Hey Chicago!
First off, a huge thank you to all of the amazing audiences that have seen The Phantom of the Opera so far! My name is Nick Cartell and I have the pleasure of performing this incredible and historic piece of theatre every night. As a member of the ensemble (with a feature as the police officer in the pit), I also cover the role of Raoul and am the fight captain on the show.
Now that we have gotten my credentials out of the way, let’s talk Chicago!
This is my second time to the Second City, the first was in 2005 and I was only here for a quick 48 hours—but long enough to see Wicked and witness the White Sox win The World Series—and I forgot how much I loved it. Your hometown is a great big city with a midwest feel, and coming from New York, it’s a welcome breath of fresh air, (well ok, very, very cold fresh air). The tour has been in town for about a month now and it’s been such a privilege to bring a #spectacularnew take to such a classic show, especially one that is still running on Broadway, having just celebrated their 26th year! So far, audiences seem to be loving what we have to offer.
And I know many of us in the company have been exploring all that Chicago has to offer! For most of the cast and crew, this definitely includes the amazing restaurants in this city. Between visiting spots like Girl & The Goat, The Boarding House and Wildberry Café (more to be sampled during restaurant week, I’m sure!), and attending a Chicago Bulls game when two of our cast members sang the national anthem, this is just the beginning of an amazing journey that I get the chance to take here—and I still have another month to explore!
As I said, I am so excited to be able to perform in this show; The Phantom of the Opera has captured so many hearts and inspired so many people, including me. It’s so awesome to bring this show to such an incredible, theatre-loving city. Whether you have seen the show before or it is your first time, I am sure that you will get caught up in the music and the mystery and you will see why we call it the “Spectacular New” Phantom. I look forward to answering your questions on Twitter Thursday, February 6th from 10:30 am CST, so ask away! And thanks again, Chicago, for a wonderful welcome and a wonderful visit.
You can catch Nick in The Phantom of the Opera playing at the Cadillac Palace Theatre through March 2nd. Be sure to ask any questions for Nick @nickcartell, Eric Ruiz (Porter/Ensemble) @theEricMRuiz and Hannah Florence (Meg Giry) @YesHannahBanana for our Twitter chat using #PhantomBIC to receive a reply during the LIVE TWITTER CHAT!
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