PETER Karrie has played the Phantom 2,500 times, at least.

You may think he would wish to put Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical to one side, but not so. The Welshman voted "the world's greatest Phantom of the Opera" will Karrie on singing the Phantom favourites in his travelling show Peter Karrie & Friends.

Peter has booked not one but two shows at the Grand Opera House in York, the first on Thursday with fellow West End star Barbara Dickson; the second on November 26 with soap pin-ups Amy Nuttall, alias Chloe from Emmerdale, and Suranne Jones, Coronation Street's Karen.

"I did the Phantom songs the last time I toured this show, and I had such a ball doing that stuff," says Peter. "It was so well received and, at the end of the day, that show is where I got my profile from and where I got the success I've had."

The Peter Karrie & Friends shows take the form of evenings of song, anecdotes and musical entertainment with a rota of Karrie friends as diverse as Bernard Manning at Thameside and Ashton under Lyne and opera singer Bryn Terfel in Manchester.

"Bernard will be doing only a few shows on the tour, not in York, and not his comedy act," says Peter. "He originally started as the singer with the Oscar Rabin Band; not a lot of people realise that he was doing that in the 1950s - and it was Bernard who gave me my first break in the north west."

"For this tour, I said I wanted him just to sing, not to tell jokes, and he said 'Yeah, great'. He loves big band swing, he's got a great voice for swing numbers, so I'm looking forward to him doing his shows - and he's not personally a racist in any way, shape or form."

No Manning in York, but next week's show will feature one of Britain's foremost musical stars, Barbara Dickson.

"She's a wonderful singer of show songs, so her part of the show will be centred around the musicals she's done, and Barbara and I will do numbers around the piano," says Peter, who recorded Long Before I Knew You with Barbara for one of his albums "some years ago".

Whereas Barbara Dickson is best known for her singing and stage musical work, Peter's friends on November 26 are associated with their soap roles. Nevertheless, music has played its part in the career of both Amy Nuttall and Suranne Jones.

"Amy played Christine in the Millennium tour of Phantom, when she was understudying the role. She was only 17 at the time and was maybe a little young but she could handle the role easily, and to then see her blossoming in Emmerdale was wonderful," Peter recalls.

"She was then instrumental in getting the first Peter Karrie and Friends show together in Bolton and suggested Suranne could do it as well."

Peter first sang with Suranne three or four years ago at the Palace in Manchester. "She had just started in Corrie when a pal of mine said to me 'Listen, I know someone with a great voice. Will you give her a break?' I said 'Sure', and it was Suranne, She has this wonderful presence when she sings and you can't teach that."

In the November show, Amy will perform Christine's numbers from Phantom, while Suranne's set list will include All That Jazz from Cabaret, Baby It's Cold Outside and Miss Saigon. At both concerts, Peter will sing a Les Miserables selection.

The ultimate aim of the Peter Karrie and Friends shows is to raise money for the Noah's Ark Appeal to build a specialist hospital for children in Peter's homeland of Wales.

"Wales is the only home country not to have such a hospital, and that's why Catherine Zeta Jones and I have got involved on this children's charity," he says.

Tickets for each 7.30pm show cost £10 to £15 on 0870 606 3595.

OPEN auditions to perform in the Peter Karrie and Friends shows will be held at the Grand Opera House from 2pm on October 16 and November 26. See www.peterkarrieandfriends.com for full details. All acts chosen to perform will receive a payment of £100.

Updated: 12:52 Friday, October 10, 2003