Friday, October 10, 1997
Behind the mask of Bohmer, the Phantom
THEATER:
By Stephanie Sheh
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
There are certain roles that an actor would just kill to play.
Thanks to the prevalence of revivals and long tours in the theater
world, actors have the opportunity to replay choice roles, bringing
their own personal flair to each part.
For about five weeks, Ron Bohmer has been showing the world his
own version of "The Phantom of the Opera." On Wednesday, he will
open the popular show at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. And
he’s having a wonderful time connecting with the part. But with
Bohmer’s pervious feelings about the show, this might not have been
the case.
"It’s funny. I had an odd relationship with the show
previously," Bohmer confesses. "There were things I liked about it
and there were other things that I didn’t like about it. And once I
started working on the character, it sort of came to me what I
thought was missing and what I thought I could bring to it which
was really making the Phantom someone that you’re actually able to
connect with and care about."
To accomplish this, Bohmer did his homework. He read Gaston
Leroux’s novel on which the musical was based. Leroux begins the
novel by describing, through people’s reactions to him, the Phantom
as a spirit or something larger than life.
"During the second half of the book, he systematically breaks
down everything that he’s done and reveals to you that not only is
this a man who’s doing all of this, but a very heartbroken and
lonely man who has lived his entire life without any kind of human
kindness or love," Bohmer says.
And it is exactly this kind of emotional tension that fuels
great love for this show. Producer Cameron Mackintosh, who also
produces big musicals such as "Miss Saigon," "Les Miserable" and
"Cats," told the Washington Post last year, "One of the reasons you
do musicals is for their sheer theatricality. It’s why the theater
is surviving, when all you have to do these days is stay at home
and press a button to be entertained. People want that sense of
being taken on an emotional roller-coaster ride. They want a
buzz."
And the world just keeps buzzing and buzzing and buzzing.
"Phantom of the Opera" opened in January 1977 and is currently the
seventh longest-running musical in Broadway history.
"The one thing … that is a relief to you is that you know that
the seats will be filled regardless of what you do up there,
because people love the show," Bohmer says. "What is somewhat
daunting about it is that there have been several great
performances of it."
However, Bohmer says that the creative team working on "Phantom"
has been very supportive. They did not want Bohmer to be a carbon
copy of another performer. They told Bohmer that they hired him
because during his audition, Bohmer showed them things that they
had never seen before and that they would like to share that with
the audience.
One thing that may be new for audiences is the sexuality that
Bohmer brings to the Phantom.
"When I saw the show for the first time, I saw tremendous
potential for sexuality on the stage," Bohmer says. "This is an
incredibly sexy character who is innately sexual but who has never
had an outlet for it and it comes out in his connection with
Christine and his connection with his music. And I think one of the
most rewarding things for the audiences in L.A. is going to be the
connection between Sandra Joseph (Christine) and I, because it gets
hot up there, let me tell you."
Still, it’s hard to keep the same role fresh night after night.
As is, he is signed on to play the masked tormented soul for nine
weeks. But it shouldn’t be a problem. Bohmer had long runs as Joe
Gillis in "Sunset Boulevard" and Alex in "Aspects of Love" in
addition to numerous other roles.
"I learned an old trick which has always really helped me with
(keeping this fresh)," Bohmer says. "You set everything that you
want to do and you sort of get the map of your character and then
within you should always leave about 20 percent absolutely to the
unexpected."
Another difficult aspect of this show is the sheer technicality
of it. "Phantom" is a technical monster. The infamous falling
chandelier weighs 1,000 pounds. There are 36 performers, 11
mannequins, 60 crew members, and 37 scenery and electrical-system
operators.
"I make a point of it to always make sure that you know
everybody that’s on your crew, that you’re on a first-name basis
with as many of them as possible," Bohmer says. "Ultimately, my job
is to play the Phantom of the Opera, but there are a lot of people
responsible for making the magic that everybody sees … There’s a
lot of technical stuff, but what ultimately holds the audience with
this show is the music and the intensity of the passion that is on
that stage."
The show has the Phantom scaling walls, disappearing and
shooting flames. It also has Bohmer sitting in a make-up chair for
nearly an hour before each show. To mold the actor into the hideous
Phantom, a make-up artist applies numerous latex pieces and paint
to Bohmer’s face. While the pieces and the process aren’t exactly
uncomfortable, the repercussions can be.
"One of the difficult things about the make-up is that you
rarely see anybody else in the play," Bohmer says. "You’re
constantly sort of going a different direction from them and you
don’t have that community feeling in the dressing room before the
show because you’re in the make-up room getting your thing done. It
can be a very lonely role to do, but I work very hard against
that."
Bohmer’s family has yet to see him perform in the role, but they
have seen him in make-up. And his two young daughters were a little
spooked by their father’s transformation. His two-year-old
constantly needed reassurance that the masked man was her dad.
"At one point I had the make-up on and they were leaving the
theater and I went to give her a kiss on her hand and she got
scared and pulled her hand away, which kind of broke my heart, but
again it kind of goes back to what this man goes through, spending
his entire life being just so hideously deformed," Bohmer says.
THEATER: "Phantom of the Opera’s" 13-week run previews this
weekend and opens Wednesday night at the Pantages Theatre. For
tickets, call 213-365-3555, or check the Internet at
http://www.ticketmaster.com.
The Really Useful Theatre Co. Inc.
Ron Bohmer plays the Phantom alongside Sandra Joseph as
Christine in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical "The Phantom of the
Opera." The show opens Wednesday at the Pantages Theatre.