Canadian Ramin Karimloo to star in Phantom anniversary show for the big screen

TORONTO – Over a decade after first storming the stage in London, England, Canadian theatre star Ramin Karimloo is excited to finally perform on a grand scale for his family on this side of the pond.

Karimloo has become a heavyweight performer in London for playing the masked misfit in “The Phantom of the Opera” and its sequel, “Love Never Dies.” He will don the cape once again for this weekend’s 25th anniversary concert of “The Phantom of the Opera” at Royal Albert Hall in London.

His older brother is flying over Thursday to see him in the show.

“This is the first time he actually is going to see me playing the Phantom, let alone see me do anything of this scale,” Karimloo, who was born in Tehran and grew up in Richmond Hill, Ont., and Peterborough, Ont., said in a recent phone interview from London.

Karimloo is hoping the rest of his family members in Richmond Hill will catch the concert when it’s broadcast in high-definition at participating Cineplex theatres on Oct. 3 and Oct. 22.

For many of his loved ones, it’ll be their first opportunity to see him perform on the big stage, said the actor-singer, who was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his role in “Love Never Dies.”

“That’s why I was really excited that’s it’s going to be in Canada. I don’t think they quite get it, what I’m doing out here,” Karimloo, 33, said with a laugh.

“The last thing they remember is me singing Tragically Hip covers in my Tragically Hip band (in Richmond Hill), so for me to do this will be hopefully a positive shock.”

Karimloo is as enthusiastic about the 25th anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” as the most ardent fans. After all, it was his love of the 1990s Toronto production of the show, starring Colm Wilkinson, that prompted him to get into acting and move to London at age 20.

“I thought the marketing for the Canadian Phantom was genius,” he enthused. “I remember for months a commercial would come on and it would always say, ‘It’s coming!’, and everyone talked about, ‘What is this thing coming?’

“Next thing you know, the Phantom rolls up and changes my life.”

This weekend’s anniversary concert co-stars Sierra Boggess as Christine and has a cast and orchestra of over 200, along with special guest appearances.

It’s one of many projects Karimloo has lined up for his post-“Love Never Dies” days.

On Oct. 13, he’ll kick off a mini-tour of first solo shows around England, in which he’ll sing songs from some of his favourite musicals as well as some of his original tunes.

It’ll be good practice for a tour supporting his forthcoming solo album, which he expects to release in the U.K. in January and in North America in the spring.

Karimloo – who has a North American record deal with Sony Music -said he recently finished recording the album’s 12 tunes, the first of which he hopes will hit radio by year’s end.

Karimloo said it’s a “crossover,” lyrical-driven album featuring a 60-piece orchestra he recorded with at Abbey Road Studios in London.

He said there’s also a possibility he’ll be producing and starring in “Houdini, the Musical” in London at the end of next year.

Karimloo also recently shot a small role as a scientologist on the upcoming British sitcom “Life’s Too Short,” created by Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Warwick Davis.

He also plans to make his feature film debut in a Canadian co-production called “Bad Town,” which he expects to shoot in Quebec next summer. Karimloo will play the lead role of a father who becomes entangled in police corruption as he searches for his daughter. No director is attached yet, he said.

“(Acting onscreen) is an element of the craft I haven’t really explored much so I want to keep going to see whether I am good enough to keep going at it,” said Karimloo, whose other theatre credits include “Les Miserables,” “Miss Saigon” and “Sunset Boulevard.”

“It would be nice also just to not rely on the singing so much…. It really takes its toll and I’ve done musicals solidly for almost eight years now, so I need a bit of a sabbatical from it, I think.”