This was my first job after graduating. I was very lucky not having to struggle to enter the profession. At the time, in order to work as an actor, it was necessary to have an Equity card, issued by the actors’ trade union. Only a small number were issued each year, in an attempt to protect members’ jobs. The Musicians’ Union took the opposite approach: anyone who signed a union contract was welcomed. Not all music gigs offered MU contracts, unfortunately, but the open-door policy encouraged musicians to ask for them.
Because I was being employed as an actor-musician, it was necessary for me to join both Equity and the M.U. This required the approval of both unions. I remember waiting anxiously to find out whether or not this had been granted. Fortunately it was.
Ken Hill’s Phantom of the Opera was premiered in the theatre at the end of Morecambe Pier, where the Duke’s Playhouse company migrated for the summer to find out if it was viable to perform shows all year round. I sat at a piano on the side of the stage, playing the Jewel Song and Valentin’s aria from Gounod’s Faust, as well as songs Ken had written with Ian Armit.
There’s more info about the show here
