Jen Bates (BBO)
The classic Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera is continuing its tour across North America — will will run until February 2020 — and is currently taking up residence at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre for the next two weeks. If you have not yet seen this spectacular new production of the show — and don’t worry, the original classic production is still playing unchanged on Broadway — it is definitely a must see for fans and neophytes alike. The touring show retains the same story, music and costumes and wraps it up in a completely re-staged production that is eye-popping.
Hotchka recently had the pleasure to chat with Emma Grimsley, who is playing the role of the Phantom’s beloved obsession Christine Daaé. Emma and the cast were on a break after performing in Hawaii, a location that required some major assistance getting from the mainland to the islands and back. Phantom is a huge tour, the third largest tour currently on the road, with 20 semi-trucks moving the scenery, props, costumes and other accouterments from location to location. To get to Hawaii, everything had to be loaded on a ship, off loaded in Hawaii and packed and loaded again for the return trip to get to the next location which was Fort Worth. And then it was a four-day trip from the closing in Texas to the opening night in Baltimore. Luckily for this production there was no blizzard the day the trucks arrived in Baltimore as there was back in 2016.
Ms. Grimsley was taking some time to spend with her family in New Orleans on her break before the Fort Worth engagement when we had a chance to speak with her by telephone.
— CD:Hello, Emma. Thank you for talking with us. How long have you been with this leg of the tour?
★ EG: I just had my second anniversary with the tour. Up until August 19, I was the alternate Christine, I did two shows a week. The actor who plays the part does six of the eight shows a week just because it’s a really demanding role, and back in the day that was how Sarah Brightman’s contract was written. So it’s sort of been passed down to every Christine after that. So the alternate does two shows a week, whichever days the principal Christine decides to take off. And that was my job for two years. And starting this past August I was moved up to the principal Christine and Baltimore will be my third city in that capacity.
— CD:I have one question for you that I have been asked to ask you. First, how did you get the role? Was there an audition process or did someone see you in another show and say ‘that’s our Christine’?
★ EG: The process is different for everybody, but I had a different journey with the process. Mine was two years and six auditions long. I had my managers in New York, and they saw that there was a position opening up on the national tour, which was way back in like 2015. And so I they had me make a tape. I wasn’t even in New York. I was in Seattle doing it during a show. And I threw together this tape in like 24 hours. That’s not too bad. They called me in, so I flew out a few days later and did my first audition. Then it was six auditions later that I that I booked the show. So there were these sort of different windows of opportunity opening, definitely like building a relationship with me, with the creatives that run the show. So it was a long journey.
— CD:Okay. So now the question I’ve been asked to ask — from the minute they say you’re hired to the first time you step foot on stage, how long is that process?
★ EG: Oh, you know, that’s interesting. That’s also different for everybody. It’s sort of based on when you’re hired, who you’re replacing, where the opening is happening. The person I was replacing had given them lots of notice, so I had like a month and a half before I even started rehearsal. So I had plenty of time to prepare myself to like pack up, you know, get someone to take over my lease because I was leaving New York. And my friend Herb Porter, who is also on this tour, we came in at the same time but he had like five days to prepare for the show. The person he was replacing gave them much less notice, so it was a whirlwind for him but I had a lot of time to prepare. When you show up to tour, depending on which role you’re going in for, if you’re going in for one of the big ones you have about a month of rehearsal. So you’ll be out, you know, you’ll meet everybody. And while they’re doing the show, you’re in a rehearsal room learning how to do the show. And so it was about a month and a half after I found out that I showed up for my first day at work. And then about a month after that that I did my first performance.
— CD:So that doesn’t seem like a lot of time for a show that’s as huge as this with all the moving set pieces and no dialogue, you’re just singing the entire time.
★ EG: That is a lot of material. And it’s also like, you know, for me it was I’ve never done a show of this scale because it really is spectacular to look at and to be a part of it. Lots of moving pieces. Lots of excitement. So it’s sort of you go into survival mode a little bit. I have to remember when to go stage left or right now or else I’ll get set on fire, you know. Not really. Not that, but I could get hit by a moving part of the set. You feel like something big may come by. It’s like a lot of safety precautions. You’re learning all that at the same time as learning, you know, things about the character that you need to know. It’s a lot to know.
— CD:Yeah, I saw the tour of Phantom back in the 90s at the Kennedy Center and it’s much, much different than this tour. The new staging is so different. Back then I thought it was just an okay show but when I saw the tour in 2016 with the new staging, it became one of my most favorite shows ever.
★ EG: It’s pretty special and I’m really proud of it.
— CD:And one of the coolest things in this production is that wall. When you’re doing the ‘Phantom’ number and Christine and the Phantom are at the top of the wall and then that staircase begins to come out of the wall is amazing. It’s not there when the door first opens and I was wondering how you were going to get thirty feet down to the stage. And then I saw the steps extending and it was really cool. But it seems scary too because there’s no railing or anything for you to hold on to.
★ EG: Yes, it’s very scary.
— CD:Have you had any mishaps on the wall?
★ EG: No, thank goodness. It’s fascinating, the technology they use. The steps are controlled by Bluetooth, which is really neat. We have a day when you’re learning the part and you go out in your yoga clothes and make sure you know without the big dress and the shoes to get a feel for what it’s going to be like. And our Phantom, Derrick Davis, is one of my favorite people on the planet … but he isn’t a huge fan of heights. It’s not his favorite part of the show to do. But you get used to it. It comes in waves for me. There are times when I feel really confident on the wall, and there are times when it will strike me that I’m pretty high off the stage and it’s a little bit scarier. But luckily we have little finger holes, places for your fingers to hold the wall to keep you secure.
— CD:That’s nice because I know you start to come down the wall but then you turn and want to go back up and the steps have already gone back into the wall.
★ EG: Oh yeah. The good part about that is that the steps are sensitive to weight so they’ll never go in when you’re standing on them. They could go in before you reach the bottom but I’ve never heard of that happening. I don’t think anyone has gotten stranded in the middle of the wall. But it is outfitted to make sure nobody’s going to be sucked into the wall.
— CD:You’re not going to get stuck midway like people have on roller coasters in the middle of a loop.
★ EG: Right, right.
— CD:It is one of the coolest things though. When I first saw the show, after that I was like I need to see this again.
★ EG: Yeah, that’s how I felt the first time. I think back to my first day at work back in 2017, my first time seeing the show. That was a really exciting day, sort of getting introduced to it with the knowledge that I was going to get to be a part of something so magical.
Matthew Murphy
— CD:Okay, I was going to ask if you’d been a fan of the show prior to getting the part.
★ EG: Yeah, I wasn’t super familiar with it. I mean, there’s the 25th anniversary that was on TV and that’s really fantastic. I had seen that many years earlier but I had never been to see the show before in a theatre. So that was really cool to sort of get handed my ticket, and they said hey, hope you like the show, this is what you’re going to be a part of. And I absolutely fell in love.
— CD:So now that you’re playing Christine, what’s your favorite part about the role and what’s your favorite song to sing?
★ EG: That’s a great question. My favorite part about the role … I guess my favorite part about her is that every night I get to go out there, I get to go on this journey with her that really ends up, you know, it’s so much about her relationship with the Phantom but it’s also a lot about her figuring out who she’s gonna be. At the top of the show, her dad’s been dead for a few years and she hasn’t been sort of dealing with it very well. And it’s a journey of self-discovery, the journey of letting go of grief, so getting to sort of grow up with her every night is really fantastic. She’s a super cool lady. I really enjoy everything she’s taught me since since taking the part.
My favorite song … that changes often. It’s always fun to sing ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again’, and the fact that it is sort of a major turning point in her journey with the grief of losing her dad. That and ‘Past the Point of No Return’. It comes a little later in the show and it’s really fun too because it’s the first face-off moment she gets to have with the Phantom, and the energy between the two of them has been building up so that’s really, really fun.
— CD:When I see a show I like the big shows with the big casts and costumes and sets and dancing. That is just everything I want in a show, and that’s why I think I like this one so much. I love the ‘Masquerade’ number because everyone’s on stage singing together. Everyone’s voices together like that sometimes just moves me to tears because it’s so beautiful hearing everyone singing together like that.
★ EG: It’s my favorite too. It was the first thing I saw on my first day at work with Phantom. When we arrive in a city we do a sound check and everybody puts their microphones on and comes out on stage. And that’s the really big group number of the show. So that’s a good way for them to test everybody’s mic level in the new house. And so my first day of work, I wasn’t in the show yet so I just sat up in the house and watched the sound check and ‘Masquerade’ was what they did. It’s very powerful hearing everybody singing at once. And that number in particular is great because Act I is such a roller coaster. ‘Masquerade’ is the very first thing we do at the beginning of Act II so you don’t waste any time getting back into the grandeur and excitement of the show.
— CD:For you though, you’re in the show how many nights a week?
★ EG: I’m in the show six nights a week.
— CD:Since this is an all-singing role, it must be really taxing on your voice. So what do you do to keep that tone smooth and not getting raspy? Do you have those times when you’re just like ‘I can’t talk today’?
★ EG: Absolutely. This is part of it. It’s just sort of keeping tabs on your energy level. There are some people in the company who are really great at seeing everything and doing everything when we visit a city, and I’m not necessarily one of those people because if I’m not at work I’m trying to chill a little bit. There’s a lot of physical energy to get through, you know, to carry that around the stage. Like we spend a lot of time running. We’re always running from somebody or toward somebody so it’s a big cardio show. But vocally, yeah, it’s about keeping yourself healthy. Luckily, years of training before taking this role helped me know how to treat my voice kindly along the way so that it does still have something left to give me by the end of the week.
— CD:Lots of tea and honey?
★ EG: Lots of tea and honey, lots of Vitamin C supplements to keep the immune system up. Lots of steam, steam is great. Just inhaling steam will keep your core flexible and ready to go.
— CD:Like you said, it’s a very physical show, and I know you have some really fantastic costumes in the show too. Christine wears some things that look really heavy. How many costume changes do you have, and what is the heaviest thing you have to wear?
★ EG: Oh, that’s a good question. These costumes are so spectacular. So when they did this new take on Phantom that we have on the road right now, the ‘Spectacular New Production’ as we call it, the one that you’ve seen, obviously they’ve kept the music and the lyrics, it’s still the same show, and they kept the costumes. They made the choice to stick with Maria Björnson’s Tony Award winning costumes, the version from the 80s, so the stuff that we’re wearing is pretty much the same stuff that they’re wearing on Broadway because those costumes have become so much a part of the story in people’s hearts and minds, so it was definitely having that costume fitting and putting on those dresses, looking like, oh my gosh, they’re not only beautiful but they have that legacy. It was really, really exciting. But yeah, they are very heavy.
How many costume changes do I have? I think I have seven, let me count them in my head … I have one … it sort of depends because sometime you just add pieces throughout the show on stage but that doesn’t necessarily count as a change. I have two on stage changes, and then one, two, three, four, five, six, seven … seven big major costumes and our fastest change is about 27 seconds long.
— CD:I was going to ask if you had a quick change.
★ EG: Yeah, most of them are quick changes. Christine gets one break in the show and it’s about eight to ten minutes, so you get a chance to have a drink of water and sit down for a second and then you’re right back out there.
— CD:So for people who may be familiar with the Broadway version, what do you tell them about this show that makes it different from what they may already be familiar with?
★ EG: I think what’s exciting about coming to see this version is that it is absolutely the same story that people have fallen in love with. It’s the same music that you’re so familiar with that is a part of the cultural idea of musical theater since the 80s. It’s all of that. It’s as I mentioned, it’s the costumes that have become such a part of the show’s history. But it’s a little bit more. It’s a little bit darker of a take. You get to … how do you say it … there’s room for us to really sort of get to know these people that we follow along, so you find yourself wondering, you know, how the Phantom ended up where he was, what is it that’s been motivating Christine, why their relationship is so important to each other. So it’s very character motivated.
And that itself is using all of the contemporary theater technology that we have now that we didn’t necessarily have in the 80s to tell the story and to evoke the feelings of what it might have felt like to be in the, you know, backstage world of an opera house in the late 1800s. It gives you that the technical, the sort of technical theatre majesty stuff that has come with the developments that we’ve made in those intervening years. And it also allows you to take a little bit deeper, slower look at who these people actually are and how they interact with each other.
— CD:Well now that you’ve been through this whole experience, what does playing the role of Christine mean to you?
★ EG: Oh, it means so much on a on a personal level. You know, like I said, she’s a model of bravery and growth. She is somebody who figures out who she is in the course of a lot of really hard, scary stuff and that, you know, that I keep close to my heart all the time, because that’s the goal, to be able to discover things about yourself through times that are difficult. So I love that about her. And also just tapping into the legacy of the part in the way that people love her as an icon. It’s been really cool to see the way, you know, meeting people at the stage door who tell you that she’s been their favorite character for 20 years and hoping that you can do her justice for them.
— CD:Yeah, I guess a lot of the fans feel that they almost have ownership of the character at this point.
★ EG: I mean, they do and that’s the beautiful thing about theater, is that everybody built their own relationship with this story. So it’s the exciting part of getting to bring it to people who’ve seen it before. It’s also very exciting to bring this to people who’ve never seen it before because they’re building that first impression with it. And, you know, it’s a responsibility too because it is something that people love so dearly. But one that I absolutely cherish.
— CD:How long are you contracted to be with the show?
★ EG: The Phantom tour is going on through February 2, that will be our last show in Toronto. So we have about, I think, five more months and I’ll be with it through the end, I’ll be with it through the closing.
— CD:Oh, well I hope it comes back.
★ EG: Me too. Me too. You know we have our sort of nicknames for the two. ‘The brilliant original’ is absolutely the brilliant original, and we call this guy ‘The spectacular new production’ and it really is spectacular.
— CD:It definitely is. So what would you tell somebody who has never seen the show and might be considering it but they think it’s just all singing and a ghost story … what would you tell those people to say hey, come and see this, give it a shot?
★ EG: I think I would say that there is absolutely something to the hype. There’s a reason why it’s been so loved for so long. And then I think that that’s because it is absolutely like a larger than life experience, sort of tapping into the world in the early 1800s, like what a time. But it tells a very basic human story that everyone can relate with on some level of figuring out love when you’re young and figuring out compassion and figuring out feelings of of ostracism and being alone. You know, it’s very universal. It’s so loved because the themes in it are so easy to connect with.
— CD:And and I’ll give you one final question here. What what message do you have for the really hardcore, devoted Phantom Phans?
★ EG: First of all, thank you. It’s a really wonderful job to have. I’m grateful for it every day. And it has been one of the most exciting chapters in my life. But it’s also, it can be really hard. It can be. You know, there are moments where you look around at your colleagues and it’s been a long week or, you know, you’ve just been traveling. You know, we go city to city to city. So there’s a lot of you know … we live on the road. So it’s a lot of travel, it’s a lot of time away from loved ones. It can be a tough go sometimes. And the love and affection and enthusiasm from the die-hard fans, it really does buoy us, it keeps us going. So thank you, thank you for that is what I would say and also I can’t wait to see them because, you know, the people who come back again and again, they’re true fans with a P-H, as we would call them.
— CD:You like meeting everybody at the stage door?
★ EG: It’s fantastic! That’s one of the best parts of the night because, you know, you’ve just shared an experience with these people and we’re feeling the same things that they’re feeling, too. That’s why it’s different from going to the movies. Everybody’s in the room feeling it at the same time, so getting some sort of connection with the people that you just shared a whole journey with is really, really cool. Yeah, I love that part of it.
— CD:Well I am really looking forward to seeing you in the role. I was so excited when I heard Phantom was coming back to town so I am really looking forward to seeing the show again, and you as Christine.
★ EG: Thanks so much. It’s so nice to chat with you.
— CD:We’ll see you soon! Thank you very much.
The Phantom of the Opera plays at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre through October 20. The tour will travel to Lincoln NE, Denver CO, Minneapolis MN, Appleton WI, Chicago IL, and Toronto.
The Really Useful Company
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
Share this post
