‘Phantom’ Winners Help Out Charity Too

Emily Willard got a special present from her father Friday--a 10th-row seat to Michael Crawford’s final performance as “The Phantom of the Opera” Sunday at the Ahmanson Theatre.

And it only cost Dale Willard $13,750.

Willard, the chief executive officer for a Glendale-based aerospace sealant and construction firm, was the high bidder on KABC Channel 7’s “A.M. Los Angeles” auction of three pairs of tickets to the sold-out matinee. Crawford initiated the auction as a benefit for two charities after hearing that scalpers were asking as much as $1,500 per seat.

Willard bid $27,500 for two seats. Second was Larry Klein with $21,000, who bought the seats as a surprise for his wife. The third runners-up were Gail Frankel and Jean Raymondi, who bid $7,500.

Proceeds from the highest bid will go to Para Los Ninos, a social-service agency serving homeless and transient families in central and inner-city Los Angeles. Proceeds from the runners up will go to Equity Fights AIDS.

Although Willard was determined to get one of the coveted pairs, it wasn’t as if Emily was going to miss out if he hadn’t bid so high.

The teen-ager, who has already seen “Phantom” and Crawford 30 times, already had tickets to Sunday’s show, as well as tickets to performances Thursday, Friday and today.

But her father said he was also motivated by the charity aspect of the auction. “Crawford is involved with the charities we support, and this was our family’s way for showing our appreciation,” he said.

There were also personal reasons. “My daughter knows Crawford, and he has been a big encouragement to her and her music,” Willard, 43, said. “She’s a theater-arts student, and she plans to go into musicals. Someday she would like to play Christine,” the object of the Phantom’s tortured fantasies.

Willard will escort his daughter to the matinee, and his wife will take the other two tickets and go with a friend.

“We hate to see Crawford leave, but we’re glad we’ll be there for his final performance,” he said.

So will Larry Klein, although he got in a bit of trouble when he told his wife, Susanne, about the surprise purchase.

She screamed angrily. Then she stopped speaking to him.

But by the time Klein, an insurance and investment broker, received the orchestra tickets from Crawford during Friday’s “A.M.” show, his wife was speaking to him again. “She even told me she was proud of me,” he said, chuckling a bit.

Klein, who is also a registered representative with the production, selling limited partnerships for the musical’s U.S. tour and its opening in Paris, had never seen the show.

“The whole household has been talking about ‘Phantom’ for months, but we had given up any hope of seeing Crawford,” he said. “It was just too difficult to get seats.”

The auction, which Klein heard about on television, presented the last chance. He was prepared to go as high as $11,000, and he called in during the start of the bidding at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

However, as the bidding escalated during the day, Klein saw his bottom line passed by. The phone lines were jammed with bids. Klein said he was then overcome with inspiration and concern for the homeless and the deprived.

“Who cares about the homeless or the drug addicts?” he said. “Everyone should. Everyone should do something financially, or with their time, to help. That’s what I did.”

But Susanne Klein’s initial reaction was anything but positive.

“I was afraid she was going to kill me,” her husband recalled. “We just had a baby in February, and she’s a nursing mother. She screamed, ‘How can I go with a brand-new baby?’ ”

Klein said he hopes his wife will be able to go with him: “Besides, she knows I love her and I do crazy things.”

The third runners-up, Gail Frankel and Jean Raymondi, had seen the musical only two weeks ago but had been hoping to see it again before Crawford departed.

“He’s so phenomenal, so sensuous,” said Raymondi, 34, a registered nurse. “I don’t know if Robert Guilluame (who is replacing Crawford) can come up to it.”

The two friends also praised Dale Kristien, who plays Christine in the Ahmanson production, and the special effects.

During Wednesday’s auction, others pledged higher bids. But all the others dropped out for one reason or another.

“I’m just glad we made it,” said Frankel, 45, a retired school bus driver. “Plus, I’m glad the money is going to something good rather than lining some broker’s pocket.”