A Phantom Existence

This is Dale Kristien’s Year of the Phantom.

For the last four months, she has been spending most of her time at the Ahmanson Theatre, playing the lead role of Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera.” But when she auditioned for the part last year, “Phantom’s” producers made it clear she’d first have to spend eight months doing the show on Broadway.

“It was tough,” says Kristien, who’d earlier starred on Broadway in “Camelot” and “Show Boat.” “I’d only been married six months (to former “Days of Our Lives” star Peter Reckell), and we didn’t want to be separated. But we both wanted me to do the job here, so we decided it was worth it. There were a lot of phone calls--and we saw each other every other week. Now we have a standing date every Sunday night.”

In such a prop-heavy show, does she ever feel upstaged by the techno razzle-dazzle? “There’s a lot of money involved, a lot of spectacle.

“But my job is about the story. I really do see it as a three-character piece: The Phantom, me, and Raoul. The chandelier isn’t my job. My job is what happens between the characters. And I’m on stage almost the whole time. If I can’t act my way out of a paper bag, no one’s going to buy it.”

And she’s getting used to sharing the spotlight with her husband. “When we met, he was the so-called star and I was the lowly maid,” says the Maryland native. “He was able to support me for a while; now I can support him, and he can take his time looking for jobs.”