Rebecca Caine

Rebecca Caine (born 25 November 1959) is a Canadian light lyric soprano, and musical theatre performer.

Life and career Caine was born in Toronto, Ontario and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She is the daughter of Australian statistician Geoffrey Watson and the granddaughter of British constitutional law scholar Sir William Ivor Jennings. Caine currently resides in London.

Caine's career has been divided between opera and musical theatre. She made her West End debut at the age of 19 in the role of Laurey in Oklahoma!. She then sang the role of Eliza in My Fair Lady on a national tour.

After a successful West End run, she joined the original cast of The Phantom of the Opera to play Christine opposite Michael Crawford as alternate (performing 2 shows a week) when original Christine Sarah Brightman left the show and was replaced by the original alternate, Claire Moore.

When the rights to a Canadian production of Phantom were secured, producer Garth Drabinsky aggressively pursued Caine to reprise the role in Toronto. Andrew Lloyd Webber, who greatly admired Caine's portrayal of Christine in the London production, also strongly suggested she take the role. At the time, Caine was very close to signing a contract to star in another West End show. Ultimately, she chose Phantom and relocated to Toronto and also spent time in New York in early 1989 for principal cast rehearsals with director Hal Prince.

The Canadian production of The Phantom of the Opera premiered on September 20, 1989, at the restored Pantages Theatre, with Susan Cuthbert playing Christine two performances per week as Caine's alternate. The show broke then box office records for advance ticket sales, and ran for just over ten years. During her run in Toronto, she joined the Canadian Opera Company to make her North American operatic debut in the title role of Alban Berg's Lulu. This led to offers from numerous international opera companies ranging from Claudio Monteverdi to Peter Maxwell Davies, including Pamina, Despina, Susanna, Aminta (Il re pastore), Vixen, Michaela, Musetta, Ophelie, Leila, Marguerite, Violetta, Julietta (Bohuslav Martinů) and Adina for companies such as the Canadian Opera Company, Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Spoleto Festival, Opéra de Nice, Vlaamse Opera, New Zealand Opera, National Theatre of Prague, and Opera North. In 2006 she performed as Hanna Glawari in Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow for Opera Holland Park in London in 2006.

On October 7, 2006, Caine reunited with her former cast colleagues from the original London production of Les Misérables to sing "One Day More" after a performance in celebration of the show's 21st anniversary making it the longest running musical in the world. The original cast reunited again in 2010 to celebrate the show's 25th anniversary at the O2 Arena in London.

In May 2009, Caine made her Chicago debut in the Chicago Opera Theater's production of Benjamin Britten's Owen Wingrave.

From November 2014-January 2015, Caine played Katisha in The Mikado at London's Charing Cross Theatre.

In December 2015-February 2016, Caine joined the Asolo Repertory Theatre Company in Sarasota, Florida making her straight acting debut as Raquel De Angellis in Living On Love.

In April 2015, Caine appeared as the Mother Abbess in a production of The Sound of Music in Lebanon.

In addition to her work with opera and theatre companies, Caine continues to perform concerts and solo cabaret performances throughout Britain and North America. Caine has also taught for multiple years at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich.

Caine made her second appearance in a play from February–March 2018 as Mrs Chasen in Harold and Maude, alongside Sheila Hancock and later Linda Marlowe as Maude, at Charing Cross Theatre.

Caine returned to the role of Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music between December 2018-January 2019 at the Pattihio Theatre and Strovolos Municipal Theatre in Cyprus.

In November 2021, Caine appeared in the 10th Anniversary Concert of Howard Goodall and Stephen Clark's musical Love Story alongside the show's original performers, Michael D Xavier and Emma Williams.

Between 8 October-5 November, Caine premiered the role of Magda in Propaganda: A New Musical at the Lyric Theatre as part of the 2022 Belfast International Arts Festival. The new work, devised and directed by Conor Mitchell in a co-production between the Lyric Theatre and the Belfast Ensemble, is set during the Cold War in 1949 in East Berlin and described as a "Soviet love story…embroiled in the chaos of circumstance, art, love and American jazz". Earlier initial development of the piece included a concert reading in April 2019 at the Lyric, under the title ‘The Young Pornographers’.

Leading Ladies In May 2007, Caine released Leading Ladies, a collection of songs paying tribute to past "Leading Ladies of the British Musical Theatre Stage", from Gertrude Lawrence to Julie Andrews, with her then-collaborator and vocal coach Gerald Martin Moore on piano and vocals, playing a selection of their leading men, including Noël Coward.

They created two cabaret shows based on their Leading Ladies concept (the second show is entitled Leading Ladies of Hollywood) and have performed for sold-out crowds throughout the United Kingdom in venues such as the Jermyn Street Theatre in London and the Newbury Festival in Sydmonton.

World premieres Caine's world premieres have included: Jezebel, presented by the Toronto Symphony (title role; oratorio by Robertson Davies and Derek Holman); Playing Away, presented by Opera North (role: L.A. Lola; by Howard Brenton and Benedict Mason); The Golden Ass, presented by the Canadian Opera Company (role: Fotis; by Robertson Davies and Randolph Peters); Mr Emmet Takes a Walk, presented by Psappha (6 female roles; by David Pountney and Peter Maxwell Davies); Mathilde, a musical by Conor Mitchell directed by Simon Callow (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Intolerance, a one-woman opera by Mark Ravenhill and Conor Mitchell presented by Tête-à-Tête. My Fair Lady Eliza Doolittle December 1981-February 1982

April 1982 UK National Tour

Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto (North American Musical Debut) Perchance to Dream Melinda, Melanie and Melody Winter 1983 UK Tour Les Misérables Cosette October–December 1985

December 1985 – 1987 Royal Shakespeare Company, The Barbican, London

The Palace Theatre, London The Phantom of the Opera Christine Daaé

(alternate)

(principal) April 1987-March 1988

September 1989-February 1992 Her Majesty's Theatre, London

The Pantages Theatre, Toronto Of Thee I Sing Mary Turner July 1996 Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Salad Days Lady Raeburn January–February 2011 Riverside Studios, London Darling of the Day Lady Vale March–April 2012 Union Theatre, London The Sound of Music Mother Abbess April 2015

July–September 2016

December 2018-January 2019 Beirut, Lebanon

UK Tour

Cyprus Flowers for Mrs Harris Lady Dant / Madame Colbert May–June 2016 Sheffield Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Preludes Dahl September–October 2019

May 2021 Southwark Playhouse, London

Streamed performances from Southwark Playhouse, London Love Story Mrs Barrett 28 November 2021 10th Anniversary concert, Cadogan Hall, London The Light in the Piazza Margaret Johnson June–July 2022 Central City Opera, Colorado Propaganda: A New Musical Magda Oct–Nov 2022 Lyric Theatre, Belfast – world premiere by Conor Mitchell Opera ShowRoleDateCompany, theatre, city, notesRefLuluLuluApril 1991Canadian Opera Company (COC), Toronto The Magic FlutePaminaJuly 1992

September–December 1993

October–November 1994

April 1995Glimmerglass Opera, New York – American operatic debut

Canadian Opera Company (COC), Toronto

English National Opera (ENO), London – English operatic debut

Madison Opera, Wisconsin

Così fan tutteDespinaNovember 1992

November 2001-May 2002

December 2002Canadian Opera Company (COC), Toronto

Scottish Opera Company, Scotland and Brighton Festival

Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp

June–July 2001English National Opera (ENO), London

Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp

March 2000

March–April 2003

July 2005Opera North, Leeds and North UK Tour

Národní Divadlo Prague Opera, Prague

Opera North, Leeds and North UK Tour

Ravenna Festival, Italy

Cunning Little VixenSharp-Ears, the VixenJanuary–February 1998

June–July 1998Canadian Opera Company (COC), Toronto

November 2019

April 2020

March–April 2022Concert with the Belfast Ensemble, Belfast – world premiere by Conor Mitchell

The Belfast Ensemble, Outburst Queer Arts Festival, Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Streamed proshot from the Lyric Theatre, Belfast

The Belfast Ensemble, Abbey Theatre, Dublin and Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Plays Show Role Date Company, theatre, city and notes RefLiving on LoveLa Diva/Raquel DeAngelisJanuary–February 2016Asolo Repertory Theatre, Florida – straight acting debut Playing Away14 Jun 1994BBCR3. The first broadcast performance of a new opera with music by Benedict Mason and text by Howard Brenton, given by Opera North at the Grand Theatre, Leeds. One Touch of Venus3 Apr 1995BBCR3. As a prelude to Radio 3's Kurt Weill Weekend, John McGlinn conducts the BBC Singers and the BBC Concert Orchestra in a production of Weill's 1943 musical One Touch of Venus, a humorous indictment of the suburban American Dream. The production features previously neglected numbers. Candide27 Mar 1996BBCR3. Concert version of Leonard Bernstein's theatre-piece based on Hugh Wheeler's adaptation of Voltaire's satirical work, recorded at The Hippodrome, Golders Green. Trouble in Tahiti and The Telephone30 Apr 1997BBCR3. A double bill of American opera from the forties and fifties with works by Bernstein and Menotti, recorded in the BBC Broadcasting House Radio Theatre with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Side by Side by... Leonard Bernstein3 Jun 1998BBCR3. A celebration of the stage works of Leonard Bernstein, presented from the stage of The Palace Theatre, London, featuring excerpts from Candide, On The Town, Trouble in Tahiti, West Side Story, Wonderful Town and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Side by Side by... Cole Porter10 Jun 1998BBCR3. A celebration of the stage works of Cole Porter with the BBC Singers and the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by John McGlinn, with music including: Let's Do It (Paris), Night and Day (Gay Divorce), Miss Otis Regrets (Hi Diddle Diddle), Blow, Gabriel, Blow (Anything Goes), Begin the Beguine (Jubilee), Where Is the Life That Late I Led? (Kiss Me Kate) and I Love Paris (Can-Can). Side by Side by... Jerome Kern23 Dec 1999BBCR3. A celebration of the musicals of Jerome Kern with the Maida Vale Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra at the Peacock Theatre in London as part of the BOC Covent Garden Festival, featuring music including: Bill (Oh, Lady, Lady), Look For The Silver Lining (Sally), The Bullfrog Patrol (She’s a Good Fellow), Make Believe (Show Boat), Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Roberta), The Way You Look Tonight (Swing Time) and All the Things You Are (Very Warm for May). Julietta26 Apr 2003BBCR3. Martinu's surrealist opera Julietta (The Book of Dreams) in David Pountney's new English translation and production for Opera North, from the Grand Theatre, Leeds. The Seven Deadly Sins30 May 2004BBCR3. The last two of Opera North's ‘Eight Little Greats’ from the company's festival of one act operas put on to celebrate their 25th anniversary, at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. Friday Night Is Music Night28 Dec 2007

8 Aug 2008BBCR2. Jerry Herman Gala. Aled Jones recalls the best live performances of the past year, including Juan Diego Florez, Andrea Bocelli, the Band of the Grenadire Guards, Nancy Griffith, Joe Stilgoe, Rebecca Caine, Jonathan Gunthorpe, David Childs and Ailish Tynan.

BBCR2. Ken Bruce introduces Barry Wordsworth conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra at Watford Colosseum, with guest singers soprano Rebecca Caine and baritone Graeme Danby.