Non-traditional casting would be really rather difficult for Phantom of the Opera. The casting is very specific and if not done correctly could actually cause any sort of unwanted political or racial statements. There are very few parts that you can be lenient with casting and not have many if any problems.
As far as casting is concerned, much of it includes having to move from place to place with little. It is unfortunate to say but it would not be best for very many people to be in the musical with any sort of disability. There are several ballet dancers and people would be moving around constantly onstage.
The parts of Raoul and the Phantom would have to be carefully cast. Both have to be male in gender. However when casting them, you have to watch how this is done. An example would be if you were to cast Raoul as white and the Phantom as non-white, it would be questioned as to if Christine chose Raoul because of color preference. Also if the casting was switched to where the Phantom was white and Raoul was non-white that would be a statement about interracial relationships.
In the same way, the way that Christine is cast must also be kept in mind. It is stated in the play that Christine is supposed to be the daughter of a Swedish violinist. Keeping this in mind, while she could possibly be non-white it would be best to consider performing research for this era for the country. In doing so, I have found that in the time of the late 1860's to early 1880's Sweden was mostly white in color.
The same must be said for the parts of Madame and Meg Giry – the aspects of age, ethnicity and race would have to be watched. Madame Giry is Meg's mother. Therefore, the appearance of Madame Giry must be older than that of Meg's. Also, if one is cast as someone who is non-white than the other would need to be cast the same. It would not really make sense if Madame Giry is non-white while her own daughter is.
In the instance of the parts of the pageboys, these two can be cast as either gender and any race. These two out of the entire cast are the most ambiguous as far as the gender role goes. In the original casting they were played by two women, however they can be cast as either men or women. However you do still have to somewhat watch with these two because you don't want to send the wrong message. If you were to cast both pageboys as black people – whether men or women – then it would seem as though you were typecasting them.
The parts of Piangi and Carlotta can also be fairly freely cast with the exception of gender. Carlotta must be female while Piangi must be male. This cannot be changed. This is actually fairly obvious when in the first act Piangi is portraying the character of Hannibal. Also, both characters of Andre and Firmin must be male – as stated by their titles of monsieur when speaking.
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