THE WARM UP

THE WARM-UP

Well before the half — every night, every show, every company you've ever been part of — there is a warm-up. The audience never sees it. They probably don't even think about it. And yet without it, the show doesn't function. It's not just about singing. It's about the company switching on together.

Let me take you into one. One of the nicest companies I was ever in was the Manchester tour of Phantom of the Opera. Opera House. Just a lovely feeling, like a little family.

For Phantom you can't warm up on stage — there's so much scenery, so many cloths pre-set, the crew don't want us anywhere near it. So we'd warm up in the stalls bar, in among the carpets and the optics, going through scales.

Normally it's the assistant MD running it, sometimes the MD himself — depends on their schedule and availability. The dancers look after their own physical warm up. There isn't a physical warm up for the rest of the cast — only vocal — but for that, we are all together.

Everyone has to sing. But not everyone has it as their first skill. I would never say dancers can't sing — some are brilliant all-rounders. Some aren't. And we work with that because they bring something else to the show. I can't pas de bourrée and they work with me on that too.

Most of the time it's just a warm up. Occasionally ensemble parts slip — get tired, get sloppy — and we'll get reminders. Often have to sing a section through just so the MD can hear it properly and give notes. You may also get the company manager there if there's a notice — something happening during the show, someone special in. A payslip, if you're lucky.

Everyone goes into it professionally. Some feel it more than others. Some have already warmed up in their dressing room and they're really just there to be present — to be part of the team. Because that's the other thing the warm up is. It's a get-together. You may not see certain company members at all during a show because of your track — your particular path through the night. It is a funny old world when you only see someone to say goodnight. So the warm up is where you actually catch up. Chit chat. Hello. How are the kids.

You get jokers in the company. You get the ultra-serious. And yes — there are actors who are, shall we say, punctually challenged. But if that happens a lot, it goes in the show report. The warm up is compulsory. Nobody should be skipping it unless they've agreed something specific with the company manager.

The Phantom isn't there. He's not coming down to the bar. He has a big dressing room and he is in it, with the door shut, getting psyched up for the role and for the arduous task of having all that make-up put on.

My best friend was first cover Phantom on that tour, so I used to go in and watch the make-up being applied. With principals you know well, fine — but with some you don't. Because of the seclusion, you don't feel you can just walk in and say "can I watch?" — and that's fair enough. That's the business. You don't take offence. They are sipping some kind of concoction, gentle humming — you are not going to get them gassing away. They are reserving their energy a hundred percent.

The other principals — the ones with smaller roles, or the ones who are on while ensemble are off — they might come to the vocal warm up just to be social. Say hi. Be part of the room.

I should tell you about "the green." When we finish a warm up, when we are about to go our separate ways, you'll hear people say "see you on the green." It means see you on stage. And it comes from a medieval and Elizabethan thing — back then everything was performed on the village green. Makes sense when you know, doesn't it.

You don't really hear any other sayings at warm up. The other classics — toi toi, that sort of thing — those come later, just before you go on, especially if someone is on for a principal. What you really don't want is to be sitting in your dressing room having turned the tannoy down low — most of us do, it can be annoying — and missing your call. Getting the fright of your life when you hear —

"Mr Burman is off the green. Mr Burman is off the green."

You are in deep bleep at that point.

Now — one thing people ask about. Bad voices at warm up. The truth is you would not get someone turning up with a bad voice. If you are coming down with something, you pre-warn. Professional thing to do. You'd say to the MD or company manager — "Just so you know, I'm not feeling grand. I'll do tonight, I'll see how I feel in the morning, I'll make a call then."

If you turn up and you are clearly not well — it is because you are prepared to dig deep and get through it. You don't want to let the company down. Or you know your cover hasn't fully rehearsed yet and you don't want to put them in a difficult position either. You take the hit. That is part of the job, but if you are genuinely ill, you should go off, you don’t want to be spreading germs around an entire company.

So the warm up is — in essence — a vocal warm up and a pre-show get-together. Some are reading the newspaper. Some are on their phones. Some are doing basic stretches. Some are just feeling the space. It isn't glamorous. There's no romance to it.

But it is the moment, every single night, where the company becomes a company again. Where the show begins. Where you remember who you are doing this with and what you are about to walk out there and do.

That is the warm up. And without it, none of the rest of it works.

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