Already nervous, she felt her tension mount. After all, she was doing Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway for the first time. And then...

"Something happened, which never happens," she said.

The sound board blew up.

"This never, ever happens," she said. "They've done the show a 1,000 times on Broadway without any big problems."

Until that time, when Ellenwood was waiting to debut as Carlotta, a part she's played several times in road shows, but never in New York City.

Nobody told her there were any problems, and she continued to wait.

"Nobody came to get me," she said. "I didn't know what was going on."

Then came the anouncement. There would be a delay - 30 more minutes before curtain would go up.

And when it final;ly did, Ellenwood delivered.

"It's different on Broadway," the 35-year-old Lincoln native said. "There's a little more pressure. I can't quite put my finger on it. There's more responsibility and a whole different feel to it. You had better deliver, which is fine. I'm a pro."

Ellenwood replaced Pat Hurd, who returned to "Phantom" road shows. Coincidentally, Ellenwood was an understudy to Hurd when both were touring "Phanotm" in 1994. Ellenwood performed Carlotta for the first time in Boston when Hurd was sick.

That performance was not without incident, either.

"Phantom" involves several quick costume changes, and an already nervous Ellenwood had trouble with one. She came on stage with her left breast exposed.

"I thought if I kept singing, nobody would notice," she said.

Wrong.

"The cool thing was it bonded me with the rest of the cast," Ellenwood said. "We had a champagne toast that day. It's become sort of a trademark signature for me."

Ellenwood, who took over Carlotta in St. Louis in August 1995, estimates she's done the part more than 1,000 times. The repetitiveness, plus the travel, wore on her and she opted out of the show in early 1997. She returned to her Manhattan home to work on personal projects.

Then Broadway called. Hurd was leaving New York to join the road show. Could she take over as carlotta?

Who can say no to Broadway?

Ellenwood didn't think playing Carlotta on Broadway would be that much different from the road show. Until she stepped on that stage.

"Like I said, I've done this a 1,000 times before, and I thought, 'OK, here I go,'" she said. "But at one point during "Prima Donna," I was standing dead center (stage) and singing with my arms open, and I was trying to take in the whole audience. It was a great feeling."

Just being on the Majestic stage had a lot to do with it.

"'My Fair Lady,' 'South Pacific'...that's overwhelming to know that you've shared space with some incredibly meaningful performances," she said.

Ellenwood said she never thought she owuld end up on Broadway. Or end up being a singer.

She wanted to be a diplomat for the State Department.

"That was my dream of all dreams," she said. "I kept singing and I kept getting paid for it. I have never stopped."

Ellenwood graduated form Lincoln High in 1980. She then earned degr4ess from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

She said she's been lucky. Because she's been good. Very good.

"I'm 35 and most (singers) come young," she said. "They get jobs in their 20s. It has worked in reverse for me. I'm a character type. I'm only 5 feet tall, so I'm different all the way around. I'll take advantage of that while I can."

In 1991, she received the Chicago "Actress of the Year" award for her performances as The Witch in Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Wood." She was in the touring production that played Omaha that same year.

Ellenwood's biggest highlight, next to her Broadway performance, was winning the Gold Medal and the Oxnard Prize at last year's Savannah (Ga.) Onstage American Traditions Competition. She sang America's music: blues, jazz, spirituals, gospel and show tunes.

The competition was part of an international festival. Last month, she returned to Savannah to debut a one-woman "cabaret fantasy" at the festival. "Libby," a story based on events in the controversial life of 1920s Broadway sensation Libby Holman, played to sold-out crowds for five performances. Ellenwood has also worked on the "other side" of the business as a fund-raiser, writer, director and producer.

She lives in Manhatten with her husband, Timothy Parasaca. And being close to home is another upside to playing Broadway. No more traveling. No more motels.

"I go to work and do exactly what I love," she said. "Then I come home to my own bed every single night."

For Kelly Ellenwood, debuting a new one-woman show was as nerv-wracking as singing for the first time on a Broadway stage.

The 35-year-old Lincoln native joined forces with songwriter Stewart Gordon in bringing "Libby" to the Savannah Onstage International Arts Festival last month in Savannah, Ga.

"Libby" is a one-woman "cabaret fantasy" based on the events in the controversial life of 1920s Broadway sensation Libby Holman. Holman was married to playboy-tobaccao heir Smith Reynolds, who died form a gunshot wound in 1932. Holman was a suspect in the shooting and nearly was brought to trial before Reynolds' family discovered she was pregnant.

"Libby" sold out all five of its late-night Savannah performances.

"We were ready for anything," Ellenwood said. "We had done a preview in Los Angeles for some friends. Here people were paying for it. It could have bombed for all we know."

It didn't. Despite a 10:30 p.m. start and no publicity, people kept coming. Ellenwood was overwhelmed.

"We had a very positive response," she said. "We hit something here. This may actually fly."

Ellenwood said her success at last year's festival (she won the Gold Medal and the Oxnard Prize at the Savannah Onstage American Traditions Competition) contributed to "Libby's" reception. "I think some people wanted to hear me sing again," she said.

But the show really stood on its quality, she said. Gordon wrote 11 original songs for the production.

Ellenwood said the next step will be to shop it around and find a producer. She's hoping that Lincoln Center in New York City or a similar institutional organization will pick it up.

"Those kind of places like to take new works and develop them," Ellenwood said.