Exclusive: New cast announced for The Phantom of the Opera

Ben Lewis will take over from Ben Forster in the title role of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera in September.

Lewis returns to the role after playing The Phantom in the original Australian production of Lloyd Webber's sequel, Love Never Dies. His other theatre credits include Forbidden Broadway and Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Annie Get Your Gun at the Sheffield Crucible.

Also joining the cast from 4 September will be Kelly Mathieson as Christine Daaé and Jeremy Taylor as Raoul. Amy Manford will join as alternate Christine Daaé.

Mathieson makes her West End debut in the role having trained with the Scottish Ballet Company and at the Royal College of Music. Her opera credits include Le Nozze de Figaro, Agrippina, Orpheus and the Underworld, Die Zauberflöte and Carmen. Taylor's credits include playing Fiyero in Wicked and Galileo in We Will Rock You. Manford also trained at the Royal College of Music and makes her West End debut.

Other new additions to the cast include Matt Bateman, Jade Davies, Hannah Grace, Andrei Teodor Iliescu, Jordan Simon Pollard, Una Reynolds, Emily Smith, Rachel Spurrell and John Stacey.

Completing the company are continuing members: Lara Martins (Carlotta Giudicelli), Siôn Lloyd (Monsieur Firmin), Mark Oxtoby (Monsieur Andre), Jacinta Mulcahy (Madame Giry), Paul Ettore Tabone (Ubaldo Piangi), Georgia Ware (Meg Giry), Scott Davies (standby Phantom), James Roxby Brown, Bridget Costello, Hadrian Delacey, Morven Douglas, Lori Gilchrist, Philip Griffiths, Hettie Hobbs, Grace Horne, Lily Howes, Ellen Jackson, Richard Kent, Adam Robert Lewis, Luke McCall , Leo Miles, Tim Morgan, Fiona Morley, Danielle Pullum, Tom Sterling, Claire Tilling and Victoria Ward.

Now in its 32nd year, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical won three Olivier Awards and seven Tony Awards when it opened in 1986 with Michael Crawford in the role of the Phantom alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine.

The Phantom of the Opera continues to run at Her Majesty's Theatre, where it is currently booking until 3 March 2018.

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