Broadway pianist and conductor Kristen Blodgette was 7 when her parents took her to see "The Music Man." The girl from Cleveland was, in a word, "transfixed." She immediately knew she would make music and theater her life. But she never could have imagined she'd become the person whom insiders call "Andrew Lloyd Webber's ear."
She travels the globe, tending to the far-flung properties of the British composer whose "Phantom of the Opera" has grossed more than $1 billion on Broadway. His other titles, from "Evita" and "Jesus Christ Superstar" to "Sunset Boulevard" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," have also racked up huge numbers. And Blodgette has tended to all of them.
Her handiwork will be heard in Minneapolis when "Love Never Dies," Lloyd Webber's follow-up to "Phantom," opens Tuesday for a weeklong run at the Orpheum Theatre.
Set in Coney Island, it continues the narrative of the Phantom and his muse roughly a decade later. Opera singer Christine Daaé has signed on to sing at the Brooklyn amusement park for a show backed by a mystery man. Could it be the stalker-like Phantom?
The musical opened in London in 2010, and closed after a lot of negative press (a blogger dubbed it "Paint Never Dries"). A reworked version, which opened in Australia in 2011, forms the basis for the production now touring the United States.
Blodgette, 63, squeezed in an interview Tuesday after an orchestra rehearsal for the Broadway production of "Phantom," which she was conducting that night. She had just returned from trips to South Africa and Russia, doing Lloyd Webber works. Next up: She'll head to Tokyo and Copenhagen to check on productions of "Cats."
Q: How does one become Andrew Lloyd Webber's ear?
A: Andrew is very specific about his music. He has very clear ideas of how it should sound and what he envisioned, both in his new pieces as well as in repertoire productions. It's my responsibility to make sure that the many facets — whether orchestrally, the people onstage — are right. Andrew is very hands-on and very exacting. For example, just last year, Andrew came to New York. We rented a big rehearsal space and started at the top of "Phantom" and went through every single aspect of the show. It was Year 29 on Broadway, and he just wanted to take very good care of it.
