By Annette Hannon Lee
Special to the Florida State Times
Eight times a week, dozens of admirers gather at the Majestic Theater's stage door after experiencing Broadway's eight-year-old megahit, "The Phantom of the Opera."
Many are startled to discover the handsome young man signing autographs and chatting with fans is FSU alumnus Davis Gaines, the Phantom himself.
It's difficult to connect the magnificent voice and heart-rending performance of the grotesque Phantom with this tall, slim, soft-spoken man.
"This `Phantom' experience has truly been overwhelming," Gaines said. "It's opened many doors, enabled me to meet many wonderful people, and their response to my work is very rewarding."
Gaines receives more fan mail than any other current actor on Broadway, according to "Playbill" magazine. One critic described his voice as an "intense, extremely attractive vibratto-laden high baritone." Another wrote of his "skill, force and emotional commitment."
Typically, after Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Music of the Night" dies down, Gaines spends several minutes in his dressing room while his assistants rip off the hideous latex mask and wig he wears throughout the show. He showers and changes to street clothes before meeting fans and friends -- including, sometimes, fellow Florida State alumni -- at the stage door.
Outside the theater, without his distorted disguise, Gaines enjoys some anonymity. Passersby appear to know he's "somebody," but can't always place him.
He was a star of the PBS "Hollywood Bowl Tribute to Jerry Herman," a guest soloist with the Boston Pops, and performer for the "Kennedy Center Honors" on CBS. He's also headlined his own concerts, including a sold-out "An Evening with Davis Gaines," at the 6,000-seat Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.
"Davis is approaching the height of his career," said FSU School of Theatre Dean Gil Lazier. "He is literally becoming the best leading man in musical theater today, worldwide."
Critics agree.
"Gaines is the logical successor to Alfred Drake, John Raitt and Gordon MacRae as the preeminent musical actor of his generation," said Los Angeles theater critic Robert Kendt.
Gaines has broken all longevity records. He is the longest running Phantom in U.S. history of the show, with more than 1,400 performances in Los Angeles, San Francisco and, for the past year, on Broadway. He says he will continue as the Phantom in New York until the end of 1995, then go home to work on other projects. (Gaines's hometown is Orlando, but his home is now Los Angeles.)
The talented actor and singing genius came to his current role at the insistence of Phantom director Hal Prince, who asked him to take over the lead in the show that has broken box office records.
Prince told The Los Angeles Times, "When I heard him, I said ,`My God, this is the Phantom, not just a Phantom, but an extraordinary Phantom.
With more than 2,000 members of the Davis Gaines Fan Club, Claudia Stepp, the club's organizer and president in Fort Worth, Texas, sends out newsletters to a growing mailing list. She's seen Gaines as the Phantom only "about 25 or 30 times," she says, but some fans have attended the show hundreds of times.
In the 1970s, Gaines, a Phi Beta Kappa student of theatre and art history, was a cheerleader for the Seminoles.
"Davis has kept his loyalty to his alma mater," says Dean Lazier. "It's a joy for me personally to see him now and to remember that I taught the first acting class he took at FSU."
Annette Hannon Lee (FSU '64, M.F.A. '73), director of College Relations at Kennesaw State College, north of Atlanta, is looking forward to seeing Gaines again as the Phantom this summer - for the fourth time.