Random Phantom of the Opera Stuff

Alfred Pfeifer Appreciation Post

 After hearing this guy, I just really felt like I had to write about him, because to me, this guy is honestly so great. 

 Alfred Pfeifer played Raoul in the original Austrian cast of The Phantom of the Opera, and he can be heard on the cast recording from the show (which I wrote my thoughts on a few chapters ago). He had a very romantic-sounding voice, and he is now one of my favorite Raouls. 

 Here's his 'All I Ask of You' duet with Luzia Nistler: 

 I think I also mentioned in my chapter on the Vienna cast recording that I did find a short documentary on YouTube about the making of the Austrian production of the show, which Alfred is shown in, and a professional recording of "Little Lotte" was included. I personally didn't find him to be a handsome man at all, but there's nothing with that: it kind of adds to the idea that Christine didn't marry Raoul just because he was a young handsome guy. And no, I really don't think she would have married him for his money, either; I don't think that's something she would have considered to heavily. 

 Then I also found out that at some point during the production, Alfred played the Phantom, because I found this 1993 recording of Alfred in the title song with Colleen Besett as Christine: 

 I'm pretty sure that's Colleen as Christine in the picture, and I'm assuming the Phantom with her is Alfred. Since Thorsten Tinney was playing Raoul at the time, I'm also assuming that Alfred wound up becoming an understudy for Alexander Goebel or whoever else was playing the role. 

 This person who uploaded this recording also posted a full soundboard with Alfred as the Phantom, Colleen as Christine and Thorsten Tinney as Raoul. I personally don't like Colleen as Christine, and I wasn't really interested in Thorsten as Raoul, so it really because of Alfred that I listened to the whole thing. He was such a haunting, creepy Phantom, and one thing that really stood out to me was that he did this evil laughter when he killed Joseph Buquet and when he disappeared down the trapdoor after "Why So Silent?". That really surprised me, because I have never heard any other actor do that before. 

 So, all in all, I wanted to share this knowledge with everyone, because I don't know how many people have actually heard him before. This guy definitely deserves some applause for being able to go from a romantic Raoul to a creepy, haunting Phantom and sounding good in both roles.