Pitcher is Phantom's New Christine; Wills Joins Company as Alternate

Rebecca Pitcher will be The Phantom of the Opera's new Christine Daaé as of April 17, replacing long-running leading lady Sandra Joseph. Jennifer Hope Wills will succeed Pitcher as the Christine alternate, performing the role for the first time on April 20.

Pitcher starred as Christine on the national tour and is currently the New York company's Christine alternate playing several performances a week. Her other theatrical credits include mountings of Sweeney Todd, Hansel and Gretel and The Elixir of Love. She is also an alumna of the Pittsburgh Opera Center at Duquesne, where she performed Papagena in The Magic Flute and Mary Warren in The Crucible.

Wills is no stranger to the role of Christine—she portrayed the damsel in regional mountings of the Maury Yeston/Arthur Kopit Phantom. The actress is best known for playing Eileen opposite Brooke Shields' Ruth Sherwood in the Broadway revival of Wonderful Town. She has also appeared on the Great White Way in Beauty and the Beast and The Woman in White. Wills' other theatrical credits include roles in regional mountings of The Secret Garden, Jekyll & Hyde, Noises Off and the 2003 Paper Mill Playhouse production of Grease!.

The Phantom of the Opera will continue to star Howard McGillin as The Phantom, Michael Shawn Lewis as Raoul, George Lee Andrews as Monsieur Firmin, David Cryer as Monsieur André, Roland Rusinek as Piangi, Anne Runolfsson as Carlotta, Marilyn Caskey as Madame Giry and Heather McFadden as Meg Giry.