Hey there I'm James Barbour thank you for tuning into my channel
you know today I'm gonna talk about something that I'm asked all the time.
You know I'm asked all the time what was it like to play the Phantom on Broadway
in the longest-running and most successful Broadway show of all time the
Phantom of the Opera? So Phantom has been running for over 30 years.
Again the longest-running show on Broadway and more importantly people ask
me what's it like to sing "Music of the Night"?
Now Andrew Lloyd Webber, for those of you who don't know, wrote The Phantom of the
Opera. I mean undoubtedly everybody in the
world knows of it. I mean they may have heard of it somewhere, I'm sure there are
people that haven't and in certain parts of the world. But it is the most famous
show of all time and when you say the Phantom of the Opera chances are people know
it. And chances are people know the music or they've heard some of it so Music of
the Night is undoubtedly one of the most famous Tunes in all of theatrical
history and it was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
So I'm asked all the time what's it like to sing that music? What's it like to
sing the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber? What's it like to be around him? What's
it like to be there? So the awesome thing about being in Phantom is that it's it's
filled with so much history and so much amazing stuff. So you know there's the
makeup that I had to go through, the phantom sits for an hour,
there's the costumes, there's the set, there's the cast, the creative team, Hal
Prince, Cameron Mackintosh, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gillian Lynne, all of whom you
know are very much a part of the show today. They're very much involved and
they're there on a continual basis. But number one question what is it like to
sing Music of the Night. Well, I'm gonna tell you...it's incredible! And what I
thought was incredible when I started the show has just grown and grown and
grown and grown because I have so much more knowledge about the song and about
where it came from. So here's a little tidbit I recorded
Music of the Night on a CD called Bring Me Giants. This is it right here.
Sorry for the flashy paper it's still in its plastic. Bring Me Giant you can get
it on iTunes. It has Music Of The Night on it and a lot of other great tunes. So
when I recorded that song I took it out of context cause I wasn't doing the full
show. And normally when I do a concert or I'll do you know a couple of songs at an
event. You know you take them out of context and you sing them
as standalone pieces. So that's what I did. And I made it my own. And I
interpreted it the way I wanted to interpret it. So when I started rehearsal
that's how I was used to singing it. Right? And I knew this song because I'd
sung it before. And I started rehearsal and I got through music and then a
couple of times. I'm like okay great here's the difference; that's not how
it's written and here's why. I was given restrictions on this is how you have to
sing it this is what you need to do and I and I started saying you know I guys I
feel I feel restricted. I feel like I don't have freedom as a performer to
sing the song. And these were just conversations that you have in rehearsal
right like help me figure this out. So David Caddick who's the musical
supervisor incredible guy goes "the freedom is in the music" I'm like what do
you mean? "The freedom is in the music. "If you trust the music, if you trust what
Andrew wrote literally wrote and stick to that you'll find it incredible amount
of freedom." And I was like hmm, okay. Now I usually approach things as an actor I
start to interpret I start to you know pull lines out and put emphasis on
on different things. Well with music and if you're gonna stick directly to the
music that's hard to do because each note has a specific length it has a
specific strength it has a specific pitch all of that kind of stuff so
initially I was reticent I was like I was I was backing off against that or
ridging on it and as I started rehearsing and as we started going
through it and as I started learning now you have to think about this too when is
when a song is written for a show it's written to take the characters journey
right from point A to point B to Point C and ultimately through the end of the
show. When you take it out of context it's just a standalone right. So Andrew
wrote the music to take this character The Phantom on his journey just like he
did all of the other characters so Christine how's her music Raoul has his
music you know the Managers have their music
there's ensemble music. When you put it all together it creates this amazing
journey. so inserting Music Of Th eNight where it is it's the Phantom's first song is
very impactful right it's the first thing really that the Phantom does on a
large scale in the show so I took it and put it back into context
well that opened up huge range of options and as I started
trusting the music and I started trusting what Andrew had written now why
would anybody not trust what andrew has written? He's brilliant. but it was just
that mindset of having not sung it that way before it did create freedom now
here's the thing I want you to think about the Phantom is written as a tenor
role right I'm a baritone tenor is a higher-pitched role a higher tined a
higher pitched voice you know Michael Crawford the original Phantom was a
tenor I'm one of only a handful I mean less probably less than five baritones
that have ever sung this role specifically on Broadway. so it creates a
different different aspects so notes that are very very very easy to sing for
a tenor they might be at the top of my range right and notes that are hard to
sing for a tenor might be in the meat of my range so I had to think about it that
way and and figure out how my voice was going to attack this role and attack
this song eight times a week you know six days a week one day off a week and
be able to recover and do all this kind of stuff that's the fun part now I also
want you to think about this picture yourself walking down the street and
then all of a sudden somebody says run and sprint and you're sprinting down the
street and it's hot the sun's beating and then they're like okay stop crawl
and you start to crawl okay now run it's almost like an aerobic exercise right so
you have to think about Music of the Night in the same way there's the
emotional content of the scene where the Phantom is focusing on Christine that's
the other direction we were given as Phantoms is like you're focused on
Christine you're trying you're watching what her reactions are focused on her if
you notice in the show The Phantom rarely ever in that scene takes his eyes
off of Christine doesn't happen always looking at her always focusing on her
always seeing what's happening what his words are doing Hal Prince is very
focused on the words night time sharpens heightens each sensation darkness stirs
right you're you're watching what she's doing and how she's reacting to this
environment in which she's never been in right
all the while having to focus on singing this incredible song and starting off
very very powerful loud You have come here right and then into nighttime sharpens
then into powerful music then into soft falsetto
and then powerful powerful but where you long to be right really powerful and
then bringing it down again so that's what I'm talking about in terms of an
aerobic exercise my heart is pounding you're pounding the emotions are going
and you have to control your breath so that you can get that final falsetto note
out and hold it right unbelievably difficult right eight times a week and
it wasn't until my last six months oh my gosh I'm finally understanding I'm sort
of starting to get an understanding of what this song really means you know it
it was ingrained in me it was part of my body and then that's when the freedom
happened that's when you know the David Caddick note you know allow the music to
carry you allow the freedom to be in the music it's written there Andrew has
written everything into the music that you need so that's my quick story about
Phantom of the Opera and Music of the Night I know you guys are really really
interested in it if you have any more questions about you know what it's like
to sing Music at Night or my experience I'm sure it's different for all the
different guys John Owen Jones, Norm Lewis you know all those people you know
who have done the roles over years Howard McGillin, Hugh Panaro everybody
approaches it differently but we all have been given the same structure
that's what's kind of cool about it and I also think that's why Phantom has run
so long no matter who's doing the role there is a structure in which we have to
fit and we bring ourselves to that structure so it's always going to be
different because each performer is different but the structure is gonna be
the same you'll see the same movements basically you'll see the same blocking
you know it's worked all these years and as Hal Prince says you know what why not
keep it why change it it works right so that's my story of Music in the Night
guys oh just a reminder you can grab the CD Bring Me Giants on iTunes Music the
Right is right on there on the back along with some other great tunes if you
have any questions about Music of the Night put it down in there please
subscribe there's gonna be some more great videos coming out but I wanted to
hit this because it's the number one question I am asked so that's my brief
story on Music of the Night I hope you enjoyed it I'll talk to you real soon