Highest Demanded Notes in Theatre

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 6/3/24 at 9:17pm

So I was on a classical music forum the other day and somebody make a topic discussing how the general highest notes for opera singers rarely reach the coveted high C. There are exceptions-- high F's in Magic Flute for the Queen of the Night, optional high C's for Rodolfo in La Boheme, high D's for Almavia in Barber of Seville, and a lot of coloratura roles that have coloratura passages that sometimes reach above to and above the high C

This got me thinking about the Highest Demanded Notes in Theatre. We're talking the same range as this-- high C or higher. We're only talking full voice, though I believe the highest demanded falsetto note is the high B in Noel's Lament from Ride the Cyclone (which, by the way, is stupid.) Off the top of my head: 

Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde has two, one in Raise a Little Hell and one in the reprise of it

Judas has several notes that are much higher than this in Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus has a lot of notes around here and I believe one or two C#'s written, though many people skip them (and obviously Annas)

Apparently some roles in Catch Me if You Can? 

Freddie Trumper in Chess has a few 

Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd has a few, and some C#'s, and a high D, and I believe even an E (Pirelli also has two high C's, but most productions don't do the second half of his song so he never has to sing the second one)

For women, Glinda in Wicked has a high C in Thank Goodness and some Glindas sing a high E in No One Mourns the Wicked

Christine has a high E, very famously, and many high C's. By the way, people say this note is pre recorded. This is not true. Well, it kind of is. But it is dependent on the actress. I've spoken recently with some Christines-- basically, a good blanket rule is that, if they were real, trained coloratura sopranos who had performed in operas, usually it wasn't pre recorded. If they were any other thing than that, it was. So, yes, this is a note that really has to be sing if the singer is at all capable of it. 

And there's a whole bunch of old soprano roles that have high C's, but I can't really think of any right now because I'm not thinking especially hard

Like I said, this is all off the top of my head

Can anybody else point out any other examples of such extremes? At the moment I think the highest note I've heard from a man in a musical theatre context was a particular Annas in JCS singing a high F in Judas's Death. Again, I am referring to full voice. As for women, I actually don't think anything higher than the E in Phantom (or I guess in Wicked) is demanded, but I could be incorrect.