Sarah Brightman bringing 'Christmas Symphony' to NJ State Theatre, Ocean Casino Resort

During the peak of COVID-19, Sarah Brightman brought Christmas music to a historic church in London.

And the world listened.

"I'm not sure I would ever have done it, really, (if not for the pandemic shutdown) and I did it because I thought I have do something ... to cheer everybody up, even if it's just in my own country," Brightman said. "And I wanted to employ some musicians and people so that we all have something to look forward to."

Her concert offering was picked up by television stations around the globe, bringing joy to a world that badly needed it.

Since then, she's brought her concert, "A Christmas Symphony," to venues ranging from Japan to North America. She visits New Jersey, at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City and the State Theatre in New Brunswick, this week.

Simply put, "I love Christmas," said the world's best-selling soprano, who has been streamed over 1 billion times in addition to album sales topping 40 million.

"I love all the emotions attached to it, whether they're slightly sad or they're incredibly happy or traditional, or being with your family, and the religious side as well," she added.

A UNESCO Artist for Peace Ambassador, Brightman also probably best known for originating the role of Christine Daaé in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" on both the West End and Broadway.

"A Christmas Symphony" sees Brightman accompanied by an orchestra, choir and special guests.

"It takes people through a wonderful, wonderful journey," Brightman said. "It's very emotional. I use a lot of beautiful lighting. It's a little bit like I'm a character in a snow globe, with this amazing choir around me, this amazing orchestra, a few band members. And I'm there on this platform that goes up through the middle of it all."

Putting together any concert in a seamless, flowing manner takes skill, but with a catalogue the size of Brightman's and the entire Christmas canon, it's especially hard.

"I work emotionally, I work practically," Brightman said. " ... There are many Christmas songs I could take on, but it just wouldn't be right that I was singing them because I wouldn't suit them. I have to take the audience through a journey, bring them up, take them down — spiritual time, party time, all of that. It's a story, really."

Sarah Brightman around the world

It's often said that music is an international language, but few are better able to prove that point than Brightman.

In fact, a concert in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just brought that notion home to her once again.

"It's such a different culture there and their idea of of entertainment," she said. "They don't sit like we do in the theater and stay still for a whole concert. They get up, they move around. They'll go outside and have a coffee with a friend and then come back. It's a whole different way of enjoying.

"And the thing is, they were still clapping at the same places that the audience always is. And I was thinking us as human beings, whatever our culture is, when it comes to entertainment we do enjoy the same things. We get heightened at certain times in the song. We get sad in the certain times of the song."

A return to the stage

Despite being well-known for her turn in "Phantom of the Opera," it's been decades since Brightman has treaded the boards in a theatrical production.

That's all about to change.

Starting in May 2024, she will tackle the role of Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, and the Sydney Opera House.

"I've been asked many times to do different roles, and it just didn't feel right," she said.

Norma Desmond is different.

'I felt it was almost my calling, and it felt age-appropriate as well, which I love," Brightman said. "You have to understand her journey. She'd gone through all the traumas that solo female performers go through of a lifetime of performing, and then understanding the thought of something being totally taken away from you almost overnight.

"It happens to many, many people, and some great movie actresses even in our time. I felt that I could understand the madness as well. What drives you to become that?"

"Sunset Boulevard" was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber when he and Brightman were married.

"A lot of it has been written on my voice, subconsciously, because I was around at that time," she said. "So it just felt right and I'm working very instinctively here.

"I hope I pull it off," she added, laughing.

Under that laughter, though, is determination and the willingness to take a risk.

"I think at my age you can take risks," she said. "And I think sometimes the age thing is a great thing because you just go through something — because how many more roles will you ever play? And so that's where I've gone, that's why I'm doing it."

Go: Sarah Brightman's "A Christmas Symphony," 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25, Ocean Casino Resort, 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic City. Also 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26, State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick. Tickets start at $49; Ticketmaster for Atlantic City, stnj.org for New Brunswick.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Sarah Brightman and 'Christmas Symphony' at State Theatre, AC resort