Colm Wilkinson

I love country songs. I love Broadway.

I suppose I've been very fortunate in terms of my longevity and my voice and the way it has held up over the years. I hope to be able to keep on doing what I'm doing until I can't do it anymore.

It's called showbusiness, and the business end of it is very important, especially now. You have to learn the business end of it; otherwise, you get ripped off left, right and centre.

The 'Donny and Marie' show is incredible. It's not a musical, but for sheer entertainment value and energy, it's a real 10 out of 10.

When you're getting on plans and traveling all over the place, it can be very hard to keep yourself healthy and avoid catching a cold.

I've always been told I sound black.

You do get a lot of people complaining if you don't do songs they have come to expect. I have to be careful about fulfilling that side of things and keeping it fresh for other people who have come to see the show.

My mom was sort of involved in amateur dramatics like Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, and played the violin. My dad played banjo and piano and sang as well, so there was all this music in my childhood.

As I tell my children, the first thing is always health. Get sleep, don't party, don't do drugs or drink. If your body is right, then you will be right, and if your body is wrong, you will be wrong. Live like a Buddhist monk!

My favorites are songs that I get an emotional charge from, whatever genre they're in.

People ask me how I sang the role of the 'Phantom' 1,700 times. And I say that it's down to good material. If it did not have good material, I would have had a major problem doing it for that length of time.

I absolutely had a dream of doing 'Man of La Mancha' one day; that's a long time ago.