Anthony Warlow

Between 2 August 2006 and 2 June 2007, Warlow appeared in the Opera Australia production of The Pirates of Penzance (a popular Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera), in which he played the role of the "Pirate King" – with performances during 2006 in Sydney, New South Wales (at the Sydney Opera House), in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory and in Brisbane, Queensland (at the Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre), as well as enjoying full houses in Melbourne, Victoria in 2007.

Warlow's Pirate King appeared in dress, voice and mannerism very similar to Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. In a press interview in Brisbane, Warlow said that he had deliberately based his Pirate King on Johnny Depp's character from Pirates of the Caribbean so that people who may not know the opera but are aware of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy of movies could enjoy the opera more.[2] This production of The Pirates of Penzance was shown on television by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on 9 December 2006. A DVD of the production was subsequently released.

Warlow first portrayed the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera in the original Australian production, circa 1990. It was announced in October 2006 that Phantom would re-open in Melbourne the following year and that Warlow had agreed to reprise his role as "The Phantom".[3]

Phantom reopened in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre, its original home, on 19 July 2007. Although he performed for the industry opening night, Warlow was struck down by a bout of influenza that had also claimed many of the other cast and crew, and as a result, he missed the first two and a half weeks of the show's Melbourne season. Understudy Simon Pryce performed in his place until he made his return on 9 August 2007.[4]

Unlike the original Australian Phantom, Warlow played the Phantom for the two-year tour of Australia and New Zealand. The Phantom of the Opera opened at Melbourne's Princess Theatre on 28 July 2007, then at Brisbane's Lyric Theatre in February 2008 followed by Sydney's Lyric Theatre in May 2008. After closing in Sydney on 14 September, the production moved to Auckland, New Zealand and following a holiday break, subsequently opened in Perth in February 2009. The last stop on the tour was Adelaide where Warlow donned the mask for the final time on 23 May 2009. Warlow appeared as a guest at the 25th anniversary production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

He was found to be suffering from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 1992, during the early publicity for the arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar where he was to appear as Pontius Pilate. He had to put his career on hold for about a year while he dealt with the disease. He returned to the performance circuit in the second half of 1993 with a national concert tour for the launch of his Back in the Swing album. He has since done promotional work for the Leukaemia Foundation of Australia.

His fourth solo album, Midnight Dreaming, reached the top ten of the Australian Aria Charts. Warlow also briefly appeared on the ARIA Singles Chart in 1998 with the double A-side single "Beauty School Dropout/My Prayer". Warlow was back on television, in a concert performance, on the night of 24 December 2006 (the concert was shown by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

• Helen Hayes Award, Washington: Winner (2015): Outstanding Actor in a Musical ("Don Quixote" in Man of La Mancha)
• Drama Desk Award, New York: Nominee (2013): Outstanding Actor in a Musical "Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks" in Annie
• Green Room Awards, Melbourne, Australia
  • Winner (1990): Male Actor in a Featured Role – Music Theatre ("Enjolras" in Les Misérables)
  • Winner (1991): Male Actor in a Leading Role – Music Theatre ("Phantom" in The Phantom of the Opera)
  • Nominee (2001): Male Actor in a Leading Role – Music Theatre ("Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks" in Annie)
• Helpmann Awards, Australia
  • Nominee (2001): Best Male Actor in a Musical ("Daddy Warbucks" in Annie)
  • Nominee (2003): Best Male Actor in a Musical ("Don Quixote" in Man of La Mancha)
  • Nominee (2008): Best Male Actor in a Musical ("Phantom" in The Phantom of the Opera)
  • Nominee (2011): Best Male Actor in a Musical ("Yuri Zhivago" in Doctor Zhivago)
  • Nominee (2012): Best Male Actor in a Musical ("Daddy Warbucks" in Annie)
  • Nominee (2016): Best Male Actor in a Musical ("Tevye" in Fiddler on the Roof)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthony Warlow.

• Anthony Warlow at IMDb
• Anthony Warlow at the Internet Broadway Database
• "Warlow manages success alone", The Age, 19 April 2009