After running for more than 30 years on Broadway, Emilie Kouatchou is set to make history as the first Black woman to step into the role of Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera October 27. The evening performance also marks Kouatchou’s Broadway debut.
Sharing the role with Meghan Picerno, Kouatchou will play Christine three times per week at certain performances.
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The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical reopened at the Majestic Theatre October 22 after a 19-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Directed by the late Harold Prince, the musical first opened on the Main Stem January 26, 1988, making it the longest-running Broadway production in history.
Based on Gaston Leroux’s horror novel, the musical tells the story of the Phantom, who haunts the stage of the Paris Opera and subsequently falls in love with a beautiful young soprano. The Broadway staging of the London-originated show won seven 1988 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Returning to lead the cast are Ben Crawford as The Phantom, Picerno as Christine Daaé, and John Riddle as Raoul, with Bradley Dean as Monsieur André, Craig Bennett as Monsieur Firmin, Raquel Suarez Groen as Carlotta Giudicelli, Maree Johnson as Madame Giry, and Carlton Moe as Ubaldo Piangi. Sara Esty joins the company as Meg Giry.
The ensemble includes Giselle Alvarez, Polly Baird, Janinah Burnett, Xiaoxiao Cao, David Michael Garry, Chris Georgetti, Kelly Jeanne Grant, Katharine Heaton, Satomi Hofmann, Ted Keegan, Kfir, Kelly Loughran, Scott Mikita, Greg Mills, Justin Peck, Patricia Phillips, Richard Poole, Jessica Radetsky, Lindsay Roberts, Janet Saia, Paul A. Schaefer, Carly Blake Sebouhian, Jeremy Stolle, Carrington Vilmont, Jim Weitzer, Elizabeth Welch, and Erica Wong.
Lucy St. Louis recently became the first Black performer to play the role when she reopened the London production of Phantom as Christine in July.
