Broadway and its sopranos, mezzos, altos, baritones, etc.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 8/11/10 at 3:07am

I was listening to some of my favorite Broadway sopranos tonight, Jennifer Hope Wills, Kelli O'Hara, Judy Kuhn, Sarah Brightman, Josefina Scaglione and Kerry Butler, but then I thought...is Kerry a soprano or a mezzo? I don't know all the notes she hits, so I can't decide.
What about Amy Spanger?

Also, was Liza Minnelli ever a mezzo soprano? She is definetly an alto now, but was she a true mezzo during her early days?

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 8/11/10 at 12:50pm

Note that I go by the classical system of vocal classification. In that case, you'd have to know where they're most comfortable singing. A lot of people can hit the notes, but they're just not comfortable doing it or staying up there. You also have to listen to their vocal timbre. If they have a darker, heavier sound, they're mezzos.

In MT it's much harder to tell because people play so many ranges of roles (Kelli O'Hara has played belting roles, Ruthie Henshall has played soprano roles, etc) and because they mix their registers.

I can't give any personal input because I've never heard Amy Spanger or Kerry Butler sing high notes. Amy Spanger has a fantastically dark timbre in her lower notes, so I would guess that she's a mezzo. Kerry's timbre on low notes sounds more like a soprano. I will say though that true altos are rare: most girls are mezzos or sopranos that just weren't trained to hit those high notes for whatever reason.

Updated On: 8/11/10 at 12:50 PM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 8/11/10 at 1:22pm

I guess I can only think of Terri White or Toni Braxton of some of the altos that have been on Broadway...thanks for the response!