"The Phantom of the Opera" closed 10 months ago in Los Angeles, but Dale Kristien is just now realizing how she spent her life during the course of the show - in a fog.
It's still a bit hard to swallow, the fact that she played Christine Daae more than 1,700 times - nine months on Broadway before the four-year-plus run in Los Angeles."It's taken me a long time to realize what I did . . . the bigness of it, the scope of it," Kristien said.
But "Phantom," which was the longest-running musical and top-selling stage show ever in Los Angeles, finally closed Aug. 29 and Kristien was left with the inevitable question: What now?
An album certainly was in order; after all, fellow actor Michael Crawford went on to record show tunes from "Phantom" and other musicals. But Kristien had a problem: no money.
Fortunately, the fact that many theatergoers saw the Andrew Lloyd Webber production more than once served as Kristien's saving grace. A marketing man from Utah who hosted some 40 trips to the musical for Morris Air was so enamored of Kristien that, out of the blue, he and his wife offered to pay for her first album.
"We wanted to get into the record business. We felt that Dale just had a beautiful voice, and she has never done an album. We felt she was overlooked," said Neal Davis, who lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Sandy.
"Obviously the star was Phantom himself, but Dale was such a workhorse doing it. We were impressed by what she had been able to accomplish."
The result was "The Beauty of Broadway," a collection of show tunes handpicked by Kristien and recorded live in front of an orchestra. Besides a hodgepodge of songs from "Peter Pan," "She Loves Me" and "Candide," Kristien also included "All I Ask of You" and "Think of Me" from Lloyd Webber's melodramatic musical about a disfigured man and his impossible love for a lovely opera performer.
And yes, the latter recording includes the sustained C note that made Kristien so popular with the show's fans - but not so popular with the "Phantom" brass.
"The New York folks told me to cut it and keep it short," she said of the first song she sang in the musical. "I guess it's not artistically the right choice to hold it forever, but I can hold it that long and the audience, as I understand it, loved it."
Her ability to sustain the note was just one reason why Kristien earned the nickname "the Rock" from cast mates. Kristien holds the distinction of playing Christine longer than anyone - including Lloyd Webber's ex-wife, Sarah Brightman, who opened the role in London and on Broadway.
Kristien performed the role eight times a week while other productions split the task between two actresses.
"He (Lloyd Webber) thought it was a difficult role to sing and it would hurt somebody's voice," said Kristien, who first studied music at Ithaca College in New York. "I told him it's a beautifully written piece of work, and I feel I had a vocal workout."
What's more, Kristien said she never followed some strict regimen to maintain her angelic sound. She would sip Pepsis and water between scenes, and always had a beer after each night's performance. Days, she would wake up about noon and take a 5 p.m. "diva nap" before heading to the theater. She rarely went out socially.
"I look at interviews of other people who talk about doing a show, how tired they are, how they think of other things on stage," Kristien said. "I've never been on stage thinking about my laundry list.
"I never went on that stage feeling bored or too tired or what. It's thrilling, I just loved it. I loved doing it."
And the Davises loved watching it. Neal Davis recalls the time he first hosted a trip to Los Angeles - something he originally regarded as a chore because he wasn't particularly taken by the idea of seeing a musical.
"It was something about the word `opera' that I thought it wasn't going to be that good," said Davis of the musical that ultimately sold nearly 3.5 million tickets and grossed close to $155 million.
"But it was one of those things that just changes your life. I was just overwhelmed by it. I started putting my name on a majority of the tours," he said.
The Davises already have distributed 10,000 copies of the album - it's available in Virgin Records stores while ads are running in the Performing Arts magazine distributed at most major theaters. The couple also plans to produce a 90-second commercial that will eventually air nationwide.
Kristien, who is single, is preparing for her next gig: She will sing with the Burbank Symphony - her hometown orchestra - on July 9 at the Starlight Amphitheatre. She's in no hurry to sing in another stage musical.
"I did 1,700 performances of `Phantom,' and nothing will match that. But that's OK," said Kristien, who also appeared on TV's "Days of Our Lives" for two years and on "Knots Landing."
"I think this concert thing is another avenue, and I don't think I'm ready to go back to the stage . . . unless of course it's for `Phantom.' "
- MORE "PHANTOM" NOTES . . .
- The L.A. company of "Phantom of the Opera," moved on to San Francisco for an open-ended run at the Curren Theatre, but a second company will be moving into the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles in January, according to Neal Davis.
Davis, in a brief interview at the Deseret News on Thursday, said there's a possibility that Dale Kristsien will join the new Los Angeles production.
He added that the next Prima Records project may involve bringing Kristien's former "Phantom" co-star - Davis Gaines - to Utah for a recording showcasing his talents.
As a sales/marketing director for Morris Air, Neal Davis noted that more than 10,000 people traveled from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles on "Phantom of the Opera" tours and Gaines has built up a strong local following.
- TheaterWeek Magazine's latest edition includes a review of "The Beauty of Broadway" by critic Ken Mandelbaum.
"Kristien has a sizable, silvery soprano with an attractive vibrato; her singing has more coloration than that of certain other singers in her category. Accompanied by a large orchestra, this is a lush, very pretty set, and, because it preserves the numbers of a major stage Christine, probably required for `Phantom' collectors," he wrote.
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Additional Information
`Broadway' is made-in-Utah recording
Neal B. Davis, Salt Lake-based executive producer of Dale Kristien's new Prima recording of "The Beauty of Broadway," said Utah musicians and a local children's chorus were utilized during the recording sessions - done over a three-day period the first week of March at the L.A. East Studios in Salt Lake City.
It was recorded live direct to two-track, which creates a more realistic and emotional sound - more like an actual concert than a normal "studio" sound. Some of the cuts took two or three takes, but "All I Ask of You" required 15 takes before Kristien was satisfied with the results.
Davis said the album is currently in stores in Southern California and hopes to have it available shortly in Utah. Those interested in obtaining the the recording can call 1-800-820-4133.
The Davises (Neal and wife Sandy) are producing a concert July 9 at the Starlight Amphitheatre in Burbank, Calif., to mark the debut of the new album, with a possible concert in Salt Lake City later this fall once a venue can be found.
- Ivan M. Lincoln