Educational musical theatre course in July 2006. He has performed as
a feature singer in the 30th anniversary gala of Side by Side by
Sondheim and also danced in the World War II 60th anniversary
Concert.
Matthiew played Billy in Angels and Kings, a new musical by Terry
Moss and has just returned from Zurixh were he has been appearing
in We will rock you. He is delighted to be maing his West End debut
in Phantom as Jeweller (Il Muto) and Raoul's cover.
Thank you dear Matthiew for your enthusiasm and this wonderful
interview.
Sandra - What has meant for your artistic career being part of the
Phantom of the Opera, Webber's musical?
Matthew - Well for me phantom is a really important show in my
life, it was one of the first musicals I had ever seen, my family and I
went to Edinburgh (Scotland) to see the touring cast. I feel in love
with it right away, and i remember saying to my mum, I wanna play
Raoul, not the phantom, Raoul, my mother still remembers this too as
she mentioned it to me the day i called her to let her know I got the
part.
For me, at my age, this is a tremendous honour to be part of this
show, and finally going on for Raoul Last night really made me
remember just how much i loved it. It's my first lead in a west end
show, all be it a cover but it means a lot to me.
Sandra - What are some of the aspects you have brought into your
interpretation of the Raoul?
Matthiew - I feel that I have brought youth into the character, I like
the way he is portrayed in Gaston Leroux's novel as the younger
weaker brother, and almost acts before thinking but acts with
passion. Thats what gets him into trouble.
Sandra - What scene/song of the Phantom musical is your favourite
and why.
Matthiew - I love the final lair, its the crowning moment for all 3
Raoul, Christine and the Phantom. It was my favourite point in
rehearsals and my favourite last night.
Sandra - Can you tell us a good anecdote of the show you remember ?
Matthiew - If you mean amusing things that have happened then I
have a few, one of the first nights I went on for my normal track (the
drummer) As I was playing the drum in masquerade I hit the drum
so hard my stick went flying into the air and landed at the back of the
stage, I of course had a had time trying to find it as I couldn't see
with my big drummers head on. Also last week one of the porters
(Poster of Hannibal) slammed the poster to the floor and the wooden
block shattered all over the stage. Very amusing. i hope that is what
you meant. lol
Sandra - What is it, in your opinion, that makes the show so
appealing?
Matthiew - Well its a twisted tale of romance, it has a dark desire
about it. You do really feel for the phantom at the end and completely
forget that he has killed 2 people that you know of. Its just intense
and gripping!
Sandra - What is your opinion about your character, Raoul, and the
other two main characters, the Phantom and Christine?
Matthiew - Raoul (the part I cover) is passionate man, he likes to get
things done correctly first time and wants people to know about it.
He reacts on impulse and in turn that becomes one of his down falls.
Christine is the original chorus girl turned opera lead, but she has
been mentally tampered with by a rather twisted man making her
believe that his is the things her father had been talking about all
those years. She is still young tho and very naive but the poor girl
had/ has a strong connection with her father and the phantom uses
that to his advantage.
As Raoul I'd say Christine was my everything.
Phantom needs help, plain and simple, he was bullied and tormented
as a child and that in turn sent him to a bad place, both mentally and
literally. You can't take it away from him that he is a genius but he
has crossed that insanity border.
At the end tho he does show a change of heart, the person he should
be. I feel for him.
Sandra - February 27th was your first night as Raoul, how was the
experience?
Matthiew - February 27th 2008 will stick with me for a long time, I
had the best experience. Thanks to Ramin and Robyn and all the
other guys in the cast, they really looked after me and I felt
welcomed. I loved every minute of it and i hope it get to do it again
soon.
Sandra - What role would you like to play some day?
Matthiew - Well for one I'd like to get on as raoul again, that was so
much fun. Em... I have a few, i would love to play the beast in Beauty
and the Beast, Chris in Miss Saigon and maybe some day the
phantom if I am lucky enough. The part I'd like to play the most is
Galileo in We will rock you, its very much me as a person. I can
relate.
Sandra - What's your favorite musical and why?
Matthiew - We will rock you, it was my first major job out of college,
It was a German production that I rehearsed in Koln and performed
in Zurich Switzerland which was gorgeous and I had a blast, I was
able to let loose and go wild and I love that!
Sandra - Can you tell us about your future projects?
Matthiew - I have no future projects at the minute, I'm doing a
charity concert for the children hospital (Great Ormand Street) at the
end of march but thats all i know so far.
Interview Copyright by Ladyghost.
