An Interview with Las Vegas 'Phantom' Actor Patrick Leveque
By: BWW News Desk Dec. 19, 2006
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Interview with Patrick Leveque, of "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular"
By Carolyn Weaver
Patrick Leveque grew up in Mill Valley, California. He performed in several regional productions in the San Francisco area, they include: "Into the Woods," "Lady in the Dark," "Camelot," "Victor Victoria," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Oklahoma!" He has also performed as a soloist at Davies Symphony Hall.
He has a BA in Theater and in Music from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. He holds a Masters in Music from the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco, California.
Leveque is currently the Hairdresser/Marksman in the Las Vegas production of "Phantom" and also understudies the role of Raoul, Viscount de Chagny.
We were very fortunate to have been in the audience for one of his first performances of Raoul in 'Phantom." We thought, "What a great performer." I set out to find out about this young man as I feel he is one of theatre's up-and-coming young artists. I hope that we see more of him in Las Vegas, or wherever he goes in the future. His voice kept us wanting more, and he seemed very at ease in the role of Raoul. I decided to see if this young actor would like to have a chat with me about his career, his future plans and other things that brought him to Las Vegas.
CW: Welcome to Las Vegas Patrick, I hope you stay awhile and we can see more of you in the future. You seemed so at ease in the role, one would have thought you were doing it for a long time. I later found out that was your first time performing the role on stage before an audience.
CW: How did you get into performing?
PL: I got into performing, because at the age of 6 I started the piano. After I stopped practicing piano, on a regular basis, in high school I started singing in school musicals.
CW: How did you get into this show?
PL: By auditioning at the open call in Burbank, California
CW: Do you enjoy working in "Phantom"? What is it like working in this show?
PL: Yes, I enjoy working on "Phantom" very much. I grew up with this show and it is one of the reasons that I was interested in musical theater. Working on this new version in particular is very exciting and the cast and crew are wonderful...like a family.
CW: When did you see "Phantom," and where?
PL: I saw "Phantom" the first time in San Francisco about 10 years ago. Then I saw it again in New York City (on Broadway) in February 2005.
CW: I always wondered what it was like being an understudy. Not only do you have to learn your regular role, but that of the person you understudy. Then you must be ready to take over the lead's role, sometimes at a moments notice. Can you give us some insight into what that is like? Also, what problems have you had when going in for lead if any?
PL: Being an understudy is hard. One has to learn their regular show and at a moments notice switch to another role. For me it has been a tremendous learning experience. I am not a person who "multi-tasks" especially well. So this has been a wonderful challenge. With the role of Raoul in this production the most difficult things for me to learn have primarily involved getting used to technical elements that do not exist in my regular roles in the show.
CW: What problems did you encounter in learning the role of Raoul?
PL: There were no major problems learning the role of Raoul...just a few technical elements to get accustomed to...the cage, the fireworks and the jump.
CW: The cage of course is not in the other productions of "Phantom." Is it a tight fit in the cage, it seemed to be for you, as you seem a little bigger than Tim Martin Gleason?
PL: When the knives come out it is a tight fit for all of us. Yes, I am a little bigger than Tim. He is about a ? an inch taller than I am, but I am bigger.
CW: Do the fireworks bother you? I know they bother my eyes.
PL: The fireworks are fun, but they demand respect when you are onstage. Sometimes we can be left to face the pyro dust on stage, which is never easy on the eyes or the voice. Our fireworks crew is truly the best.
CW: When you jump off the bridge is that a hard stunt?
PL: The jump off the bridge just takes some getting used to. Ben (the other understudy) and I had about a month of getting acclimated to it's full height and we would start from the ground up going one foot at a time until we got used to the jump's full height.
CW: Can you tell us what the full height of the jump is? It also seemed you jumped from a higher point than other actors in the role of Raoul. You took a different dive off the bridge. Could you explain why you did that or was it a suggestion from the director/stunt coordinator?
PL: I believe that the full height of the jump from bridge to crash pad is around 10 feet. I do it differently from Tim because he learned his dive on The National Tour and I learned mine from our Stunt Coordinator Eric Braun and our Stage Manager Ray Gin.
CW: Wow, that is high! I have more respect for all of you who play the role of Raoul now. Did you take any singing, dance or acting lessons?
PL: Yes, I took singing lessons in college as well as acting and a very small amount of dance (I wish I had taken more).
CW: You seemed at ease in your dance moves as Raoul in show.
PL: Thank you for that. I have not had much dance training but all of our Christine's are good dancers. Both the girls in the lead role and our two understudies are such skilled dancers that they make the dancing very easy.
CW: Have you ever had anything funny happen to you on stage in "Phantom" or other shows you have done?
PL: A year and a half ago...back home...I was Curly in "Oklahoma" with the Mountain Play in Mill Valley. We played in a 4000 seat outdoor amphitheater...and for this show in particular I was able to ride in on a horse singing "Oh what a Beautiful Morning." I was late for my first entrance because my horse had just eaten and he was not getting onto the stage...or moving at all for that matter...until he had...well...gone to the bathroom. Our director understood why I was late however and was very sympathetic...to me and to Blondie our horse.
CW: Oh my, that was hard on Blondie too. (Laughter) I heard you had to learn to ride a horse for that role. Was that hard to deal with a horse on stage besides this one time?
PL: It was hard sometimes just getting the timing down while singing. Making sure that I was on or off in time to either start or end the song. For a regular rider this would be no problem, but for me it was a challenge.
CW: How do you like working and living in Las Vegas?
PL: I enjoy Vegas very much. It offers a wonderful opportunity with "Phantom." I just miss the ocean.
CW: What would you like to do in the future?
PL: I look forward to more shows. Also hopefully singing on my own.
CW: Are you looking to make an album of your own? Or maybe doing concerts on stage?
PL: If I was to leave stage shows, I would most definitely like to find a way to do concerts on stage. I love singing all kinds of music from standards to Broadway to Pop. An album would be wonderful to make at some point.
CW: Are there any roles you would love to do?
PL: I would love to do any male role from Rogers and Hammerstein musical. Any male role in "Les Mis" and of course "The Phantom."
CW: I think you would be great as Marius in "Les Mis" you have the voice for it. What is your favorite Rogers and Hammerstein musical?
PL: I have two favorites Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, "Carousel" and "Oklahoma." Both to me are Classic American treasures.
CW: What do you like to do in your free time?
PL: Golf, workout, find time with family and friends, and enjoy good food and wine with wonderful company.
CW: Seems that many actors like golf, well we have lots of places to play golf in Las Vegas. As for good food and wine…you could not have picked a better city than Las Vegas! We have some of the best chefs in the country.
Thank you for chatting with me. I look forward to hearing more about you in the future, and wish you the best in your career.
PL: Carolyn…I want to thank you again for taking such time and interest in our show and in my performance. I really appreciate it. I wish the world of theater had more people like yourself to support it and love it with as much passion as you have. Take care and I wish you all the best.
CW: You are welcome Patrick. Hope to see you on stage again.
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