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  • 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

  • rigging 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 has 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 time 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 mid 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

Hey there I'm James Barbour thank you for tuning into my channel

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