Biography
Rob Guest, a theater performer of British birth who became closely identified with New Zealand, achieved prominence during the 1990s through leading parts in major Australian stage productions, above all Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera. Born Robert John Guest in Birmingham, England, on July 17, 1950, he relocated with his family to New Zealand at the age of 13 and completed his schooling in Auckland. His stage career began to flourish in the early 1970s. He simultaneously built credentials as a pop singer and television performer, although his theater work delivered far greater success. Throughout the early and middle 1980s he appeared chiefly in the United States, concentrating on casino engagements in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, and Lake Tahoe, before heading back to New Zealand late in the decade. In the late 1980s he was chosen to play Jean Valjean in a touring Australian mounting of Les Misérables and sustained the role for several years. He next assumed the title character in the Australian production of The Phantom of the Opera. From December 1991 through September 1998 he performed that part a world-record 2,289 times. Additional prominent assignments included Al Jolson in Jolson, Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Rev. Shaw Moore in Footloose, Harold Hill in The Music Man, and the Wizard of Oz in Wicked. On September 30, 2008, he suffered a stroke and died two days afterward, on October 2, 2008, in Melbourne, Australia, at the age of 58.
Albums
