had a talent for acting, like all TV evangelists ;)
I might have found something which gets to the bottom of this rumour. According to Montserrat Caballe, Freddie wanted to record some of the songs from Phantom with her. Here is the video of an interview with Montserrat Caballe discussing the time she recorded an aria from the musical and dedicated it to Freddie, and played the recording down the phone to him. link