When one partner tours from city to city, staying little more than a month in one place, it can put a strain on any relationship. The solution: take your partner with you.

That’s what William Patrick Dunne and Carl Ferguson have done. Dunne, the dance captain for the national tour of Phantom of the Opera, and Ferguson, who handles all the production’s merchandise sales, have taken the show, and their relationship, on the road. For five years, the men have toured with one of Broadways most beloved shows.

Phantom, which plays through Aug. 10 at the San Diego Civic Theatre, has brought the two to San Diego.

They took time out of their schedules, separately, to talk about each of their roles with the production, and how their relationship works on the road.

Gay & Lesbian Times: What is your dance background and education?

WPD: I was trained at the School of American Ballet in New York City. I went into the Hamburg Ballet in Germany when I was 18 years old, and then danced in the Milwaukee Ballet and then Kansas City Ballet. I danced as a principal artist at the Santa Fe Opera, and then began doing national tours. I’ve been with Phantom for 11 years. I was on Broadway with Phantom and I’ve been on the tour for 10 years with this show. I started as a dancer and now I’m the understudy for all the singing, acting, and dancing roles, and I’m also the dance captain which is like an associate director.

GLT: How did you start with Phantom of the Opera?

WPD: My agent gave me a call and said they’re having an audition next week for Phantom of the Opera, and there were about 400 male dancers there, and it was an all-day process because there were so many people. I didn’t realize at the time that they only needed one contract filled, but I got the job.

GLT: How does dance and choreography bring a show like Phantom to life?

WPD: It’s an opera and a musical, and it needs the classical training of opera and ballet and acting to bring it to life. I think most of us are overqualified for this job – that’s part of the greatness of the show. There are so many talented people in it that have been trained from the high arts.

GLT: Has the choreography changed at all in the 22 years that the show has been running?

WPD: When a Broadway production goes up, it stays status quo to what it was the night of the opening night. Subsequentially, it’s had 30 productions around the world. It’s the same show you see in Japan, that you see in West End in London or you’ll see on Broadway in the Majestic Theatre.

GLT: What’s the differences between performing on Broadway and on the national tour?

WPD: On the tour you have to move every three and a half weeks – to a new theater, a new dressing room, and a new city. My boyfriend Carl and I travel in his truck and pull our car behind it. It’s usually 1,700 miles and about 30 hours to get there. Our life as a gypsy is quite unique, and not everybody is up to traveling around the country trying to set up a $20 million production each month.

GLT: What challenges do you and the other dancers face when you’re constantly changing venues? Are you familiar with the venues in advance?

WPD: There are scouts. Our stage managers will go a year in advance to a theater to see if Phantom of the Opera can be set up in it. We’re seeing if the show can actually fit in the theater. Sometimes theaters spend millions of dollars so Phantom can get the show into it. The set up takes a process of five days to set it up and 20 hours to break it down.

GLT: What is it like touring with your partner?

WPD: When Carl and I first met five years ago he would come out and visit me every other week. He just graduated from college as a computer animator. But Pixar and Disney weren’t doing any more animation, just distribution. So I invited him to come out for a couple months and see what it was like, and the merchandise job was open. He became manager of the merchandise company and his job is just as tough as mine. And if we couldn’t have had those two jobs sync up like they did, we never could have been together because I wasn’t going to come off tour. Now, we travel together; we rent houses through Craigslist instead of staying at hotels because I like to cook. … The last place we were in we bought goldfish, and the next people who come in will take care of and feed the fish. The landlords loved that.

GLT: What is it you’re looking forward to about the show in San Diego?

WPD: First of all California is sunny. We can get to the ocean on our days off, and I love people from California. They just seem to feel more down to earth and fun.

Gay & Lesbian Times: What was it like going from having a background in computer animation to touring with Phantom? Did you see that coming?

CF: No, it was greatly out of the blue. We were just hanging out at a bar in Orlando and this guy [Dunne] walks up and starts hitting on me and uses the cheesiest pick up line – “Have you ever been photographed before?” The funny thing was a week later he took eight rolls of film with me and ended up signing me up with a tiny modeling agency in Orlando. I wasn’t planning on continuing the relationship but after he left I missed him desperately. So he started flying me out to visit – and then he asked if I could come out for an extended visit, one to two months. I was wary of that situation because I didn’t want to be a roadie and I didn’t want to leave my life in Orlando. But I ended up coming out for the two months, and four and a half years later I’m still here.

GLT: How many national tours have you worked on and in what capacities?

CF: I’ve worked on one national tour, with Phantom, and started as kind of a peon in my job. Is that a technical term? Yeah. [Laughs] I just did the regular job and when the position became available, I started managing the merchandise department.

GLT: Where does your love from musical theater derive from? Have you always been drawn to the arts or did it rub off from William?

CF: I’ve always loved musical theater, and the fact that William is involved in that attracted me to him, but it was also something I knew we’d have in common because we both have an appreciation for it.

GLT: What benefits or drawbacks are there to touring with your partner? How does this enhance or affect the dynamic of your relationship?

CF: We couldn’t have had the relationship if we weren’t touring together. He is very dedicated to the show and has been with it for 10 years, so it’s not like he’s living any one place that I could go to. So really what it requires is me coming to him and saying, “I want you and I’ll get used to this life.” It’s just like every other life except you take a major road trip once a month and live somewhere new.

GLT: Do you have more interaction with audience members, and if so what have you heard the impact of the show is on them?

CF: That’s actually one of my favorite parts of my job is the fact that I’m the first thing they see when they come into the theater. Before any of the actors, before any of the effects, they see my big face out there selling merchandise. And they’re all so excited to come to the theater and so excited to come to the show – no one is in a bad mood. And after the show it’s really strange; some people are electrified by it, some people are stilled by it, some people are sad, but everyone wants to take home a piece of Phantom of the Opera and that’s what I’m providing – something they can walk away with.