NEED TO KNOW
- Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed that he would “love to work with” Jonathan Bailey
- The composer and musical theater impresario suggested that the 37-year-old actor could play the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera
- However, fans are divided on which role Bailey should play in the beloved production
Andrew Lloyd Webber has some ideas about Jonathan Bailey’s next musical role.
The composer and musical theater impresario, 77, shared a video on Facebook of himself reacting to an interview in which Bailey, 37, revealed that he would love to play the rebellious Rum Tum Tugger in Cats.
“Well, I think he would be great as the Tugger,” Webber declared. “I mean, providing he can make it really anarchic because we all know that Rum Rum Tugger, being a curious cat, will do the very opposite to what you ask him to do.”
Webber went on to share that he would “love to work with” Bailey.
“He’s obviously doing wonderful stuff in that movie Wicked. Really brilliant,” he said, referring to Bailey’s role as Fiyero in the 2024 movie and its 2025 sequel, Wicked: For Good.
He then suggested that he could envision Bailey in an entirely different musical role than Tugger.
“See, but I’m not sure whether or not he might have graduated from Tuggerland and what about the Phantom. Who knows? He looks pretty Phantom-like to me,” Webber continued.
The Phantom, of course, is the titular character in the beloved musical The Phantom of the Opera, which was scored by Webber. In the story, based on the 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux, the brooding musical prodigy Phantom, who wears a mask to cover a facial disfigurement, haunts the Paris Opera House and becomes obsessed with young soprano Christine Daaé.
It seems some fans, however, had a different take than Webber. In the comments of the composer’s video, many suggested that Bailey would be better suited for the role of Raoul, Christine’s childhood sweetheart, who becomes part of a love triangle with Christine and the Phantom.
“He would be a better Raoul, but then I would be team Raoul for the first time in my life, I’m afraid,” one person wrote.
“I’d rather see him as Raoul,” another agreed.
Still, others, like Webber, were keen to see Bailey slip on the Phantom’s mask.
“I’m not a fan of Cats….. But Phantom…. Oh my! And if ALW [Andrew Lloyd Webber] says…. Who are we to argue…. Petition started…. Jonny Bailey for Phantom!!!!” one fan commented.
Someone else pointed out that “only the SEXIEST can play the Phantom” — which means Bailey should be a shoo-in after being named PEOPLE’s 2025 Sexiest Man Alive, a title he described as “a huge honor.”
After being catapulted into the spotlight with his breakout role as the hunky Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton, Bailey has been very in demand among Hollywood casting agents. Indeed, the casting directors behind the two-part Wicked movie franchise recently spoke to PEOPLE about how they “wouldn’t take no” for an answer when they brought Bailey on board to play Fiyero.
Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Canfield said landing Bailey proved to be “a hard process.” Telsey recalled that the pair “just didn’t give up” on casting Bailey, even when he “had three other jobs at the same time.”
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“A lot of people told us he was not available, and we just would not take no for any reason,” Canfield said, as Telsey added, “We all just kept trying and, bingo, the clouds opened up, and he’s in it.”
Canfield remembered watching Bailey’s self-taped audition for the first time and thinking, “That’s what we need. The cheekiness, the humor, but the real humanity too. The real vulnerability.”
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