Y! meets the stars of ‘Phantom of the Opera’

The Phantom of the Opera is here.

Opening on Tuesday for a five-week season at the Marina Bay Sands, the nearly-sold-out musical was last staged here six years ago at the Esplanade. It will feature a mostly-new cast, but the same set, staging, costumes, and of course, Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic music.

Returning as the Phantom is 49-year-old Brad Little, who has the rare bragging right of being one of only four men who has performed the role more than 2,000 times (he has performed in over 2,250 Phantom shows). He will be joined by up-and-coming Australian songstress Claire Lyon, who has performed the role of Christine in previous show seasons in the Philippines, South Korea and Bangkok, as well as the same role in the iconic show's sequel, Love Never Dies, when it toured Australia over the last two years.

And in case you're worried about their chemistry, don't -- Little and Lyon have performed more than 150 shows together, and are all ready to wow a new generation of Singapore. They will perform a hefty eight shows every week between Tuesday and 25 August (matinee performances on Saturdays and Sundays, and a break on Mondays).

We had a chance to sit down with Little and Lyon for some hot chocolate recently, to find out how they sustain themselves and keep their performances fresh:

The performance schedule you guys have here is extremely intense! How do you preserve the health and vitality of your voices?

Claire Lyon (CL): When I'm feeling particularly tired I'll "steam" -- I've got this weird contraption that covers my face, and you put boiling water and inhale the steam. Vocal rest is also important -- not talking -- and when I'm doing a season, I tend not to drink alcohol. I drink lots of water, though, and take vitamins... and yeah, a honey lemon and ginger drink is good too! (How often do you drink honey lemon?) Only when I'm sick. If I feel a little tickle (in my throat), I'm on it. It kills the germs, and sometimes, I gargle salt water too. It doesn't taste good!

Brad Little (BL): Pretty much the same for me -- rest and water. I don't have the steamer but I'll just sit in the bathroom, turn on the shower and just steam. (Would you recommend steaming as often as possible?) It depends on the climate -- in Korea, especially, because we were there in winter and it was so dry... and when your (vocal) chords are that dry, usually steam will help, and it soothes and relaxes your chords. But at the same time you don't want them to be too relaxed when you're singing because that can also be unproductive for your chords as well.

How does one know what his or her voice needs?

BL: You know what, it's interesting because I think you have to look at what the voice is. Basically, it's a living organism (CL: It's a muscle!). It's not like you've got a trumpet that is always the same -- your voice is going to be different. Our voices change from day to day, so it's about finding the right formula to get to what we know our voices need to be for the show.

CL: Also, to hold back when you need to hold back, and to let loose when you can.

Whether they've seen Phantom many times or for the first time, there are definitely things that members of the audience might not often notice. What is one thing audiences should look out for when they watch the show?

CL: I would say the monkey. There's a little music box with a monkey in Persian robes playing the cymbals that happens at the start of the show, and it wakes me up during the first lair scene. It's at the beginning, middle and end of the show, and at the final lair scene too... it's just a little piece of the show that occurs in so many different scenes, and it's a cute little thing to look out for. It's like, Where's Wally? But now, it's "Where's the monkey?"

BL: That is a good one, the monkey. One of the things I always find interesting with our show is the rose that always appears in our advertisements -- try to find the red rose on stage. (What's its significance to you?) I have no idea.... and the reason I don't is there are NO red roses in the show!

CL: What's funny is that in Love Never Dies, Christine says in the dressing room scene to Raoul something to the effect of "You would always toss me a single red rose." And yet that's the only place you see the rose -- on the poster.

So, no mention of the rose at all?

BL: Nope, at all.

CL: Maybe it just looks good.

BL: It's one of the things that's brought up so much in the posters and the advertising, but you never see a red rose during the show. So... if you couldn't spot the red rose when you watch the show, that's cause there wasn't any!

We also heard that costumes are one of the key features of the show.

CL: It's a spectacle -- the costumes alone. It's not just one piece of material, it's layer upon layer of fabric that's been sourced from all around the world. I've got about nine different costume changes, so if I'm not on stage, you can guarantee that I'm side-stage changing into a different costume, or wig, or something.

And the face behind the mask -- Brad, building that must involve quite a tedious process!

BL: It's a little over an hour of makeup that we do to create the deformity on the right side of my face... they take prosthetic pieces and create a "pizza" face.

CL: Oh, it's disgusting -- an open-fleshed wound with slimy goo on it... I have to touch it as well while kissing him.

BL: It's not pleasant.

Is it sometimes difficult to recreate the shock you get seeing it, since you've seen it hundreds of times already?

CL: It looks the same every night but depending on how we react, we bounce off each other differently... the other night I was so in the moment that when I ripped off his wig and mask to reveal the deformity, I forgot to run away. And I'm supposed to almost run off stage in shock, but I was just staring at it agape. So, there are moments when I just forget that I'm on stage and I'm so in character and I see this wound, which looks so realistic, and feels realistic too.

BL: We're taught certain things, as far as reactions go, but that reaction was so real and so in the moment that there was nothing wrong about it -- that's the beautiful thing about what we do in live theatre, we try to get to those moments, and always stay in them.

Another unique aspect that Phantom has is its special effects -- something that isn't typical to most musicals, since it's performed live. Could you give people who've never seen the show before a sneak peek?

CL: You'll see fire on the stage, smoke, magic tricks, people jumping from high places -- Raoul jumps from I don't even know how high into an underground lake. It's ridiculous how high he has to jump! And there are a lot of magic tricks, and people just go "How did you do that?" and we're not allowed to reveal how it's done.

BL: Contractually we're not allowed to reveal the secrets of the show.

CL: But the last magic trick is the best.

And you're not going to tell us what it is?

BL: Nope. You've got to come see the show!

The Phantom of the Opera opens at the Marina Bay Sands Grand Theatre on Tuesday, 16 July, and will run in nightly shows from Tuesdays to Sundays. For more information and to purchase (very limited) tickets, click here.