Watch out, “Phantom.”

“Phantom of the Opera” star Franc D’Ambrosio certainly commanded the stage last Friday night with his Broadway performance at the Northshore Performing Arts Center (Photos).

However, Ksenia Popova, 20, of Lynnwood and Ryan Wuflestad, 21, of Woodinville gave the star a run for his money during their duet, “All I Ask of You,” from “Phantom.” Sixty singers ages 13-21 sent in CDs to be evaluated, D’Ambrosio and several judges whittled the list down to six (three girls and three boys) to perform during Thursday night’s master class — and then Popova and Wuflestad got the nod for the big show as “Christine” and “Raoul.”

Like D’Ambrosio, Popova and Wuflestad signed autographs and posed for pictures after the concert.

“It was awesome. I was a little nervous,” Wuflestad said. “The experience was incredible, I couldn’t ask for anything else.”

Added Popova: “It was amazing, you (Wuflestad) were wonderful. You were there, you held my hand.

“There’s many more to come,” she noted about her future performances.

Judge Leslie Foley of the Northshore Performing Arts Center Foundation said that watching the master class —which included Brent Byhre of Kenmore — was a satisfying, insightful experience. “Myself, as an actor, I could take into my profession what he was teaching the singers,” she said. “It was just wonderful. He really, really taught them how to sell the story of the song.”

During the master class, D’Ambrosio sang with the contestants, critiqued them (“What differentiates you? I wanna see you put something into it unlike anyone else”), had them speak lyrics (“Share with us so we know what you’re going through”) to embed the meaning in their minds and actions — and shared many jokes with them.

The “Phantom” and Wuflestad had one of the more interesting exchanges. D’Ambrosio told the student not to bring single pages of his song choice to the pianist, but to hand them off in booklet form.

“I’m sorry,” Wuflestad said.

“Don’t be sorry. This is where we learn — it’s better to learn here than out there,” D’Ambrosio volleyed back. He added later: “I may seem like I’m being harsh, but I want you guys to get the job. I wanna work with you.”

D’Ambrosio also said that it was OK for these singers to be quiet sometimes to digest the meaning of the lyrics before piping up.

“Silence … silence is golden, and it’s so effective more than doing anything. And really feeling and communicating when you’re singing,” Popova said of her lessons learned at master class.

Added Kenmore’s Byhre: “Today I learned that music is a story and a piece of poetry, that you have to understand before you can express it through music. If you can’t say it from memory, you shouldn’t be singing it.

“Just enjoy what you’re doing and become the character.”