Plurk paste

[Now as far as playing the Phantom goes, how do you interpret him; how do you see him and feel him?]
Well...that's a rich question. A lot of things are obvious. We know, from the piece, how he grew up and what he must have suffered because of his deformity. Even his mother, who was ashamed, caused him to suffer. He obviously didn't know any love or any experience like that. He obviously knows what that is; we all do. He has suffered through a great deal and has managed through force of will to overcome a lot of that and be able to be in this place...in control and command his life, finally.

When Madame Giry talks about when she [saw] him in a cage, his life was not his own. But somehow through force of will and talent and ability, music and magic, he's managed to overcome at least that. But he can't overcome his being ostracized by society. He can't do that. As much as he's created this whole persona that makes him presentable to the world, he is still ostracized.

One thing we don't see in the musical is that there is social contact. People know who he is; what he does. He's not yet a madman. People are scared of him because of the way he looks [or] might look. He's been a bit of a prankster at the Opera House when this show starts, but to my knowledge, he hasn't killed anybody. He does kill Buquet eventually, but not at the beginning. He's only been a prankster and people are concerned. He's still maintaining that he has created a life for himself. Now the thing that has come into it is Christine Daaé as a vehicle for his music, which is what he talks about. There is an inherent sexuality and eroticism, but I don't find it to be all about that. And I don't find it to be all about be a psychotic, angry person, because he's obviously not.

He talks a lot about - and he's obviously very concerned about his music - the opera that he's writing. Even in the book he talks about that being his big achievement. Now, that's his real focus and what he wants to do and accomplish. Once he's finished with that finally, he will have finished something - in a way, his life.

That becomes complicated by Christine Daaé. He finds this woman who starts out being the perfect vehicle for expressing his music with her voice and becomes something more than that. And when Raoul is introduced into that, he's not in control anymore. He's been so in control of his life and [this] becomes so disturbing and so jarring, it prevents him from having her fulfill this whole opera/music thing. He starts to crack.

[Then], he disappears for six months to work on his opera. In some ways he's back in control, although he lost control enough to kill someone. Something has obviously cracked [and it was] sort of random. Buquet wasn't doing anything. [But] he manages to gain some control by disappearing and working on his opera. In the book, that is what he wants to do and to accomplish: an opera. And now that he's done it, he'll get Christine back and will demand that she do it.

[So is your portrayal more romantic, or do you make people feel sorry for him?]
I think definitely, they should feel sorry for him, empathy. The real challenge is to get somebody to feel sorry for someone who is obviously a real psychotic serial killer - which he's become. He's not at first. People can see that. In "Music of the Night" you begin to buy into him as a romantic idol. If you can go there with Christine, you can hold onto that later which [is something] Christine has to do because she knows he's killed people too.

**What are you trying to bring out of this character on stage?**
It's easy to portray the Phantom as the psychotic, angry man; I don't think that's what he is all about. He has those moments, but I try to show those moments distinct from where he genuinely and deeply is and wants to be, instead of being that angry person all the time. That's hard to do. Some of it is written in, but sensuality without overt sexuality. Based on his life and what he says later in the final lair, Erik doesn't know from sex...

He probably doesn't know how to get to first base, although he's probably observed a great deal.
Yup, that's right. When he says "That fate which condemns me to wallow in blood has also denied me the joys of the flesh..." to me it could mean two things, both or either/or, he has never been with anyone sexually, or that he is impotent. And with someone that crazy and with his history and social interaction it could be. It doesn't mean that he doesn't know how to be sensual. But it does come through his music and his commitment to the idea of what that is, and because he doesn't have that sexual component in his life. It's all about, or so he tells us - and he tells us in a very sensual and erotic way - it's all about his music. When Christine becomes the vehicle for that music, that adds a physical dimension to it. But if it's just about sex, I wouldn't find it very interesting.

[Is that why you say he kills Piangi to end up in that scene with her even though he had written the opera?]
Yeah. Not only does he need his opera performed as the culmination of his work and life, he needs to go that final step and perform it with her. In some ways you can see it - and I'm not a psychologist - it's like that music is the surrogate to the whole sexual component in his life. That's how he expresses himself physically. And so this opera means a great, great deal. It would be like having sex, but it is not having sex; he doesn't know what that is. I don't like it to be all that, but it's there, so he takes Piangi's place as the sort of fulfillment of it all. To be there and hear her sing his music is extremely intense and in a way is very sexual, but not in a physical way.

As in the scene in which the Phantom is sitting with the shroud. The hands are very expressive and the movements are jerky. I think of it as a kind of sexual tension...Are you given any direction for that?
There is only so much you can do wearing that sack. You only have your hands. But [although] we are given direction, at the same time, Hal Prince has given leeway for different actors to do different things.

[Once you step on the stage are you the Phantom? Or do you sometimes step back from the role?]
There is a time when it's all about being in the right place at the right time, especially with all the automation in the show. Since things change in every city you have those moments when you are thinking about where the organ is in relation to the boat and am I walking backwards in the proper direction, etc. There are times when you are thinking simple things like that. But I dare say the audience has no idea. It's your job as an actor to make people believe, by whatever means, that you are inhabiting that character.

There are places I try to focus on the place the Phantom is at in his mind/heart. For example when I'm in the angel I often think about what hearing those words on the rooftop do to him, so as to be able to do the heartbreak of the angel scene.

Also, "Music of the Night" is very hard to memorize because it doesn't really follow a pattern that's easily memorized: which verse is after which. After you've done it a while, you figure out a way to do it without worrying about the order of the verses. I don't think about that anymore so I can think about the actual words and trying to use them and what is the Phantom trying to say at that moment; what is he trying to accomplish; how to express himself about the places where he lives, and his music, and how it effects everything. Sometimes - and I'm sure it's true of everybody - you can't help but just think about "how is this note going to come out?" But I don't find much that I have to inhabit in Erik. In a way, it's a lot like the opera itself: the words and music do it. You have to do that with André as well. You have to think the words as you're singing them, or just before so as to have the reaction. And if you are in that moment and listening to the other moment and listening to the other actors and believing that they are those other people they are pretending to be, it just happens. David Mamet, the playwright says something to the effect that the role of the actor is not to be moved but to move the audience. As I understand it, you don't have to be having those emotions and feelings to be able to convince the audience that you are. I'm not putting down anyone's ability to portray a character, it's just the magic of the theater.

[What do you think is the special appeal of Phantom to the audience?]
It's a couple of things. People obviously relate to the heartbreak and the whole lost, unfulfilled love. Just about anybody can relate to that, can see themselves in that position. And a lot of people can relate to being the social outcast in some way, if only a small way. Certainly very few people can relate to it the way it affects the Phantom. A lot of people have felt outcast, alone, and put down; and even in a small way, that can be crippling. And so they relate to that. And if you combine the whole lost love aspect and the outcast aspect it can be extremely powerful.