Best Turn by a Non-Singer in a Broadway Musical- Page 2

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 9:42pm

Lynch was a non-actor, not a non-singer- his main career was as a singing comedian with a guitar. Wedding Singer was his lead acting debut but he had a long history of singing and playing already.

[jbomb]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 12:19am

Five women come to mind:  Katharine Hepburn in "COCO", Irene Ryan in "PIPPIN", Frances Sternhagen in "ANGEL", Imogene Coca in "ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY" and Lila Kedrova in the "ZORBA" revival.  I saw three men who would qualify:  Christopher Plummer in "CYRANO", Mako in "PACIFIC OVERTURES", and Werner Klemperer in the "CABARET" revival.  I never saw Vincent Price in "DARLING OF THE DAY", but judging by his work on the original cast recording, I suspect he'd be included by those who saw him.   

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 5:54pm

Elaine Stritch

Bea Arthur

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 6:00pm

"Back in the day, performers including Angela Lansbury, Robert Preston, Barbara Harris, Richard Burton Georgia Brown and Carol Channing were called "non-singers"

I don't know why Georgia Brown was considered a non-singer.  She recorded at least five solo albums, one of which was an entire album of Kurt Weill songs which aren't the easiest to sing.  Every show she did on Broadway was a musical.  People may not have liked her voice, but her career was based around being a singer.

[David2]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 6:42pm

Emma Stone in Cabaret! She was amazing 

[Ranger Tom]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 7:47pm

Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady

Richard Burton - Camelot

Irene Ryan - Pippin

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 10:55pm

Gothampc said: ""Back in the day, performers including Angela Lansbury, Robert Preston, Barbara Harris, Richard Burton Georgia Brown and Carol Channing were called "non-singers"

 

I don't know why Georgia Brown was considered a non-singer.  She recorded at least five solo albums, one of which was an entire album of Kurt Weill songs which aren't the easiest to sing.  Every show she did on Broadway was a musical.  People may not have liked her voice, but her career was based around being a singer.

 

"

GOTH, I ADORE Georgia Brown and have seen her in three shows (CARMELINA and SIDE BY SIDE on Bway, ROZA in L.A.); but I don't recall her ever being called a "singer" in the sense of Nancy Dussault or Karen Morrow. William Shatner recorded albums, too, but I don't think that makes him a singer. On the other hand, neither Bob Dylan nor Bruce Springsteen is known for his singing per se, yet they've sold millions of albums between them.

We haven't even mentioned Rex Harrison here and, based on film and recordings, I don't know anybody ever talked-sang better than he! In fact, I think one could say that a characteristic of the "golden age" of the American musical is that many of the best performances were given by people considered non-singers in their day.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 11:27am

Georgia Brown was most definitely famous as a singer; in fact, her Wikipedia bio identifies her first and foremost as an "English singer." She worked as a nightclub singer for years before her first acting gig, and appeared on countless variety shows as a singer, and put out many albums as a real singer (not a novelty sprechstimmer like Shatner). On top of that, there are countless people who think she had a terrific voice and terrific style as a singer.

 

Imogene Coca, mentioned earlier here, made a very lucrative living singing in nightclubs, on Your Show of Shows, and in New Faces. She may have been a comic singer, but comic singers (Danny Kaye, Bea Lillie, etc.) are validly called "singers" as much as any others.

 

Elaine Stritch, also mentioned here, made a good living as a nightclub singer for years, too, and released a successful solo album. Perhaps she didn't have as pure a tone as, say, Barbara Cook, but people clearly liked her way with a song.

 

This thread rather annoyingly does little more than betray some strange prejudice among some, who seem to believe that "singing" is a term that can only be applied to a particular tone that they personally find attractive.

Updated On: 9/8/15 at 11:27 AM

[gypsy101]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 5:37pm

I assumed the term non-singer refers mainly to actors who aren't known for their singing and maybe didn't spend a formative part of their youth singing in school and choirs (and taking lessons) and then going on to college to study it further in the hopes of singing professionally, be it in the studio, in concert or in stage musicals. A non-singer succeeding on Broadway (or even a musical film) is, in my mind, an actor who hasn't done much or any professional singing (or years of preparation of that kind of singing) appearing in a musical and getting the rave reviews like Roz Russell got in Wonderful Town (I don't think she'd done much singing before that). Mentioning people like Emma Stone in Cabaret is simply incorrect because Emma did much singing and studying to sing in her life: she was a finalist on the singing competition that aimed to produce an updated version of the Partridge Family on television; I think a pilot was made but the show wasn't picked up by a network (I think I heard she also had vocal nodules at some point). There's a big difference between a non-singing actor appearing in a musical and an actor who has done much singing, although their singing isn't a known aspect of their talent or career.

 

I adore Elaine Stritch and wouldn't refer to her as a non-singer by any means. jbomb mentioned Vincent Price and I agree that he is wonderful on the cast album of Darling of the Day.