VALLEY WEEKEND : Starring as Herself : ‘Phantom’s’ Kristien Performs One of Her Most Challenging Roles--as Pop Singer

There was a brief point during adolescence--between her discovery of the Voice-with-a-capital-V and her realization that the Voice was for operatic music--when Dale Kristien wanted to be a rock singer.

Which doesn’t mean that when Kristien takes the stage at the Alex Theatre on New Year’s Eve, anyone is going to mistake her for Chrissie Hynde. But the audience also may stop confusing her with another Christine: the character that she played throughout the Los Angeles run of “The Phantom of the Opera.”

For the last two years, Kristien has been making the rounds of Southern California concert halls without the aid of costumes, sets or Michael Crawford. For the first time in her professional career, the singer-actress is singing pop tunes without acting. So now that Kristien is close to living out that high school fantasy, does she like it?

“No.” The answer comes quickly and softly. “I love it when it’s over. It’s so hard . . .” She pauses. “I guess I shouldn’t say that . . . but it’s a lot easier to do a play, to do a musical, as opposed to singing an hour-and-a-half straight, one song after another. That is really taxing, vocally.”

It’s hard to imagine that anything could be more vocally taxing than Kristien’s interminable performance in “Phantom.” Unlike every other production, where the role was split between two actresses, Kristien did the show in Los Angeles eight times a week. She logged over 1,700 performances. She is, by her own admission, known as a regular “iron lungs.”

“I suppose the difference is that in a play I’m playing somebody else,” she says. “And I like that. In a concert I have to be me--and I’m really shy.”

*

Shyness, however, doesn’t keep her from hitting those high-pitched “money notes,” as stage director David Galligan calls them. Galligan, who has worked with Kristien on benefit concerts since 1982, says he used to call the singer a DIT--Diva in Training. But now she’s graduated to DCL--Diva Cum Laude. “It’s a joke, really,” he says. “There’s nothing diva about her.”

In a denim jumper and boots, the Maryland native looks more like the “tomboy and cowgirl” described by friend Bill Hutton, another singer-actor. Her cabin-style house in the hills above Burbank also feels more New England than Angeleno. The dominant feature of the living room is a Christmas tree that Kristien sawed down herself.

And with a combination of pride and embarrassment, Kristien also points out a wooden TV-VCR stand that looks like the product of a high school shop class.

“When (‘Phantom’) closed, I was virtually unemployed for months at a time. I didn’t know what to do with myself. So I took up carpentry. I build things,” she says, looking at her creation. She giggles a little, as if even she finds it a stretch to envision a 5-foot-4 soprano wielding power tools.

“I’m new at it,” she adds, “so my things are a little rustic.”

Such hobbies filled a fraction of the void left by “Phantom,” as did parts in “My Fair Lady” at the Pasadena Playhouse and “Fashion,” the last of the Theater Corporation of America musicals at the Alex Theatre.

Her career remains divided into pre- and post-”Phantom” eras, and she seems to still mourn the passing of the character Christine, just a little. She also still misses the “Phantom” routine: Wake at noon, nap at 5, theater at 7, one Pepsi before the show and one beer afterward.

Her current calendar of sporadic concerts--about two a month--offers no such regularity, except for the one beer afterward.

She wasn’t sure people would come hear her sing without the costume, sets and other actors. The insecurity stemmed from the fact that in the last years of “Phantom,” she had lost touch with the audience. She knew the house was full, but she’d stopped going to the stage door to sign autographs, in part to save her voice, but also for personal reasons.

“Oh, the deep, dark personal secrets . . .” Kristien says with a disconcerting smile that reveals perfectly aligned teeth, but little else. “During the run of ‘Phantom,’ my husband left, and then people would still ask me, ‘How’s Peter (Reckell, a TV actor)?’ And it just broke me--tore my heart out, really. I couldn’t do it. You can’t blame (the fans). They want you to know that they care and that they appreciate what you do.”

She had no idea how dedicated her fans were. And are. Galligan, who directs all of her concerts, has never seen any thing like it. “She walks on stage and she holds a banquet hall. You could hear a pin drop,” he says. “And then they jump to their feet.”

Hutton, who starred with her in “The Gift of the Magi” at the Coast Playhouse, is equally impressed. Other singers have moments when they aren’t sure what’s going to come out of their mouth, Hutton said, “but you never get that sense with her.”

*

The concert at the Alex, which is titled “The Best of Times,” will include Broadway tunes, some operetta and, of course, songs from “Phantom.” Also appearing are Jordan Bennett, who played Valjean in the Los Angeles production of “Les Miserables,” and Roland Rusinek, who is currently in “Candide” at the Ahmanson.

Kristien is, apparently, getting more comfortable with such concerts, relaxing a little, talking more with the audience. Galligan reports that she even chatted with a Lancaster crowd about her new boyfriend earlier this month. Even if she’s not acting, she is, show by show, improving her performance.

“There are 2,000 people who paid to see you. You can’t take advantage of that,” she says. “I feel very responsible for those people, that they should enjoy themselves. And if they don’t, I feel I’m not doing my job.”

DETAILS

* WHAT: “The Best of Times” New Year’s Eve celebration.

* WHO: Dale Kristien with Jordan Bennett and Roland Rusinek.

* WHERE: Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

* WHEN: New Year’s Eve at 7:30 p.m.

* HOW MUCH: Tickets are $30 and $40.

* CALL: Telecharge at (800) 233-3123.