Theatre News

Gerónimo Rauch swaps Les Miserables for Phantom in September

Gerónimo Rauch and Sean Palmer will join the cast of the Andrew Lloyd Webber long-runner in the autumn

Geronimo Rauch in Les Miserables
Geronimo Rauch in Les Miserables

Fresh from playing Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, Argentinian actor Gerónimo Rauch is set to play the title role in fellow West End longrunner The Phantom of The Opera.

He’ll be joined in the new cast by American actor Sean Palmer, recently seen in the West End in Crazy For You, as Raoul.

Also joining the Phantom company from 2 September will be Andy Hockley as Monsieur Firmin, Martin Ball as Monsieur André, Claire Moore as Carlotta, Jacinta Mulcahy as Madame Giry, Cat Lane as Meg Giry and Olivia Brereton and Harriet Jones, who will both play Christine at certain performances.

The show will continue to star Sofia Escobar as Christine and Jeremy Secomb as Piangi.

Gerónimo Rauch rose to fame in 2002 when he took part in the Buenos Aires version of TV talent show Popstars and was chosen to become a founder member of the band Mambrú, whose debut album went Triple Platinum. Previous theatre credits include Grease at Astral Theatre in Buenos Aires, Jesus Christ Superstar at the Teatro Lope de Vega in Madrid, and Chicago at the Teatro Coliseum in Madrid. He took part in the 25th Anniversary celebration of Les Misérables at The 02 in 2010.

The Phantom of The Opera, which currently stars Marcus Lovett, became the longest running show in Broadway history on 9 January 2006 when it celebrated its 7,486th performance, surpassing the previous record holder Cats. In October 2011 the London production celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a one-off staging of the show at the Royal Albert Hall, which was screened live in cinemas round the world and subsequently released on DVD.

In March this year Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s musical celebrated 11,000 performances in the West End.