Freddie and Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of The Opera).

Taken from original thread by John S. Stuart "Ultimate Collection: 1987"

Originally, (long before the appointment of Michael Crawford) for Andrew Lloyd Webber, only one person was destined to play his phantom (from Webber's musical 'Phantom Of The Opera') and that was Freddie.

"Freddie was initially invited by Lloyd Webber to 'test' for the role, and a couple of these tests still exist.

Basically, Freddie sang a guide vocal to karaoke type backing tracks, so the Freddie bits are mainly vocal only.

However, these disembodied vocals can be electronically married to either the original (or even new) backing tracks - and thus a new 'unreleased' version could be created.

However, as these tests have nothing whatsoever to do with either Mercury or Queen Productions, I guess that they will never see the light of day."

Next year will be 30th anniversary of the premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical and I thought if we (fans) or Freddie's estate could use this opportunity to get a preview or even a release of tracks/guide vocals made by Freddie for the POTO back in the day ?

Just imagine the way Freddie sang Music of the night (and backed by the backing track used in the 2004 film version) and Phantom of the opera title track with drums by Roger and guitar work by Brian. It could be fantastic....

Oh we need thsi

Oh, we definitely do!

It's very exciting to think these may exist in the Webber vaults. They would be a very welcome addition to a special anniversary release. I would give my left nut to hear them. It's been reported before that Michael Crawford used Freddie's demo as a guide vocal, has this ever been confirmed? If not who could be contacted to try and get some more facts on the matter? I can really imagine Freddie singing Music of the Night, it suits his voice perfectly. More information please.

Blog 19 - Ask Phoebe ;

Andrew asked about Freddie auditioning for ‘Phantom of the Opera’.
It didn’t happen, so, no, there are no existing demos that people haven’t heard. He was asked once by Joseph Papp, the New York producer, to audition for the role of Rodolfo in a production of Puccini’s La Boheme that he was going to mount in Central Park. You can guess Freddie’s reaction…. ME, audition? Also Freddie said he wouldn’t go back to singing seven shows a week, he had finished that in the 70s!

Only light I can throw, is ALW's statement after Freddie 's death, which went something like: 'i would have loved to have seen Freddie as the phantom, I think he would have been perfect"

interesting...

There were rumours about this way back - but I'm not sure if they were made up by a journalist or were actually true.

My mum was reading an article shortly after Freddie died, and it was in one of these Woman's Weekly magazines or something, and the article said that Freddie was originally asked to perform in Phantom, but that he declined and said he was too busy with Queen. This article must have been published in 1992. Anyway I don't remember if there was a claim made about Freddie actually recording any tracks from it.

As far as singing Rudolfo is concerned - could you imagine Freddie singing Rudolfo? I know he was asked, but I suspect he knew that it was technically out of his league - but that's not intended as an insult on his abilities because let's face it - Pavarotti could not have fronted Queen, either.

Freddie playing the Phantom would be too much of awesomeness for me to handle.
I can totally imagine he singing "Sing once again with me... you fuckers!"

Paul Vincent (guitarrist, he published this year Love, a box of his songs, great musician, better person) said it was true about Rodolpho, but in a different context....
Freddie was afraid to do it at the time. Both versions could be true.

It's nice to imagine this, though I'm not convinced Freddie would have been able to sing as intimidatingly as the role required. His voice is much too endearing, if only because it's recognisable as his.

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

It's nice to imagine this, though I'm not convinced Freddie would have been able to sing as intimidatingly as the role required. His voice is much too endearing, if only because it's recognisable as his. [/QUOTE]

oh, i don't agree with that.
Death On Two Legs
(two sections of ) March of The Black Queen
Liar
he could sound menacing when the song demanded

I guess I didn't phrase that very well. Even when he sings with that sort of intensity, it's still his accent, his inflection, which reminds you all the while that it's our beloved Freddie. For me, anyway. Perhaps the same wouldn't be true for people who aren't already fond of him.

Sorry for not replying guys, I haven't been able to access internet since the day on which I'd made the original post. The matter was brought to light in the Rhys Thomas Q&A and he gave his word that he would look into it... since then, we haven't heard from him as he was "abandoned" (in a way) by Queen Prod. and the last time he was needed was Let Me In Your Heart Again promo video.

So far we have John S. Stuart's word vs Phoebe's word. Based on what I've heard about John and what he has stated himself in those fabulous threads entitled Ultimate Collection, I assume that he probably heard those bits and if he says that they still exist, they do exist.

There's still plenty of time before the anniversary and we're in point of time, in which we (fans, FM's estate, other instit.) still can have impact on how will the anniversary of POTO look like. I guess there's no harm in contacting Jim Beach (head of FM's estate), Rhys Thomas or Lloyd Webber. Question remains if they will hear us out and if Lloyd Webber is willing to go into his own archives, restoring (if needed) the tape and asking Brian and Roger to work on these.

Won't be the first time Phoebe was wrong. He was his PA, not his constant shadow. He doesn't know every single thing Freddie recorded or was involved in.