Karimloo: 'PHANTOM Made Me Want To Be An Actor'

The star of the West End production 'Love Never Dies', Ramin Karimloo was recently profiled in The Daily Express and the UK's Guardian speaking about his beginnings and the journey which has led him to don the mask in the Andrew Lloyd Webber sequel to the Phantom of the Opera.

How does Karimloo feel about the overwhelming expectations set on the production? He tells the Daily Express, "I don't know what I'm supposed to feel but there's an odd sense of calm about it. I'm not thinking, ‘I'm the best'.

"I'm just the guy who is doing it now and I will do the best I can do with it, knowing that one day I am going to give it up and somebody else is going to take over and do their best." (To read the rest of the story, click here.)

In the piece in The Guardian, Karamloo reflects on the first time he saw a production of 'The Phantom of the Opera' in Toronto.

"When did you first see The Phantom of the Opera?

I was about 12 years old on a school trip in Toronto and hated the idea of seeing an opera. Before the show I was asked to volunteer on stage. I was handed a mic and had to say: "I'm the Phantom of the Opera." I was thinking: "Don't cry, because the boys are here." A seed was planted. I said to friends: "I want to be the Phantom."

Do you think the role was your destiny?

Yes, but I never trained - I couldn't afford singing lessons back then. I read as many books as I could on acting. One day I saw an audition for a cruise and started singing on that. Then I moved to Oxford in 2002. I was working in a factory making the inside of hand dryers, thinking: "How am I going to get to the West End from here?" I went to the message board in Pineapple Dance Studios, closed my eyes and took the number of a singing teacher that my finger landed on. That teacher found me an agent and five years later I was the Phantom."

To read the rest of the story in The Guardian, click here.

The World Premiere of "LOVE NEVER DIES" will take place in London on 9 March 2010 at the Adelphi Theatre. Previews begin on 20 February. The show will subsequently open in New York on 11 November 2010 and then in Australia in 2011.

March 2010 sees the Polydor/Universal release of the album of "LOVE NEVER DIES", the long awaited follow up to "The Phantom Of The Opera" (the eighth best-selling album of ALL TIME, unprecedented for a musical theatre album). The album release will coincide with the opening of the show in London's West End and will be available in both deluxe and standard versions.

Performances in London at the Adelphi Theatre will be Mondays - Saturdays at 7.30pm, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.

Tickets, priced from £25.00 - £67.50 (to include 75p theatre restoration levy and inclusive of booking fees), are available from the Adelphi Theatre Box Office on 0844 412 4651 or online from www.loveneverdies.com.