Broadway Phantom embraces diversity

Black actor Norm Lewis to don mask

NEW YORK — Norm Lewis has been tapped to be Broadway’s next Phantom in the megahit The Phantom of the Opera, which makes him the first African-American to slip behind the famous mask on the Great White Way.

Producers said Thursday the Tony Award nominee, who brought his deep, rich voice as Porgy to the recent Porgy and Bess revival, will make his Phantom debut opposite a returning Sierra Boggess as Christine beginning May 12.

“I’m overwhelmed. The idea of doing something that I’ve always wanted to do and it coming to fruition is amazing,” Lewis said on Thursday.

Lewis, who has appeared as a senator in ABC’s Scandal with Kerry Washington, called the Phantom a dream job for two reasons: “I love the show but also to have hopefully set a precedent to see more diversity in casting,” he said.

Lewis played John in Miss Saigon on Broadway, Javert on Broadway in Les Miserables in 2006 and was in the shows Side Show, The Little Mermaid, Chicago and Sondheim on Sondheim. Lewis will be the first black Phantom on Broadway, though Robert Guillaume played the role in the Los Angeles production in 1990.

Boggess is an old hand with Phantom — she played Christine in both the musical’s London 25th anniversary production at Royal Albert Hall and Broadway 25th Anniversary cast last year.

Based on a novel by Gaston Leroux, Phantom tells the story of a deformed composer who haunts the Paris Opera House and falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lavish songs include Masquerade, Angel of Music, All I Ask of You, The Phantom of the Opera and The Music of the Night.