DMT Editorial 2017_04_JUN_JUL_Proof15

THE PHANTOM
OF THE OPERA
Matt Wolf talks to Ben Forster and Celinde Schoenmaker from The Phantom of the Opera
about the first three decades of one of the greatest love stories in musical theatre
The Phantom of the Opera turned 30 last autumn, and its current stars are
scarcely more aware that they are part of a theatrical milestone. After all,
not everyone gets to be centre-stage when quite possibly musical theatre’s
most enduring love story ever reaches such a ripe young age.
That explains the coming together one evening of Ben Forster and
Celinde Schoenmaker in an elegant reception room, situated deep within
Her Majesty’s Theatre. They are talking about the sense of occasion they
shared at getting to play the Phantom and Christine Daaé during this
landmark season for the show.
‘It’s an important night for the West End and for theatre that Phantom
is turning 30,’ says Forster, 35, who names the Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical as the first London show that the Sunderland-born actor-singer
ever saw when not yet a teenager, ‘and that we are the ones here at the
head of the original production.’
Schoenmaker, Dutch-born but now London-based, was ‘minus three’,
she smiles, when the show premiered in October 1986, but laughs
nervously ‘We just had to be the best versions of ourselves ever. The night
was about Ben and me just having the best time and we tried to give the
very best we could for the audience.’
It’s important, too, to acknowledge the affection with which this worldbeating
musical is forever held by its public. ‘This is a time,’ notes Forster,
‘when everyone is concentrating on the show, not least the fans. It is a
mindstorm for a show to have been running in the same building every day
[except Sundays] for 30 years: they did all the original rehearsals here, that
set was built on this stage, and its capabilities were built for this building.’
What’s more, Forster continues, ‘I keep thinking that Michael
[Crawford, the original Phantom] sat in the dressing room I now have,
and at the same mirror, doing his first make-up. When I first got changed
and put my first costume on, I was looking at myself in the mirror thinking,
“Michael Crawford did that – and so did Colm Wilkinson!”’
The two stars know they are following in some formidable shoes –
from original leads Crawford and Sarah Brightman, as Christine, onwards
– and yet that Phantom survives by keeping fresh: that famous mask, one
might say, is ever-malleable. It helps that the show’s celebrated creators