People: Sandra Joseph

BACK AS CHRISTINE

Only yesterday, it seems to her, Sandra Joseph, '90, was enjoying life at MSU. 'I did all the normal college kid stuff, just be young and have fun,' she recalls. 'I wasn't that focused--but I'm glad I saved that for later.'

Later is now, and Joseph co- stars as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera's national touring company No. 2. Yes, the one that performed at MSU's Wharton Center. 'When my agent told me I got the role, I was in shock,' recalls Sandra, who was then in Seattle as understudy for Christine in touring company No. 3. That was last November. 'Then he tells me the show was going to East Lansing. I said, 'Stop right there, I've gotta call my parents.'' Not just her parents, John and Geri, of Harper Woods, but her relatives--28 of whom made it to the opening show. 'I still can't believe it!'

Prodded by her sister, Sandra first tried musical theater in high school, but came to MSU as 'no pref.' Despite her tremendous talent, she so she chose a 'safe' major in communications. But most classes were in acting and voice. She learned singing from associate music professor Meredith Zara and acting from Joyce Ramsay and Dixie Durr, who directed her in Pirates of Penzance at the Wharton Center's Festival Stage.

She still raves about them. 'They're incredible teachers, even compared to those in New York,' she says. While attending graduate school in California, she ventured to New York where, in between jobs as receptionist and waitress, lessons and auditions, she landed musical revue stints in Europe and aboard a cruise ship.

In 1993, back in New York and flat broke, she landed the role of Christine in Kopit- Yeston's Phantom. Ironically, that's where she was spotted by an agent who routed her to the same role in Lloyd-Weber's blockbuster Broadway musical. 'I feel this career has chosen me,' Sandra reflects. 'I did not choose it.' But she thrives in her role, and, like the character she plays, has the musical theater world in front of her at age 27.