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A mom-and-pop musical production

Gary Mauer, who plays the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, knows one of his leading ladies well: She's his wife. Their kids tag along for the national tour, too.

By ROBERT HICKS
Published December 5, 2004

When Gary Mauer plays the title role in The Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical about a deformed genius who inhabits the bowels of the Paris Opera, he doesn't have to worry about his family back home in New Jersey. His wife, Elizabeth Southard, plays his leading lady, Christine Daae, during some performances, and the couple take their two young children with them.

"It's a lot of fun," Mauer said of working opposite his wife, who replaces Rebecca Pitcher at least twice a week in the role of the young dancer whom the Phantom transforms into the opera's star singer. "There's probably a chemistry that you can't create with any other actress. I don't want to bash my six-night leading lady. She's wonderful. I love working with Rebecca. We have a great time working together. But I'd be lying if I said there isn't something different and interesting about working with Beth."

Husband and wife agree there is "a glimmer in the eye" and "a trust" between them that gives them the freedom to be spontaneous on stage together in Phantom.

"Basically, my pleasure is that I get to be a full-time mom to my kids, yet I get to pursue what I've trained and love to do all my life," Southard said. "It's been really wonderful because we've been able to explore on stage. It's amazing to think that in front of 2,000 people we can take risks."

Mauer has played several roles in Phantom over the past decade, starting with a minor role in 1995. He then took on the part of Raoul, Daae's young suitor, on Broadway from 1996 to 1998 and again in 1999 and 2000. He took a few years off from the show, only to return to do ensemble work in 2003. After understudying for the Phantom role on Broadway last year, he won the job with the national touring production, which opens Wednesday at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

"As far as challenges go, nothing is greater than the role I am doing now," he said. "It's very difficult. It's exhausting physically. It's exhausting emotionally. Vocally, it's pretty tough. Yet the rewards are greater too, because there are great moments, great notes to sing. It's really a neat, fun role to do."

What appeals to him the most is the transformation of the Phantom, who starts out in control of the vast Paris Opera house, spiriting Christine through her dressing room mirror down into his lair in the catacombs. There he sings his haunting anthem, The Music of the Night. Later in the show, however, the Phantom realizes that his love for Christine will never be returned, and he becomes a monstrous figure unable to sustain his power.

Mauer, who studied musical theater at the University of Arizona, first fell in love with the music of Phantom's composer while working on the concert tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. But one of his first stage experiences was playing Jesus in Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar. He met his wife, who studied voice and music education at Ithaca College, while both performed in a cruise ship show called New York Honeymoon in 1991. They played opposite one another in Harold Prince's Showboat, then as Raoul and Christine on Broadway and now in the touring Phantom.

But as often as he's performed the play, it never gets old, Mauer said.

"Every night you go out there, you're creating something fresh and new," he said. "Something that happens while you're going to work might help or hurt. Somebody cuts you off in their car and puts you in a really bad mood. That might really help your performance. Anything that broadens your mind and opens your perspectives can help you."

The Phantom of the Opera, Wednesday through Jan. 2, Carol Morsani Hall at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. $17.50-$75. 813 229-7827 or toll-free 1-800-955-1045; or www.tbpac.org

[Last modified December 2, 2004, 10:00:11]