Phantom's Tom Solomon Named BBC's "Voice of Musical Theatre"

By James Inverne
25 Apr 2005

BBC Radio 2 has found its "Voice of Musical Theatre for 2005." After an international search and a competition staged at the Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre, Tom Solomon won the title.

Solomon now wins 5,000 pounds in cash as well as broadcast engagements with the BBC. The last winner of the prize was Laura Michelle Kelly, who was subsequently elevated from the chorus of Beauty and the Beast to leading roles and is currently starring in and as Mary Poppins.

The judges included actress-director Julia McKenzie, the West End musical director Gareth Valentine and the Royal Academy of Music's musical theatre course director Mary Hammond. They chose Solomon from a field that consisted of young singers from New York, Denmark, Estonia and New Zealand.

Solomon is currently understudying Raoul in the London production of The Phantom of the Opera. Before that he worked his way through small roles in Les Misérables to playing Marius (that show was his first after graduating from the Royal Academy of Music). He has already released a 14-track CD called "More Than This."

To win the prize, the 27-year-old London resident performed "Why God Why?" from Miss Saigon, "Big News" from Parade and "Shouldn't I Be In Love With You?" from I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. For more information on Solomon, visit his website at www.tomsolomon.biz.