UT-trained actor gained fame on stages overseas

By Carnegie H. Mims III

American-Statesman Staff

Monday, July 23, 2001

Steve Barton 1954-2001
Steve Barton, an accomplished University of Texas-trained performer who gained fame in Europe for his performances in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," died Saturday in Germany, a relative said.
Barton, 47, appeared in more than 30 UT and Ballet Austin productions while an undergraduate theater and dance major. He began his professional career in Europe, where he played leading roles in productions including "Cats," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "West Side Story," "Godspell" and "Romeo and Juliet."
Several of his CDs, including "Phantom," "Cats" and "Dane of the Vampires," sold enough to go gold or platinum. He received an IMAGE award -- the European equivalent of the Tony -- for best performance by a leading actor in a musical.
He also appeared on television, including two soap operas -- "The Young and the Restless" and "Another World," in which he played Bailey Thompson, a doctor who had served in Vietnam.
One of his first performances was in Austin's Paramount Theatre, where he danced with the Austin Civic Ballet.
In 1992, he was named an Outstanding Young Texas Ex by the Ex-Students Association. He and his wife, Denny Berry, a dancer/choreographer, have a presidential scholarship named in their honor for the UT drama department. Barton and Berry met while they were undergraduates at UT.
His mother-in-law, Sally Berry, confirmed Barton's death but said she did not know any details about the circumstances.
Connie McMillan, former box office manager for the UT Performing Arts Complex, said Barton was a special artist.
"I feel like he was the most talented student I observed in all my years working with the program," said McMillan, who worked at UT from 1973 to 1996. "It was the diversity of his talent -- he was a singer, musician, dancer, graphic artist, and he used all of those skills."
Coleman A. Jennings, a theater professor at UT for 37 years, said he taught Barton as an undergraduate. He said Barton learned German to perform in Germany, where he became a favorite among theater-goers.
Barton was acting there when his agent persuaded him to audition for "The Phantom of the Opera" in London.
"He told a wonderful story about how he was cast," Jennings said. "When Steve was called on, I think he said he had cowboy boots on and blue jeans.
"He went out and sang a popular Broadway song in German. He just blasted it out. He had this big voice. The directors said, 'Do you speak English?' And he just looked at them and sang the song in English. They cast him on the spot."
Even after winning fame in the romantic lead of Raoul in "Phantom," Barton still returned to Austin to offer advice to aspiring actors in UT's theater program, Jennings said.
During one of those visits, he offered the Statesman a perspective on his career.
"In Vienna, my dressing room for 'Cats' turned out to be where Beethoven lived while he wrote 'Fidelio,' " Barton said. "When I did 'La Cage Aux Folles' in Berlin, at a marvelous opera house renovated in 1985, the stage once held Maria Callas.
"My dressing room at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, where I broke into the role of Vicomte Raoul in 'Phantom,' was once the office of actor-manager Beerbohm Tree."
Barton had been doing theatrical work in Germany and Austria for the past few years.
Barton is also survived by his son, Edward.