This week, Her Campus Exeter caught up with Footlights to discuss their upcoming production of Phantom of the Opera…
Beth Cowley, Christine Daae; Eoin McAndrew, Phantom; Fred Wheadon, Raoul; Abi Clarke, Choreographer.
How does it feel to be the principals in one of the most popular performances in the world?
FRED: Awesome, really amazing!
EOIN: Very scary.
BETH: Yeah it is terrifying, I cried. A lot. In a good way, but I did cry.
Are you taking inspiration from other performances, the films, or making this show entirely your own?
ABI: You do draw from the shows. I watched the 25th anniversary, you’ve got to, it is hard to do it just from the script so I do watch clips. But I do try to make it my own, you’ve got to play to people’s strengths, but also we are putting in lifts because we do not have the staircase and stuff like that. But there is no harm in taking stuff, if it is good then use it.
How much preparation did you do before your auditions?
BETH: I was really stressed because I really love the show, and I really loved the part, so I wanted it. I was doing quite a lot of practice, and coming along to all the dance workshops to make sure I was not completely uncoordinated. Going into auditions I did quite a bit of practice with songs.
FRED: I will be honest, I watched the film the night before. Actually, no! It was the night before callbacks, at about half past midnight, I got half way through it and fell asleep. That was my preparation!
Due to the intense nature of your roles, do you have a routine or strict diet?
EOIN: I think we are not allowed to drink for quite a while before hand – that is really the main thing.
Tell us a bit about your rehearsal process.
ABI: Rehearsals are basically every day, two dance ones a week, two singing – solo and ensemble – and the rest are acting. It is every day for the leads, three times a week for ensemble. We do warm ups before every one and then just get on with it. We did a workshop recently in cheerleading to learn how to do safe lifts so we got some of the cheer girls in which was nice and helpful. It is pretty much warm up at the start then get straight into it. I make them run laps for every minute they are late, so they get there on time.
EOIN: For singing we have to do sit ups or press ups.
On the choreography side, there is a lot of ballet and you also have the big Masquerade scene, so how are you approaching that?
ABI: So we have 6 really nice girls who are our ballet girls, they all had quite intense auditions where they had to do Pointe and stuff. I have kind of worked with them on the choreography side, trying to play to everyone’s strengths, and we all get on really well, there is a nice little community there. And then Masquerade, it is kind of filling the stage and making it look really busy. It is looking quite good at the moment, I am really happy with it. We have put levels in, obviously because we do not have the staircase, so we are basically just going for a showstopper.
Are you using prosthetics or makeup for the Phantom?
EOIN: I think it is makeup, but it is in different parts so that I can sing properly with it. It is kind of like islands on my face! Scarring and stuff, twisted lip, things like that.
What are your hopes for the reception of the show here at the university?
ABI: I think people are really excited about it because it is such a big name. That is one of the reasons for choosing it, because we were pretty confident it would sell out. Everyone knows it! We are hoping it will not just be people from the university, we would like families and the public to come along as well.
EOIN: There is a reason so many people love it! It is just a really good show and it is exciting to watch. If people came to see it, they would have a really good time.
What would you like Her Campus readers to know about your show?
ABI: It is going to be a really exciting production! We did our first stagger through of Act 1 and I was impressed, I had been worried when we chose it about taking on such a huge thing, and it is quite specialized, especially with things like the ballet. I think we are really pulling it off, especially with a big ensemble who are all so talented, so it sounds amazing. It is just up to me to make it look amazing now!
EOIN: I think it will be funnier than people expect it to be, and a bit scarier. It is a nice balance.
BETH: It is a show that everyone cares about a lot and that will be reflected in the actual performances. There is a lot of passion in the show and people want it to be really good and that will make it exceptional.
ABI: And hopefully we will put our own twist on it, there are already bits which are different, it has got our spin on things, so it will not just be a clone of the West End show.
BETH: There are different interpretations of the songs and things like that which are good.
EOIN: Like my thick Northern Irish accent!
Footlights Phantom of the Opera will be at the Northcott Theatre 27th-30th January 2016, so make sure to grab a ticket and enjoy the show!