The man voted the world's most popular Phantom is taking off his mask for theatre goers in the region. Steve Pratt reports

FATE is a funny thing, says the performer who rejoices in the title of "the world's most popular Phantom". Peter Karrie should know. He owes his big break into musicals to another singer falling down stairs. As the understudy, he had to take the injured man's place on stage in the musical Fire Angel.

As fate would have it, sitting in the audience that night was a producer staging a new London West End musical about actor James Dean. Later, he went backstage and asked Karrie to star in that show, playing Dean's singing alter ego.

Although neither Fire Angel or James Dean were hits, they enabled the singer raised in a small Welsh village to gain a foothold in London's musical world.

Playing Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar in the late 1980s gave him the hit that led to starring roles in such big musicals as Les Miserables, Evita, Chess and, of course, The Phantom Of The Opera.

"We went through that era when people couldn't stop writing wonderful shows," he says. "The 1980s and 1990s were the time of the mega-musicals, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right voice."

Kerrie has now played The Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical all over the world including London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and on tour in this country. There's a strong possibility he'll be playing the title role again in a production in South Africa. Meanwhile, he takes off the mask to appear as himself at York Grand Opera House.

Peter Kerrie And Friends finds him singing songs from the shows as well as sharing the stage with friends such as Barbara Dickson and local talent.

"Each show is totally different to the last and different to the next," he says. "I do auditions on the day of the show for local talent to appear in the evening. We've got six parrots, who are supposed to sing in harmony, coming to Torquay.

"Last night there was this girl who walked out on stage and sang, and had the most phenomenal operatic voice. She sang the Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus, and received a standing ovation.

"Nights like that are wonderful. You actually see someone being born on stage."

His own musical aspirations began as a child. He kept singing and eventually someone said, "I like that". He joined a local band - "all the rage because The Beatles were just emerging" - but was compering in a club in Leeds when someone suggested he should take up singing for a living.

He was voted The World's Most Popular Phantom in a poll organised by the worldwide Phantom Of The Opera Appreciation Society. Michael Crawford, the original Phantom, could only manage third place.

With 2,000 performances all over the world to his credit, Karrie admits to having an advantage. "I think I stole a march on everyone else by being in so many different places," he says.

Yet, when he first went to see the show, he wasn't impressed. "Then, when I was learning the role I wasn't having a great deal of success with it in the rehearsal room," he recalls. "Someone told me to go and put on the make-up, wig and clothes. As soon as I did that, it just happened and I was all right. It was like someone turned a light switch on."

He's enjoyed a "huge response" to the show all over the world. In Hong Kong they queued round the block for autographs.

Now Karrie has plans to stage Rasputin, a musical he's written himself. Two years ago he recorded the score and attracted the interest of producers on the other side of the Atlantic. A concert tour of Canada was planned to try out the show before Broadway.

He was on the runway waiting to fly to America two years ago. The date was September 11. Fate intervened again, and events in New York meant he didn't get off the ground.

By the time he managed to meet up with the backers, the whole business had changed. "Mega-musicals had gone. All they wanted to do was feelgood musicals where people don't have to think too much," he says.

"I've taken the last two years to re-write and re-record the show. Now it's down to a five-hander. Hopefully we can tour it next year."

l Peter Karrie and Friends appear at York Grand Opera House on October 16 (when the guest is Barbara Dickson) and on November 26 (with Amy Nuttall from Emmerdale and Suranne Jones from Coronation Street).

Tickets 0870 606359.