'Phantom' star is booming presence with voice, height

"I have a different presence than a lot of other Phantoms," Lee said during a recent phone interview. "My body on stage is bigger."

The show plays Durham Performing Arts Center this week.

When people hear he is an opera singer, Lee said they often respond with "I love opera. I've seem Phantom of the Opera a million times."

While Phantom isn't a traditional opera, Lee acknowledges that the show has many "operative elements." After seeing the movie as a child, he went on to see the musical at least three times.

"I got a chance to see Norm Lewis perform Phantom on Broadway. It blew me away and changed my perception of what theater could be," Lee said.

Lewis was the first African-American actor to play the title role in a Broadway production, to Playbill. Robert Guillaume was the first African-American actor to play the role, with shows being performed in Los Angeles.

Though Lee hasn't played the Phantom before, he was very familiar with the music. Lee was in "The Prince of Broadway," which is about Hal Prince who directed the original Phantom. "I understudied the role of one of the men who played Phantom," Lee said. "So I did 'Music of the Night" before I auditioned for this."

Fans of the original Phantom will note that the love story and its music remain the same, but some of the theatrical elements have been beefed up.

"The set is different. The journey into the Phantom's lair is different, a little bit more brilliant in more ways that wouldn't have been done in 1988 (when the show debuted on Broadway)," Lee said. "The things we were able to do with the chandelier and some of the pyrotechnics have been updated."

The show's direction is also a little different, with Phantom being less magical and more human. "He is an engineer," Lee said of his character.

Lee said he uses his time in the makeup chair before the show to help prepare for the role. "I get to reflect on who the Phantom is and what brought him to where he is now and why he is who he is," Lee said.