Theatre veteran Donald Cant – one of Australia’s best known Phantoms of the Opera – will make his “overdue return to Geelong” next week.
The Melbourne-based Baritone last performed in the city during a reopening of Geelong Performing Arts Centre (GPAC) a few years ago, he said.
“It’s good that they welcomed me back.”
Cant will retrace his theatre career in his new concert My Journey, My Song through his repertoire of classic theatre songs.
“I’m going to do some things I haven’t done for a long time,” he said.
Cant played the Phantom more than 500 times, from 1990 to 1997, in Victoria’s longest running show of all time.
He played beside the likes of renowned Australian actors Marina Prior and Anthony Warlow in the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic.
“In terms of total performance, I probably did more than 1000,” he said.
Cant will celebrate that stretch of his career with songs made famous by the play, like Music of the Night.
“I’d be hung, drawn and quartered if I didn’t,” he said.
Canadian expat Cant followed in his father’s footsteps as a singer and actor in his home city of Vancouver.
He migrated in 1984 and worked as a bartender at Collingwood Football Club, before earning his way back to full time theatre.
In his three-decade career he went on to win the Melbourne Theatre Award for Best Lead Actor twice and met legends in the business, like the late Dame Joan Sutherland.
Gant will perform at the GPAC on 9 and 10 November.
For more information or to book phone GPAC on 5225 1200 or visit www.gpac.org.au to book.
