NR: How do you take care of your voice?

SB: I'm such a nerd. I don't go out to bars at all. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't do any drugs. I basically just pamper it. I'm not one to scream and party all night long. Just going home... my idea of a nice evening out is having ice cream and coffee. I don't even do coffee actually, because there's caffeine in it. So, I'm just lucky.

NR: Have you also sung in choirs?

SB: Oh, yeah. I've sung in lots of choirs actually. When I was in college I did some choir work there.

NR: Is that a different type of singing?

SB: Hmmm, is it different? It's different because it's not as much acting.

NR: Do you sing in the same manner when you're doing ensemble in the show that you would if you were singing in a school choir? Or, is it a different type of voice that you're using?

SB: It's a different type in college because I would say that it was more operatic in college. Here, you have to say words that people can understand so I use more of my speaking voice-singing. There I had a more stylized, more operatic sound because they wanted a richer choral sound.

NR: You have to really blend in the ensemble. I know everyone on that stage can do solo work, but it has to sound like a chorus.

SB: Right. It's also Frank Wildhorn's music, because it's a lot different than Phantom of the Opera. You usually speak Frank's songs, where in Phantom, you're way above where you usually speak - you have to sing all these high notes.

NR: What type of training would you recommend for someone who has a soprano range but wants to improve her power?

SB: What I say about acting is that Shakespeare is the foundation. I would say opera is the foundation for singing. A lot of people don't have to start in opera, but I realize that when you can sing opera, you sing so properly that you find out how to use your voice and breath so that it's as powerful as it can be, so when you go to do other things, it seems easy. I went from first doing some opera stuff to doing musical theater, and it was a lot easier. The phrases were easier because it wasn't really long lyrical Italian phrases. Instead, it was just speaking - you want to speak your feelings. What I did was when I came to New York, I went to a vocal teacher who worked on every voice. I could hit a C and sing it rock or pop or operatic, because that's how he taught me. You should go to a voice teacher that isn't against singing a certain way. Some people, when you go to opera teachers, will say never, ever belt. Never, ever do rock, and vice versa, if you want to sing musical theater, never sing opera. But, you want to go to someone who's not against it. You should know all of it.

NR: What's your highest note?

SB: It's an E above high C.

NR: Wow, that's great. Since you've been here a year and a half, this entire thing has been a roller coaster. How do you handle the pressures? You were closing, you weren't closing, then you had to go through the redo.

SB: It's actually made it interesting. I don't think I have as much stress as the leads do. It's more stressful now knowing that I have financial responsibilities. Before it was just wonderful finding out that I had a job. The show was going to close so many times and I just prepared myself to go find another job, which is what I usually do. But, because it always got revived, then I thought, "Hey, there we go." It's not artistically challenging for me now and it's not as fulfilling to me as it was in the beginning when it was a new process, so what it has done is it has enabled me to get out of debt and to get money so I can start a life in New York, and not rent anymore, and to buy a place. That's just so nice to have a home in New York. It says a lot to me, coming from "farm country." (laughs)

NR: How do you keep it fresh every night, being in the ensemble?

SB: Sometimes it's hard, especially when there's little to work with. But, there's always little things. I think I have the most freshness when I look at someone different in the cast. There are so many of us in the ensemble that if we're all doing something slightly different each night, then it will change. Like, Katie (Nutt), if I just look at her and she's doing something different, then I can react off of it, which makes it completely different. I just choose the different people to look at and just react off of what they're giving me.

Interview conducted and photographs by Nancy Rosati.