He first appeared on Broadway in 1967 with Black Comedy for which he won the Theatre Award for the ‘Most Out- standing Performance’ of that year. This was followed by more television work and the films The Jokers co-starring with Oliver Reed and Harry Andrews, How I Won The War with John Lennon, The Games, Hello And Goodbye, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (as the White Rabbit). On his return to England from filming A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, he was greeted with the Variety Club’s Award for the ‘Most Promising Actor’ for that year for Not So Much A Programme and as ‘Best Newcomer’ for his performance in The Knack in the Film Academy Awards.

This was followed by playing Colin in The Knack which won the Best Film Award at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival. There followed television and some 500 radio broadcasts and he was hailed in the 60s for his portrayal of ‘Byron’ in the popular television programme Not So Much A Programme, More A Way Of Life. Michael Crawford was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and began his professional career as a boy soprano in Benjamin Britten’s Let’s Make An Opera. The Phantom of the Opera is Michael Crawford’s fourth major West End musical, after Barnum, Billyand Flowers for Algernon.

1986 phantom of the opera cast