![]() In those three years, 20 actresses played Christine, the lead female, and his character’s love interest. After 15 months on tour, he played the role on Broadway from fall 1996 to January 1999. The tour’s second opening was in Hartford's Bushnell Center of Performing Arts, where he able to invite all his relatives to attend. “Everything I had trained for over the two decades before finally came into play.”Īfter his first few performances as the Phantom, Harold Prince, whom he refers to as Hal, offered him the lead role on the national tour. ![]() “I was just in good shape artistically, vocally and acting-wise,” he said. By the time he auditioned for the lead's understudy in August 1994, he felt more than ready for the part. Over that first year and a half, his voice warmed up to match the show's more "legit," or classical, sound and he watched at least three actors play the Phantom. In "The Phantom of the Opera," he played an ensemble member, Monsieur Reyer and Monsieur André. In 1987, he entered the Broadway scene in his late 20s as an original cast member of "Les Misérables" first national company, and played three roles in Broadway's production of "Miss Saigon" from 1991 to 1993. He took a theater class at the University of Connecticut and declared a major in acting. ![]() ![]() Growing up in Windsor Locks, he discovered his talent for singing in his junior year of high school when he performed at a fundraiser variety show. The role was the culmination of his Broadway career and years of musical theater training. or eight months or nine months,” he said. “Every time they renewed my contract, I would sign a contract for about a year. But while playing the role of Phantom was hard, so was giving it up, he said. O’Leary understands why many people play a lead role for only one year, as the job is both physically and emotionally exhausting. In addition to his 774 Broadway performances beginning in 1996, he performed in the 10th Anniversary Celebration. He played the lead for three and a half consecutive years - both on the national tour and on Broadway - from summer of 1995 to January 1999. In its 35-year run, O’Leary was a cast member for six - 15 months on the national tour and the rest in New York City. O'Leary, a Windsor Locks native, is one of its longest-running Phantoms. In February 2023, "The Phantom of the Opera," Broadway's longest-running show, is set to raise its chandelier in the Majestic Theatre one last time. ![]()
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