It was back in 1970, when the future Phantom met the reigning King...
Elvis.

Colm Wilkinson, who has the title role in the Toronto production of the Phantom of The Opera was singing in a classy, Irish cabaret group called The Witnesses. They were on a North American tour, which included stops in Toronto and Montreal, and had reached Nassau in the the Bahamas.

"Pricilla Presley came down practically every night to see the band," Wilkinson says, "and she told us, "I'm gonna persuade him."

Paired Again:  Above, Colm Wilkinson and Rebecca Caine In The Phantom of the Opera. They worked together in Les Miserables as well. It's "a bit incestuous," Wilkinson jokes of his on-stage love interest.

"He came down one night - high collar, the whole bit. He looked like the lord mayor, y'know? He was a stunning looking bloke; this was before he put the weight on.

"Well I wasn't a mad Elvis Presley fan, I have to say. So I didn't wait around. But he saw me in the foyer of the hotel one day and he came over to me and said some very nice things.

Wilkinson pauses. He's Irish, a born storyteller, with a liquid Dublin accent. And he's relishing the moment.

His interviewer, of course, urges him to continue, and he does so, throwing in a fine imitation of Elvis for good measure.

"He said, 'man, man, you're beautiful man. I love your singing.'" "I said, 'Thank you very much. I'm giving lessons in Room 406!' He had a great laugh at that and we were friends. I saw him a couple of times after that."

Wilkinson chuckles at the memory. Immediately, it reminds him of the time he worked with Frank Sinatra. And that launches him into another funny story of how he met Sammy Davis Jr.

Suddenly the laughter stops and he frowns. "This is going to sound very presumptuous, isn't it?" he asks.

He needn't worry. It doesn't, not from him. Wilkinson obviously still gets a huge kick out of meeting the big showbiz names, and almost equal enjoyment out of the stories he can weave out of such encounters.

Nowadays, of course, he's a big showbiz name himself, one of the most sought-after musical performers in the world, thanks to his international sucess in another blockbuster musical, Les Miserables. Wilkinson created the central role of the fugitive Jean Valjean in London in 1985 and repeated it on Broadway, each time to critical acclaim.

Wilkinson, 45, has certainly come some way from the small Dublin suburb of Drimnagh where he was born. He's one of 10 children and has six sisters. "it's great when you're short of money. I came in the middle and they looked after me."

Both his father, an asphalt contractor, and his mother were musical and he started playing in bands when he was 16. Key influences were such people as Ray Charles - "my idol, I love truth and honesty in singing " Mahalla Jackson, Muddy Water, Little Richard and Brook Benton.

After returning from North America, Wilkinson worked in his father's business before landing the role of Judas in an early, Dublin production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ, Superstar.

"My mam - she died about four years ago - was appalled at Jesus Christ, Superstar. She wouldn't talk to me for about six months after I started playing Judas. 'Any part but that, Colm, ' she said."

Then she came to see the show and changed her mind a bit but I don't think she ever really liked it. I only wish she could have seen Les Miz and Jean Valjean, because she was into the sainthood job. She tried to nail me and make me a priest. She was a wonderful, very down-to-earth lady."

Wilkinson then joined the London production of Superstar, playing Judas for 21/2 years. He also recorded the part of Che in a recording of the Webber-Tim Rice hit, Evita.

Rice, a friend, helped land him the role of Valjean.

Apparently, director Trevor Nunn was having problems finding the right person and was talking to Rice.

Rice's version of the story (which Wilkinson doesn't quite beleive) goes like this. Nunn: "I am looking for a man who is very strong, sturdy, who can carry a guy of 170 pounds on his back and sing beautifully. He also has to look slightly like a convict." Rice: "That's Colm Wilkinson!"

Around that time Wilkinson helped workshop the first act of Phantom at Webber's annual summer musical festival in Sydmonton, England.

Webber wanted Wilkinson as his Phantom. "Forget this French Revolution rubbish," says Wilkinson, mimicking Weber's refined English accent. "You must do Phantom.

But Wilkinson stuck with Les Miz - "the magic words were Trevor Nunn and John Caird and the RSC; it is an honor to work with those guys."

Now comes his chance to do Phantom; he was offered the opportunity to take over from Michael Crawford but wanted to work on the part in a new production. He sees similarities between the role and that of Valjean. Both live under aliases and in fear of being discovered, he points out. Both embark on journeys through the sewers of Paris.

And both have strong emotions of tenderness towards a young woman: In Valjean's case, it is for his adopted daughter Cosette while the Phantom is moved by physical attraction for the opera singer Christine Daae.

Rebecca Caine, who was Wilkinson's Cosette in London, will be his Christine in Toronto. "A bit incestuous," Wilkinson jokes of his on-stage love interest.

He's delighted to be back in Toronto - "I actuallly thought of emigrating here in 1970" - and is also celebrating the September release of a new record.

In Stage Heroes (RCA Victor) he sings some of the great songs of musicals new and old - Porgy and Bess, South Pacific, Camelot and West Side Story as well as Phantom and is accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mike Batt.

And this particular Phantom will be haunting Toronto for a while. He's signed a 9-month contract with a 3-month clause and is now living in Toronto with wife Deidre (to whom the record is dedicated) and their four children.

After that? Well, there are musicals that various people always want to perform.

And to think it was only about a year ago that his father last asked when he was going to get a proper job.



Some facts about Phantom Of The Opera