Bradley Dean Says Singing The Phantom of the Opera Is Like 'Putting on Your Favorite Jeans'

Bradley Dean is the newest cast member to join The Phantom of the Opera as Monsieur André, one of the new owners of the Paris Opéra House. Stepping into the longest-running musical in Broadway history marks Dean's 11th production on the Great White Way; he was recently seen at City Center in the New York premiere of Bat Out of Hell. To celebrate his Phantom debut, Dean stopped by Broadway.com's #LiveatFive to talk about embracing his affinity for Barry Manilow, wearing pink sparkle panties with Lena Hall and more.

The Phantom of the Opera has played more than 13,000 performances on Broadway, and Dean says the show is just as fresh now as it was when it first opened in 1988. "I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but it's still so vital," he said. "I get a chill every night when I hear the twenty-five-piece orchestra. You just try to live up to the authors' intent and help keep the original vision. It feels awesome to be in something you know is not going anywhere. I've worked with this team before having done Evita at least nine times and singing [Andrew Lloyd Webber] feels like putting on your favorite pair of jeans."

Before going back in time to 19th-century Paris, Dean visited the post-apocalyptic in Bat Out of Hell at City Center. "I wasn't thinking I was going to do the show when I went in to audition," he said. "But after I sang I was like, 'I have to do this eight times a week.' Bat Out of Hell was the most fun I've ever had on stage. I was singing 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light' with Lena Hall where I ended up in pink sparkle panties on top of a '57 Chevy singing high C's, it was such a great time. I would do it again in a second."

Dean grew up surrounded by music, and those composers and lyricists left a lasting impression. "It always began and ended with Sondheim. He's the reason I'm in this business," Dean said. "I saw Mandy Patinkin turn downstage in Sunday [in the Park with George] and knew that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Also, Barry Manilow. My mom had two albums growing up and one was Barry Manilow's Greatest Hits. It was an eight-track and I wore that out. In a very real way I learned to write music and sing from Barry."

Dean's Broadway career spans almost 20 years, and he still thinks about what happened when he took his first bow in 2000. "I was a swing in Jane Eyre," he said. "The only thing I remember about my first performance is that they had two turntables and you had to be very careful walking across them. It was my first entrance as a butler with a bottle of wine and I stepped on the turntable and the wine spilled all over the stage. But I think I ended doing just fine."

See Dean in The Phantom of the Opera, playing at the Majestic Theatre.

Watch the full #LiveatFive episode below!