The Phantom Of The Opera, Leeds Grand Theatre, August 8 until September 15

Taking the role of The Phantom in the longest run for any show at the Leeds theatre since My Fair Lady’s matching duration in 1966 will be Welshman John Owen-Jones, who needs no introduction to lengthy stretches on the road.

“I remember when I did Les Miserables in 1998-99, we did three months at the Alhambra in Bradford,” says John, who will be appearing at the Leeds Grand for the first time.

This is not his Leeds debut, however. “Though I’ve never played the Grand, I worked at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 1995 in The Sound Of Music and I did The Hypochondriac there in 1997, so I have fond memories of Leeds and Yorkshire.”

Indeed he has. Fresh out of the Central School of Drama in London, John made his professional debut in Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice at Harrogate Theatre in 1995, during Andrew Manley’s never-forgotten reign as artistic director. “He set it in a concentration camp in the Second World War, which took a lot of guts as a director, and for a lot of us in that cast it was our first job.

“Kacey Ainsworth, who had been at college with me and went on to do EastEnders, was in the show too and I remember walking excitedly to the theatre with her, thinking, ‘I can’t believe we get paid for doing this’.”

After Merchant and The Boys Of Syracuse at Harrogate and his Leeds debut, John has gone on to play the juiciest of musical roles, not only playing the Phantom almost 2,000 times but also starring as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables in the West End, on Broadway and on the 25th anniversary tour.

Hard graft and long hours goes into that upward trajectory.

“When I was joining the ensemble for Les Miserables in London, I had to commute every day for three weeks from Leeds to rehearse. So I’d do The Sound Of Music show, get four hours’ sleep, take the London train, rehearse in London, then get the half past three train back to Leeds.

“I already had a ‘little Hitler’ moustache as I was playing a Nazi,” says John. “They were happy days, and my wife and I have such good memories of Yorkshire, we’ll be bringing our children up there during the Leeds run.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom has been on tour since February with a new design by Paul Brown, a new staging by Laurence Connor and new choreography by Scott Ambler.

“In the old days, because the sets were bigger, it took longer to set up the stage at each venue, but now the sets are easier to move around – though conversely they’re still bigger than in the West End,” says John.

“As they’re now designed to be mobile, they take 36 hours to put up, 36 to take down, involving 26 articulated lorries and at least 100 people working backstage on the show.”

• The Phantom Of The Opera, Leeds Grand Theatre, tomorrow until September 15. Box office: 0844 848 2705 or leedsgrandtheatre.com