A musical theater star is gone too soon.

Ben Lewis , an Australian native who starred in the titular role of the West End production of Phantom of the Opera from 2017 to 2018, has died after a battle with bowel cancer, according to his friend Todd Woodbridge . He was 46.

“Today we lost Ben Lewis,” Todd wrote on Instagram Oct. 6, “one [of] my families [sic] dearest friends way to [sic] young and the Australian Musical Theatre family also lost one of the greats!”

While sending love to Ben’s family, Todd added, “More importantly he was one of the great humans, funny, caring and a wonderful mentor to all of the people he work [sic] with…so many fond memories of holidays together in Scotland, visiting the dressing rooms of Her Majesty’s Theatre in London to times spent at

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