Ramin Karimloo has worn the Phantom’s mask at the Royal Albert Hall, in the West End, on Broadway and in Trieste. Now he’s doing it from a desk.
The Iranian-born Canadian actor announced on X that “The Hang | Phantom Edition | Episode 1 – The Response” is live on YouTube, signing the post off with a single black heart emoji.
The Hang is not a new idea — only a newly Phantom-branded one. Karimloo launched it as a Broadway Podcast Network show in 2020, produced by Alan Seales, and it ran 45 episodes across three seasons of loose, unguarded conversations with West End and Broadway colleagues. It holds a 4.9-star rating from more than 350 listener reviews. Its final episode, with perennial guest Andrew Kober, landed in July 2023.
The name change matters because no other living performer is as entangled with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom. Karimloo originated the role in the 2010 sequel Love Never Dies, played Raoul and later the Phantom at His Majesty’s Theatre, and headlined the 25th anniversary staging at the Royal Albert Hall on 2 October 2011 — a broadcast seen by more than 100 million people. The show itself has been staged in 145 cities across 27 countries, with box office receipts that eclipse Avatar and Titanic.
His most recent turn under the mask came in Italy, where a new production opened at Trieste’s Politeama Rossetti on 4 July 2023 opposite Amelia Milo as Christine and Bradley Jaden as Raoul. The run drew audiences from across Europe, and in December 2025 the city of Trieste awarded him its Bronze Medal, with officials calling him an ambassador who carried the city’s name abroad. “I feel this city as a new home,” he said at the ceremony.
Between Phantom engagements he has stayed busy in other rooms. He co-directed The Reunion, a West End and Broadway concert tour with Earl Carpenter that sold out 11 dates in China and played Milan and Trieste in January 2025, then returned to Broadway that March in Pirates! The Penzance Musical opposite David Hyde Pierce. He is also preparing the role of Guido Contini for a Nine staging in Manchester.
Episode 1 is live now. The old podcast feed has been quiet since July 2023, and its host spent the years in between collecting cities and stages, Trieste foremost among them. The Phantom Edition starts there.
