The strange tale of two Phantoms

HAVE you heard the story of The Phantom meeting The Phantom?

- ROBERT LLOYD

Samuel Wyn Morris in the Phantom role.

A meeting of two West Wales musical theatre stars ... in the unlikely city of Guangzhou (once known as Canton) in the Guangdong Province of southern China!

The first Phantom listed above is John Owen-Jones, a star of the West End and Broadway who needs no introduction to fans of musical theatre. The 54-year-old from Burry Port has played the title role in The Phantom of the Opera nearly 2,000 times!

The second Phantom is Samuel Wyn Morris from Llanelli. Now 29 (the age when John Owen-Jones first started playing The Phantom), Samuel (or Sam to his friends) is already approaching 200 appearances in the role as the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical continues its tour of China and the Far East.

The story of how two ‘lads’ from the ‘twin cities’ of Burry Port and Llanelli have donned the famous mask in one of musical theatre's most famous roles is worthy of a Hollywood script in its own right.

And it's only fitting that they both appreciate the magic of the role in conjuring up a meeting of the two “Phantoms’ in China.

John was finishing up a very successful (self-produced) Unmasked: John Owen-Jones and Friends China 2026 Tour. With Swansea's John Quirk in the musical director hot seat, John completed 12 concerts in five cities in just over five weeks, pulling in nearly 25,000 paying customers.

“We knew Sam was performing in Phantom of the Opera - and it wasn’t that far away! So we thought we'd all go over and see the show ~ and what a great experience it was too,’ said John on his return home to the UK.