Post by Talissa on Oct 25, 2004 12:23:35 GMT 11
I'm certain I posted about Jarrod Carland and Jacki Rees being in the tour as Raoul and Giry before, but don't remember where, so a new thread for this article that was in the Herald Sun on Sunday.
When Jarrod Carland was 15, his grandmother took him to see Phantom of the Opera and he saw his future onstage.
"I literally discovered what I wanted to do while I was sitting in my seat watching the show," Carland said.
"It's as grand a production as you are ever going to see."
As fate would have it, Carland, who grew up in Essendon, has fulfilled his dream.
Not only has he entered the big league of musical theatre, but he has been cast to play the leading role of police inspector Raoul on the Asian tour of Phantom of the Opera.
"It has always specifically been Raoul who I wanted to play and now, as I'm getting older, I'm very drawn to the Phantom as well," he said.
"Luckily, in this production I get to play them both."
Carland will also be the Phantom understudy, with a view to eventually taking over the role from American theatre star Brad Little.
The Asian leg of the world tour starts in Shanghai in November and will see Carland performing eight shows a week for the next two years.
He is in fine company, joined by the same actor who played Christine on Broadway, Marni Raab, while the directors have all worked on the show at both West End and Broadway.
"It's a major role for me and feels like my big break," he said.
"Everything I've been doing has led to this point, so it means a lot."
Yet in so many ways, arts is an unusual destiny for Carland, who went to St Bernard's College in Essendon, a school more renowned for producing AFL footballers. He played the game, but not with any enthusiasm.
As soon as he finished Year 12, he set about training the voice he always knew was there by taking professional singing lessons with an opera singer.
The early part of his career was in opera, working with both the Victoria State Opera and Opera Australia until the lights of musical theatre beckoned once again.
"I found opera was just singing and I wanted more than that," he said.
When he graduated from Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts music theatre course in 2000, he worked as a straight repertory actor and did not sing until he was offered the role of Munkustrap on the Asian tour of Cats.
His career path is remarkably similar to that of his hero, Anthony Warlow, in combining opera with acting and musical theatre.
"He is the first, and only, one I have ever seen to the show and they don't get any better," he said. "He would be my role model. The thing about Phantom is that it's a classical singer's dream because you can utilise all of your technique, but there's so much acting in it as well."
Carland believes the phenomenal success of the show, which is expected to make $4.5 million in China alone, is due to this perfect combination of drama and song.
"It incorporates every aspect of what makes music theatre what it is. When you go into that theatre, you enter a different world with a beautiful lake and a grand staircase," he said. "It is spectacle with an underlying emotional story and amazing, heart-wrenching characters."
"I literally discovered what I wanted to do while I was sitting in my seat watching the show," Carland said.
"It's as grand a production as you are ever going to see."
As fate would have it, Carland, who grew up in Essendon, has fulfilled his dream.
Not only has he entered the big league of musical theatre, but he has been cast to play the leading role of police inspector Raoul on the Asian tour of Phantom of the Opera.
"It has always specifically been Raoul who I wanted to play and now, as I'm getting older, I'm very drawn to the Phantom as well," he said.
"Luckily, in this production I get to play them both."
Carland will also be the Phantom understudy, with a view to eventually taking over the role from American theatre star Brad Little.
The Asian leg of the world tour starts in Shanghai in November and will see Carland performing eight shows a week for the next two years.
He is in fine company, joined by the same actor who played Christine on Broadway, Marni Raab, while the directors have all worked on the show at both West End and Broadway.
"It's a major role for me and feels like my big break," he said.
"Everything I've been doing has led to this point, so it means a lot."
Yet in so many ways, arts is an unusual destiny for Carland, who went to St Bernard's College in Essendon, a school more renowned for producing AFL footballers. He played the game, but not with any enthusiasm.
As soon as he finished Year 12, he set about training the voice he always knew was there by taking professional singing lessons with an opera singer.
The early part of his career was in opera, working with both the Victoria State Opera and Opera Australia until the lights of musical theatre beckoned once again.
"I found opera was just singing and I wanted more than that," he said.
When he graduated from Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts music theatre course in 2000, he worked as a straight repertory actor and did not sing until he was offered the role of Munkustrap on the Asian tour of Cats.
His career path is remarkably similar to that of his hero, Anthony Warlow, in combining opera with acting and musical theatre.
"He is the first, and only, one I have ever seen to the show and they don't get any better," he said. "He would be my role model. The thing about Phantom is that it's a classical singer's dream because you can utilise all of your technique, but there's so much acting in it as well."
Carland believes the phenomenal success of the show, which is expected to make $4.5 million in China alone, is due to this perfect combination of drama and song.
"It incorporates every aspect of what makes music theatre what it is. When you go into that theatre, you enter a different world with a beautiful lake and a grand staircase," he said. "It is spectacle with an underlying emotional story and amazing, heart-wrenching characters."