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Concert Choir Performs With Broadway's "Phantom" |
MASON CITY — The Mason City High School Concert Choir rehearsed music from “The Phantom of the Opera” Thursday —with the Phantom himself.
Franc D’Ambrosio, who played the Phantom for 2,600 performances — the longest run in the history of the role — not only worked with the students on the music they would sing together during a concert Friday night at the North Iowa Community Auditorium, but also answered their questions about being a professional singer.
He said wanting to perform for a living isn’t enough: you have to need to do it.
D’Ambrosio grew up in the part of New York City known as Hell’s Kitchen.
“It lived up to its name at that time,” he said.
D’Ambrosio later received classical music training in Italy, but fell in love with musical theater when he was in a production of “Sweeney Todd.”
He said when you play a part for as long as he played the Phantom, you have to allow the role to grow continuously.
In the case of a role like the Phantom, you have to find things you like about that character, he said.
“He’s a grotesque guy who murders people,” he said.
D’Ambrosio said he had to pretend to be the Phantom’s defense attorney and find justifications for his actions.
At the beginning of his run as the Phantom, it took two and a half hours to get his makeup on before a performance.
While the students were rehearsing, he told them to think about what the characters from the musical were trying to say through song.
“Listen to each other,” he said. “Be those characters.”
D’Ambrosio sang “The Music of the Night” once all the way through by himself, facing the choir. The students broke into applause when he finished.
“It was breathtaking,” said junior Louis Blackmore.
“You become part of the music when you watch him perform,” said senior Anna Fewins.
Senior Jonathon Boyle said singing with D’Ambrosio was “an absolutely amazing experience.”
Boyle also said they learned a lot from him, noting he talked about how silence is just as much a part of music as the notes being sung.
After the two-hour official session was over, D’Amborsio stayed to work with individual students who wanted to sing duets and solos for him.
by Mary Pieper for The Globe Gazette
(This story was published April 07, 2011)
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