BWW INTERVIEWS: PHANTOM's Robyn North

How are you, and how's the album doing?

I'm very well! The album is doing much better than I even hoped for. I had no expectations. I was just really excited about doing the project, and I had time to do it. I thought I should take advantage of that time, and I had lots of encouragement from my agent. I thought it would be really fun and a good use of my time. I've felt really encouraged by the response, especially from the Phantom fans, who have really run with the ball and gone out there and bought the CD, which I'm really grateful for. I never thought I'd have that response. It's been really lovely.

Lots of West End performers say they'd love to do their own album - how did yours come about?

My agent put the producer in touch with me and we went from there. He said he'd love to do an album, and I felt the same way. We had some ideas about what we wanted. It was quite a difficult balance between soprano standards that people would recognise and a few extra tracks on there - slightly different, a bit more contemporary. I was leaning towards the newer ones, and the producer wanted more traditional ones. We reached quite a nice compromise. We've got some tracks that are quite unusual, but also got your Phantom, My Fair Lady, things like that which people will recognise. It's a nice balance.

What's your favourite track?

I do a duet with Leila Benn Harris, who was the other Christine at the time I was recording it, we thought it would be quite novel to do something together and we wanted to do something a bit different from the soprano work we were doing every night. So we did Who Will Love Me As I Am? from Side Show - it's a big, belty, passionate duet, and I think it really works and shows a different side of us.

Is it difficult to go from a cast into a studio?

It's different, but there are really fantastic people on the album with me. I was so lucky that everyone I wanted to do a duet with wanted to do it! There's Ramin Karimloo, who's playing Phantom at the moment, Graham Bickley - really great voices. I was a bit worried that there were a few too many duets, but I think it's nice to have different sounds that breaks it up, and because a lot of it is soprano, the different voices complement each other.

Did you have a wish list of duet partners, then?

I got them all! They were my top five [Ramin Karimloo, Graham Bickley, Leila Benn Harris, Tom Solomon and Stephen Carlile], and they all ended up on the album.

Doing Phantom must be hard work on your voice.

It is a big thing, doing Christine, but I'm the alternate at the moment, so I'm doing two shows a week. It's so wonderful. The thing about doing parts over and over again, eight shows a week, is that you have to pace yourself. Being the alternate I don't have to think about it - I can go for it in both shows. I don't have to worry about having to do it again tomorrow in the matinee and then the evening. When I don't have to do it again until Thursday, I can go all out. It's hard work, because people come to see a performance, and there's such a high standard and people have to deliver that, eight shows a week. That's quite a task. Your voice is a muscle, and it takes quite a beating when you're using it that often. Opera singers don't really use their voices that often at all - they do much fewer performances over the week. Compared to that, it's quite a lot that our voices go through in musical theatre.

Phantom's been running for years now - what's the secret of its success?

It's such a classic story, and the music is so incredible. I think it's such a great piece of work by that original creative team - Hal Prince's direction, Andrew Lloyd Webber's music, Cameron [Mackintosh's] vision for the show, all of those people. It's a masterpiece of musical theatre, and that's why it's stood the test of time.

Christine is an iconic role.

It is. I went into it through an interesting route. It was my first job after college, joining the company of Phantom as understudy Christine, so I went in slowly. I felt like they really trained me well. At college you have a certain amount of training, but you can never be really prepared for the work you have to do in a West End show. They really took me under their wing, and they sent me for extra singing lessons with Claire Moore, the original alternate Christine. She really honed my voice and helped me a lot.

So I was in the ensemble, and then I was performing the role every now and again, as you do when you understudy. I got the chance to have a go at it then, before I went off and did a few other shows - Miss Dorothy in Thoroughly Modern Millie on tour, then I did Scrooge, then Evita, which was an original cast, which I'd never done before. All of that experience, when I came back round to playing Christine again, really helped me. I think I do the part more justice now than I did when I was an understudy, and that comes with the extra experience. It's big shoes to fill when you take on a role like Christine. Sarah Brightman actually came to watch me play the part. I've had lots of important people, but Sarah was quite scary. She really knows how it's supposed to be done! She was so lovely, she came to see me afterwards and she was complimentary, so I think I passed, thank goodness.

Your co-star Ramin Karimloo is working on Phantom 2 - have you had any sneak previews?

Yes, Ramin's been working on it. He's humming parts of it every now and again. He says the music is beautiful, so I'm sure it will be brilliant

Andrew Lloyd Webber always seems very proud and protective of Phantom in particular.

I think it's close to his heart. He's particular about his cast, and it's something that's stood the test of time with him as well. He must be very proud of it, I'm sure.

With that and the other new shows coming in this year, it's an exciting time in the West End.

Yes, I think it's a really positive sign that theatre is coping with the economic circumstances. There are lots of exciting projects. There are a lot of transfers - Avenue Q was going to end and now it's not, A Little Night Music coming from the Chocolate Factory. It's great for musical theatre, it's great that it's not just the big, long-running shows - usually they do well because people know what they're going to get. People seem to take a bit more of a chance, and see things that are a bit more unusual, and I think that's a great thing. People will discover there's this wealth of theatre out there that's just as exciting as the big productions.

Phantom has such a loyal group of fans that keep it running.

I've met people who have seen the show 500 times. I can't believe the people who come back again and again and are so faithful. They have such passion for it. They know more about the show than I do, definitely. I really respect that they have such integrity in terms of understanding the show and they want to see it how it's supposed to be. If there's one little thing out of place, they notice it and they let you know. I feel that way about the show as well; I'm really passionate about it. I saw it for the first time when I was nine years old, and I said to my ballet teacher, "I want to play Christine one day!" and she said, "Yes, dear, I'm sure you will!" I've loved it for that long, so I think it's important that it stays to a high standard and nothing's missed but at the same time it stays fresh.

What did you think of the film version?

I think that it's a different look at it. It's always interesting to see something in a different medium; it will always change the product. I thought it had a very different feeling to the stage show. We went to the after-show party at the premiere, and we all went on the No 11 Phantom bus, so that was great fun!

What did you think of Spamalot's The Song That Goes Like This, which is an affectionate mockery of Phantom's music and style?

I thought it was very, very funny! That was a great show! It's the biggest compliment always, to have that kind of teasing.

Are there any more roles you'd really love to play?

I would love to play Glinda in Wicked. That's top of my list. It's such a brilliant part, and I'm a big Kristen Chenoweth fan. It has a comedy element as well - I would like to do something uplifting like that. There are other shows that I'd love to do, but in terms of the West End, that's the one.

I'd also love to record more. I had such an incredible experience in the studio - we were at Abbey Road, so I felt like a rock star, even though I was recording soprano standards! It was overwhelming, actually - all that history. It was really cool! I loved the experience of recording. It's not as instant as performing where you have that response from the audience, and you can gauge how well you've done from what the audience gives you back. In the studio you get a chance to refine it, you get to re-record, and do it bang-on, exactly how you want. I really enjoyed that aspect, and working with the producer, and being creative, and even things like the photo shoot for the album cover. You don't think about that when you start these things off, but I loved the whole process.

Robyn's album, Make Believe, is out now.

 

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