Love Never Dies Star Ramin Karimloo on Gaining Weight, Getting Naked and Life Behind the Mask

At 31, Ramin Karimloo has spent much of his professional life in the company of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s phantom. He spent three years at Her Majesty’s Theatre performing in The Phantom of the Opera, first as Raoul and then in the title role, where he was the youngest-ever West End performer to play the lovesick man in the mask. Karimloo left the record-breaking long-runner last fall only to go into rehearsal two months later for Love Never Dies, the continuation of the Phantom story that shifts the action to Coney Island 10 years later. Much this time has changed—for one thing, the character is now known as Mister Y, and he lives very much above ground, not beneath it—but his obsession for the silvery-voiced Christine Daae (played by Sierra Boggess) lives on. The production opened in March and it was over Easter weekend that Karimloo experienced stomach pains that resulted in an appendectomy and a revised performance schedule upon returning to the Adelphi Theatre. Broadway.com caught up with the exceptionally genial, easygoing performer following a summertime Wednesday matinee of the show, by which point he was long back doing eight shows a week and in stronger voice and a more commanding hold on the part than ever. The conversation took place in Karimloo's dressing room, his passion for music everywhere evident (three guitars are on view, one a present from Boggess's dad), that silicone mask firmly in place: “I can’t get it off between shows.”

The production seems like it is in stronger shape than it was on opening night.
I think any show does itself a disservice to bring in the press two weeks into the run—any show, let alone a new piece and then one with such hype behind it. As you’ve seen three or four months down the line, there have been changes but also I just think the way we live our characters has changed. I know my character’s completely different. I feel he’s grander, bigger, more threatening.

You must be willing to keep exploring your character.
Maybe my journey—I’m not going to call it a mistake—was that in the beginning I thought the Phantom this time was more contented, but it’s actually the opposite because it parallels sort of what you see in real life—that people can have everything on paper but the one thing they actually want and don’t have: that’s what will disturb them more than someone who might have half those things.

I often find shows have improved long after the critics have weighed in.
What’s great is now we can live it without thinking; what you see today has been frozen for months—that’s why we’re living the story now. Today at the matinee, we had almost all three tiers up on their feet and that makes you think, “Well, they’re getting it; thankfully, the audiences are getting it.” I’ll always believe that, like with Phantom 1, when people see that for the first time, they’re amazed and they love it. That’s when they come back for the second and third visit, which is where the magic hooks them in. Then they come for the tenth visit and the twentieth visit.

Are you getting that kind of playgoer here?
There’s one lady, I see her in the front row about five times a week. First of all, how do they afford it? I’ll never know. People are in double digits easily.

What’s astonishing hearing the score again is how heartfelt it seems—Gustave’s song “Beautiful,” for instance.
There is a lot of heart in this. I don’t listen to the album much anymore because I don’t like hearing my voice but when I do hear it every now and then, it’s weird because I sing it completely differently now. My voice is in a different place.

How do you sing with such volume through that mask?
[Laughs.] I don’t do big-mouth singing anyway. When I was a kid and used to look in the mirror to try to sing, I never wanted that sort of open-faced singing. That’s the problem with this: my ears are glued to my head, so it took me a while in terms of the singing to find where to vibrate. Half the time it’s hard to hear the orchestra, so I just trust I’m in pitch. And, you know, I’m not trying to make an album every night, I’m trying to tell the story, so if I let passion push me a bit sharp, it’s not going to kill any one.

You were totally on top of it at the performance I recently saw.
It’s one of those things where it takes time. I think characters always take time and for me this was a big task and hard work. I think even little logistical things have made a difference: I’ve put on 10 pounds and I carry myself differently, which has made me feel completely different.

How did you go about gaining the weight?
I’ve been eating, going to the gym five times a week, protein shakes, a lot of food. I had lost 14 pounds during the appendix thing.

Were you on stage when the appendix episode happened?
Friday night I had finished the show and I felt awful, so come Saturday I thought, well, I’m going to have to take today off. I don’t know if it’s flu or something and I don’t want to give it to Sierra, because that’s one of my pet peeves: people coming to work thinking that they’re martyrs. Andrew sent his doctors to my house and they did the most thorough tests you can imagine. It turned out that I had something in my blood that if it’s normal, it’s five or under, or if it’s pneumonia, it’s 20. Mine was 80.Within three hours they had handpicked the surgeon and I was on the operating table at St Mary’s, Paddington, having keyhole surgery. I remember I had the best sleep in that hospital: I had never slept so much because I had been in rehearsals and tech since January.

You actually missed few performances, all things considered.
I was off a full week and then back the following Thursday. [The producers] were like, “No, no no,” but I was like, “I’m good to go, I’m good to go,” and I hit some of the top C’s and was like, “Ooooh, I heard that”. But I’ve been doing all eight again for the past two months. I’ve got a week off coming up, and I don’t feel like I need it.

Are there other shows that interest you? I could imagine you playing Berger in Hair, or doing Nine.
I’d love to do Nine, and hope I will someday. Hair? I could never get naked! I’d be too shy. I’ve done photo shoots for certain things but to get naked on stage live? Forget it. As Chris [in Miss Saigon], it took me a while to get comfortable taking my jacket off before I got on Kim’s bed. After a while, I couldn’t keep it on [laughs], but taking the bottoms off? No way.

Any other roles interest you?
Maybe I’ll play Shrek. [Laughs, pointing at his mask] Or not; my skin can’t take much more of this. What I’d love before we go to Broadway, whenever that happens, is to do a four-week play somewhere. It would be nice for audiences to see me as me.

Are you happy—mask and all?
I’m having fun with it now. It’s entertaining, too, and I thought that was what was missing when the press came to see me. There was all that stuff that was against us at the beginning, but a lot of people who came to hate us don’t, and I don't think if people weren't getting the story that they'd be standing as much as they are. I just think, OK, this is what you're doing right now, so learn, do as much as you can the best you can with as much integrity. And when it's done? Do the next thing.