This weekend, veteran The Phantom of the Opera actor Satomi Hofmann is singing the music of the night at the Iowa Theater in Winterset.
Visiting with her are Beth Mullaney and Elizabeth Welch, the latter of whom is also an alum of The Phantom of the Opera have played Christine Daaé both on Broadway and in the German production of the show.
Hofmann — who played in the Broadway ensemble starting in March of 2009, primarily as Wardrobe Mistress — and Welch were among the actors in the cast when the show left Broadway in April, marking the end of a 35-year-long Broadway run.
Across decades and multiple casts, 13,981 performances were given, over 3,000 more than Chicago, the second longest running show on Broadway.
This Friday and Saturday, Hofmann and her friends promise a night of musical excellence at Winterset’s Iowa Theater (121 N John Wayne Dr).
Then on Saturday, Hofmann — who’s also a founding member of the all female Celtic rock band Killian’s Angels with Mullaney — returns to the Iowa Theater stage to give a master class for voice actors high school-age and up.
In advance of her upcoming Iowa appearance, Little Village spoke with Hofmann over the phone about saying goodbye to Phantom, coming to Iowa and the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
Two years back now, the Iowa Theater hosted a similar event you were part of, raising funds to help repay renovations. How did that first instance go?
It was fantastic. What had happened — Marianne [Fons, the operator of the Iowa Theater,] is dear friends with David Michael Garry who’s a fellow cast member in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. David and I were doing that show together, but of course we were still in the middle of a pandemic and Broadway had not been cleared to open again, and he reached out and he said “Do you want to do this concert with me for this fantastic woman, who has this fantastic theater?”
I said “Sure, why not,” and I had no idea what to expect. I had traveled all over the country and never been to Iowa. Aside from the caucuses and the bridges [of Madison County], I had no clue what I was coming to. It ended up being such a joyful experience.
So when I found out that Phantom would be closing, as much as I enjoy the show — it was very difficult to travel, it was very difficult to do any kind of performing that wasn’t local — I immediately thought of Marianne and the Iowa Theater and visit while also being able to offer my services to this fabulous theater and this fabulous cause.
What was the closing of The Phantom of the Opera like for you? The Broadway cast shut down for COVID, came back for two or three years but then went off Broadway for the first non-COVID related time in its entire existence.
So much goes through your head when you get a closing notice and for a long running show like Phantom, you just never expect it to come. And there really wasn’t a reason for it to close aside from whatever was going on behind the scenes with the production team, they had their own reasons.
Some place like Phantom truly becomes a family. These are people, we’ve all see ourselves through births and marriages and deaths and financial struggle and emotional struggle and profound changes in all of our lives and we’ve made dear, dear friends and we essentially were told that they were taking down the house that we were living in.
The building was very strange for a very long time. It’s a large company so you’ve got a cast, crew, orchestra, house staff, management — you’re talking about 150 people. You’ve got 150 people who are all going through their emotional journeys at this news. It made work — it wasn’t a negative, it was just thick. The energy was fraught.
I’m a multitasker so I just went into “Alright, I’m gonna continue auditioning, I’m just gonna ramp it up.” I did a short film, I did some industrial work, I did some TV, I did a large film [Knock at the Cabin] and started the particle side of getting ready.
On an emotional side, I got to this point where I was like “I am going to love and embrace every single, last show” and suck the marrow out of the bone of what is left of this show.
I’m not trying to paint a perfect picture of the show and what it was like to work backstage, we had challenges. But it was still such a joy to be there, it was still something very very special that comes along once in a lifetime in the theatrical world. And if you remembered that you could find joy every night in that show, and a lot of laughter.
What were the roles you played over the course of the show?
When I was originally hired, I was hired as what’s called a “vacation swing.” So the intention was that I was coming in to cover other people’s vacations and leaves of absence. However, as soon as I started — which was common actually at the show — I just didn’t stop working. I actually did one month on tour with the show, came back to New York, continued on Broadway and then was called back to tour with the show; while I was there the role I played was called Spanish Lady.
Essentially all the ensemble in Phantom play multiple characters in the show and everyone understudied a lead. That show never went down because of low cast.
I started out as a Madame Giry understudy and then moved on to cover Carlotta Giudicelli. These roles are polar opposites of each other [vocally they’re on opposite sides of the spectrum] and so fun.
When I came back to New York [my] role was called Wardrobe Mistress/Confidante. It was a feature role and what’s lovely is, post-pandemic, we did some re-staging and the first maybe 20-25 minutes of the show I [as Wardrobe Mistress] pretty much got to go wherever I wanted on stage because of the nature of the role and the freedom that they gave me. There was a lot of improv there was a lot of fun in the context of the character.
Confidante, for people who are familiar with the show, during the opera within The Phantom of the Opera I was the first soloist. It was a role that was one of the most strenuous ensemble roles in the company — because of the feature role I had three or four understudies.
Regarding your upcoming Winterset shows, as someone who isn’t from the area, how did you pick Beth Mullaney and Elizabeth Welch to come with you?
First of all, these are two of my favorite people on the planet, and the fact that they are preposterously talented, made it an absolute no-brainer that I needed to call these women stat.
We are all part of what we call the Mutual Admiration Society, essentially all of us at some point in our friendship have turned around and said “How are we friends? You are way too talented. I don’t deserve you.” And I’ve done that with each of these ladies, because not only are they preposterously talented, they have such depth to their hearts and their souls.
I know that in bringing them to be a part of this, they will do nothing but make it better and more joyful and more entertaining — and I want to include my pianist, Sonya Siebert, and our bass player, who is very new to me, but is still fantastic, Sharron Stillwell.
You’re also a member of SAG-AFTRA. Phantom ended in April and, on July 14, film and TV actors joined the striking writers. How has it been to be an actor coming out of a long term job and to now be striking?
I 100 percent support the strike. There are some things A.I. can never do. Add to that the literal theft of our work — our faces, our voices, our profoundly human creativity — in order to create derivative work makes this strike vital in this time.
That being said, the strike ended up being a bit of a blessing. After all of the strains of not only doing the show, but the additional strain of the new schedule, covering COVID absences during multiple surges, additional rehearsals, and all the obligations that come with closing a show — I was exhausted!
However, I very quickly realized that I can’t just sit around, I will eat my own foot. So that’s when I was like, “Hey, Marrianne! Wanna play!” Because god forbid I actually rest, I’m half-Japanese and half-German — put those type-A personality cultures together and it’s astounding that I’m as relaxed as I am.
What should people expect from your master class this weekend?
First off, I am so proud to be able to bring this fundraising opportunity to the Iowa. This is a venue that I know has brought so much to the community, as Marrianne herself has. These old theaters are historical buildings and historical gathering places, they are essentially centers of community where a group of people get to experience something together instead of being isolated on our couches. As human beings this is vital.
This isn’t just a building, it symbolizes so much more for the community.
As far as the master class, as a teacher, I believe that each individual student has different needs. There are some universal truths, but oftentimes how each individual person needs to hear it is very different. Because of that, I will cover whatever is needed for the moment. It’s likely we will talk about handling nerves, it’s likely we will talk about some technique, it is very likely we will talk about the art of storytelling and I really hope that somebody asks about the business of show business.
That is something that a shockingly small percent of people going into the entertainment industry know anything about — and I’m not just talking headshots and resumes. I’m talking: understanding what an agent does for you, what a manager does for you, what it’s like to show up at a rehearsal or on set, what is expected of you and what you are expected to do in order to market yourself. We’re not living in a world where you show up in your tap shoes at the audition anymore.
We will cover all aspects of the business, should people ask for it.
