Interview: Tony Nominee Ramin Karimloo, On LES MIS, PHANTOM, And Returning To London For Solo Shows!

Hello Ramin, happy new year, and welcome back to London! You've got a couple of solo shows coming up - what can we expect from them?

A lot of fun! I hope I come back as a better musician myself, bringing some good musicians, good friends, with me that I've collected along the way. It'll be like a hootenanny - on paper, our set lists should be a disaster! How do you go from Ol' Man River into a bluegrass song? Somehow what I've learned is if you sing songs you love to sing and people enjoy what you do, it's a good time to be had by all. I never want to sing songs I don't want to sing, regardless of its popularity. On each given night, I want to give the audience the best of what we are on that day. That's why no set lists are the same - we're doing two shows, and they'll be different.

Very different venues as well - the Union Chapel and the Assembly Rooms.

I've never been to either! I've always wanted to play the Union Chapel, and the Assembly Rooms will be a lot of fun too.

You've mentioned your diverse influences - you love an eclectic range of music!

Yeah! That's how broadgrass came about - from a joke. I love Broadway and bluegrass and I'm influenced by both, so we called it broadgrass, and it stuck - people were talking about it. When I write songs, I never think of it as "I wonder if this will be a hit?" - I do it as a hobby, then we put it on stage, and it's fun. I want to do solo shows because it's a chance for me to sing songs that I want to listen to, and I'm chuffed that people want to come and enjoy that with me. That's how I see it.

You've been away, on Broadway, and doing very well - how do you change your mindset from being part of a company to being the centre of attention for a solo gig?

I treat them the same. On stage I try to follow instincts - sometimes I get slapped on the wrist, but I'd rather live the moment and ask for forgiveness later. When it comes to being on stage, it's telling a story. Now I have the chance to learn to be myself, and be vulnerable on stage - but ultimately it's telling a story, with emotion and passion, and I hope that resonates with people, whether that's with Valjean or the Phantom or with me.

So what are your plans for 2016 after this?

The Secret Garden, obviously - that'll be a challenge. I'm putting the work in now for that. There'll be more solo shows. And there's a show that I'm playing a part in...that hasn't been announced yet...

Oh?

I'm pretty sure that's happening! It'll be in a Canadian city in the springtime. It's a part I've always wanted to play and I'm looking forward to working with that specific director.

I've had such good years recently, and now I want to be a bit more time-rich, with the family, and I want to re-energise and re-group, look at new challenges. I look at my friend Michael Xavier and he's constantly doing different things, and I have a lot of respect for that. I want to try that. I've been part of some big established successful things, and I've been very lucky to be in those things at the right time. One year either side, who knows what I'd be doing? 25th anniversaries have been my lottery ticket - especially Les Mis. When I did that, I didn't ever anticipate anything for me or my career. My agent told me, "You're going to be Enjolras!" and I was like, "Great! I thought I was just going to be in the ensemble!" Then after 20 minutes of talking, he mentioned a fee, and I just said, "I'm getting PAID?!" He was like, "You'd have done this for free, wouldn't you?" Of course. I bet the producers wished they knew that beforehand!

It blew up. I got all these messages, and more followers, more support from all around the world. I took that as what a great circle of luck it was to be part of that at that time. There's been a ton of people playing those parts, just as good if not better than me, whatever scale that is. Everyone wants to think they're special, but I know I was there at the right time - and I'm very grateful for that.

Ramin Karimloo plays the Union Chapel on Tue 19th and Islington Assembly Rooms on Wed 20th January.

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