Davis Gaines

{{short description|American actor and singer}}

{{BLP sources|date=November 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Davis Gaines

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|01|21}}

| birth_place = Orlando, Florida, U.S.

| known_for = The Phantom of the Opera

| occupation = Singer, actor

| years_active = 1979-present

}}

Davis Gaines (born January 21, 1954, Orlando, Florida) is an American stage actor and baritone. He has performed as The Phantom in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera over 2,000 times, on Broadway, on tour, in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco. (He had previously played Raoul in the Broadway production.) He won the Bay Area Critics' Award for Best Actor. He performed the role for a Phantom segment for the Kennedy Center Honors in 1994.

He originated the lead role of The Man in Whistle Down the Wind (1996). Gaines was also the singing voice of Chamberlain in The Swan Princess (1994). He guested in "Murder in White", a 1993 episode of Murder, She Wrote. He was also a musical guest star for Broadway on Ice, a touring ice show with live music. Gaines played the role of Anthony Hope in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in concert, alongside George Hearn as Todd, Patti LuPone as Lovett, Timothy Nolen as Turpin, and Neil Patrick Harris as Tobias. He has since reprised the role of Anthony in numerous productions. He also played the Old Confederate Soldier and Judge Roan in Parade at the Lincoln Center in 2015.

He's also known for his performances in regional productions of Les Misérables, Parade, Damn Yankees, and Hello, Dolly!. He received an Ovation Award for his performance in the role of Don Quixote / Miguel de Cervantes in Man of La Mancha. He was also in the original Off-Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins as an understudy for the roles of the Balladeer and Charles Guiteau. In 2000, he was in a concert version of The Frogs opposite Nathan Lane and Brian Stokes Mitchell at the Library of Congress.[https://www.abouttheartists.com/artists/282075-davis-gaines Davis Gaines AboutTheArtists]

One of his first jobs was as a costumed character at Walt Disney World theme park;{{cite news |last=Palm |first=Matthew J. |title=Edgewater High School honors Davis Gaines |url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_stage_theat/2011/04/edgewater-high-school-honors-davis-gaines.html |accessdate=30 April 2011 |newspaper=Orlando Sentinel |date=28 April 2011 |location=Orlando, Florida|quote="Even though I was behind a big old head, I felt like I was acting." |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430134029/http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_stage_theat/2011/04/edgewater-high-school-honors-davis-gaines.html |archivedate=30 April 2011 }} as a high school student, he played Pinocchio character J. Worthington Foulfellow.{{cite news|last=Slate|first=Libby|title=Music of a New Night : With Ahmanson's 'Phantom' behind him, Davis Gaines is looking forward to his next project, his very own concert.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-17-va-35999-story.html|access-date=30 April 2011|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=17 March 1993|location=Los Angeles CA}}