After plowing through the HAIR Actor's Benefit Recording, there are some definite "I know you with my eyes closed" voices!
Harvey Fierstein (no-brainer) Julia Murney (vibrahahahato!) Norm Lewis (perfect whole baritone) Shoshana Bean (nasal belt) Sherie Rene Scott (childlike womanly perfect pitch) Raul Esparza (pretty belty man with power on vowels and "s")
Then we skip over to "Bright Lights Big City" for more talent:
Jesse L Martin (pillowy soft yet aggressive) Celia Keenan Bolger (sensitive youth) Patrick Wilson (man's man kind of sound) Richard Kind (also Lenny Wolpe, twangy old man) Christine Ebersole (glass thin country edgy) Gavin Creel (as they say in "Camp" a real-life straight boy)
Then we can rewind time to the not so modern yet modern:
Brent Barrett (give me a baritenor to top him today) Len Cariou (and George Hearn, with maturity and strength) Chita Rivera (rasp and sass and beauty)
Updated On: 8/25/08 at 05:41 PM
See now I would have to say that Lea Michele's voice is distinct. Her singing is pure like glass and I always recognize it, and her belt I think is VERY unique. But, I guess she certainly has more of a generic sound than others listed on this thread.
"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster.
"Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."
"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." Oscar Wilde "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley
I wouldn't exactly call Lea Salonga's voice groundbreakingly original. It's gorgeous, of course. But she sings with the sweetness we hear from so many broadway singers. Her voice type is generally the voice quality taught by most everyday vocal coaches (non classical.)
Je veux - your Lea Salonga description is EXACTLY how I feel about Lea Michele
As much as I love Sutton and both Leas, these voices are the classic broadway style. Not unique to me at all. Voices like Julia and Daphne are distinct.
And TOTALLY Eartha Kitt !!!!!
I'm also throwing Laurie Beechman out there. May she rest in peace.
I'll also add Kelli O'Hara. Its not that her voice in itself is uniquely different, but she's played such a wide variety of roles in her career and has managed to find the perfect "voice" within her own for each character. Its not like Clara (from Piazza) and Nellie (South Pacific) have much in common vocally, but Kelli does both amazingly. And then there is her solo cd which is definitely the voice of Kelli, and I really enjoy that, too!
I suppose Betty Buckley has a pretty "Broadway" Broadway voice, but something about it is truly unique. Below is a link to "Open Your Heart" and "And Eve Was Weak"...listen how her voice goes from sweet falsetto to the steely mid-section she's known for to a growl to a throaty rasp and then back again. Incredible. Open Your Heart/And Eve Was Weak bootleg from Youtube
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