Life after the show · 3 min read ·

Chris Mann finished fourth on The Voice, then played the Phantom on tour

Chris Mann asked his team to get him a Phantom audition, won the role, and later built a Phantom concert with his own online parodies.

  1. 2012The Voice season 2Top 4
  2. 2014Cast as the PhantomNorth American tour
  3. 2016ConstellationAn album recorded on the road
  4. 2022Phantom VoicesOverture Hall, Madison
  5. 2026Jo: The MusicalProfessor Bhaer, Drury Lane
Chris Mann wears a black shirt and sings into a handheld microphone in front of a large American flag.

Chris Mann performing in Berlin · July 4, 2019

Photo: usbotschaftberlin elke a jung wolff · Public domain · Photo source.

Chris Mann’s interviews explain his Phantom tour role, recording from the road, and the later Phantom Voices concert after The Voice.

After The Voice in 2012, Chris Mann continued with concert touring. His post-show stage work included playing the Phantom in the North American tour of The Phantom of the Opera, a concert built around that musical, and other concert programs.

Part 1

The Phantom

2014

Returning to musical theater as the Phantom

Mann came to The Voice with stage training. He grew up doing musical theater in Wichita and studied at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music. In a 2016 interview, he said he wanted to return to the stage through musical theater. In December 2014, he described telling his team that he wanted to pursue Phantom after finishing his Roads tour, seeking a role that suited his voice.

He said the production announced auditions soon afterward, and once he got the part, he moved to New York for rehearsals. In October 2014, Broward Center announced that Mann would make his theatrical national tour debut as the Phantom from November 25 in Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, with Katie Travis to play Christine Daaé and Storm Lineberger to play Raoul.

2016

Acting the role and recording Constellation on the road

Mann described acting as a demanding part of the move. He said he had been performing as himself and had to work on opening up emotionally with the other actors. Understanding the Phantom’s changing state through the show was a particular challenge. He singled out the Final Lair scene as a favorite because it brought the character’s story to its crisis.

Recording continued alongside the stage work. In the 2016 Nashville interview, Mann said he was recording an album called Constellation from the road and spoke about writing with collaborators including Liz Rose, Keith Thomas and Amy Foster. He also said he had recorded Music of the Night because the Phantom role had become part of what audiences knew him for.

Large analogue mixing console at Downtown Recording in Louisville.

Mixing console at Downtown Recording, Louisville · illustrative

Photo: Jason Meredith · CC BY 2.0 · Photo source.

Part 2

Concert stages

2022–26

Bringing Phantom Voices and later concerts to the stage

Ahead of a June 2022 appearance at Overture Hall in Madison, Mann explained Phantom Voices as a concert presentation of music from Phantom and other Broadway favorites, naming Krista Buccellato for Christine and Adam Machart for Raoul. He said returning to the songs still moved him after his time away from playing the role. He also told the same interviewer that he would include some of his online musical parodies, saying people still recognized him from The Voice and others knew the pandemic videos.

Westminster College scheduled Bennett: From Gershwin to Gaga for March 2025, describing a program of jazz, pop and Broadway that celebrated Tony Bennett’s career. Jo: The Musical named Mann as Professor Bhaer in its January 2026 concert cast at Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

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Photo credits (3 photos)