Imagine being a college student with one year of classes left to go. You have dabbled in some rock groups, putting your vocal studies major to use. But things seem bleak, you don’t know what you want to do.

“I couldn’t even get a job at The Gap,” said Jason Pebworth.

Pebworth doesn’t have to worry about folding and ironing clothes now, that is, unless it’s the costume he wears in the production of “The Phantom of the Opera” that has taken The Civic Center of Greater Des Moines by storm.

The 25-year-old Pebworth plays Raoul, who competes with the Phantom for the love of the beautiful soprano, Christine.

“He’s in love with Christine,” Pebworth said of the pseudo-hero Raoul. “He’s overcome after running into her, but he doesn’t realize there’s someone else.”

That “someone else” is none other than the Phantom. Based on the classic novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, the musical tells the story of the hideously deformed Phantom (Brad Little) who lurks beneath the stage of the Paris Opera, exercising a reign of terror over its occupants.

He falls instantly in love with the young Christine (Kimilee Bryant), devoting himself to creating a new star for the Opera by nurturing her talents.

Raoul, Christine’s childhood friend who reappears in her life, also vies for her love.

“Raoul represents the real, or reality, that Christine can have in her life,” Pebworth said. “The Phantom represents the dream.”

Performing a lead role in an Andrew Lloyd Webber hit is a dream for Pebworth. But don’t be misled, there was no pounding the pavement and walking the streets of New York to get his big break.

“I got the role by chance,” he explained. “I was attending college in Dallas [Dallas Baptist University] and I actually read in the paper there were going to be auditions in Houston. So I went and auditioned.”

After a call-back, Pebworth was hired as a “swing.” A swing, he said, is much like an understudy. “A swing doesn’t have a normal role. They just fill in when people can’t go on,” he said. “An understudy has a normal role, usually a less principal role, while they understudy a principal role.”

Pebworth spent two years learning the parts of 14 different characters before gaining the role of Raoul. He still understudies the role of the Phantom, as well.

“I guess I still have to pay my dues,” he joked.

Some might argue that to drop everything, pack your life into a suitcase and hit the road is payment enough. But Pebworth said it suits him just fine.

“The road is a different thing,” he said. “It isn’t where anybody chooses to end up… but I’m having a ball. Anybody experienced in musical theater has to experience the road once.

“You are constantly involved with the same people everyday,” he added. “So, it makes us one big, dysfunctional family.”

Dysfunctional or not, the cast and crew of “The Phantom” enjoy getting to know each stop along the tour. Though their five-week stay in Des Moines is shorter than the usually six to seven week runs in other cities, Pebworth said he has had a little time to scope out the capital city.

And the audience that crowds to the Civic Center? Well, “you can’t beat ’em,” Pebworth said.

“In the larger cities, you get people who have seen the show dozens of times,” he explained. “Here, it’s full of people who have never seen a big show like this and probably never will again. So, they are the most excited and the most receptive. It gives us a real sense of accomplishment.”

“The Phantom of the Opera” plays through March 1, Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. There are also performances Feb. 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m.

Tickets that range from $16.75 to $61.75 are still available. To charge by phone call 233-1888.