Highest Note Hit by a Male Actor on Broadway Album

[EugLoven]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:05pm

Let's put our minds (and ear-drums) together on this one.

Anyone know which male actor (living or late) currently may hold the title of hitting the highest-note on a Broadway album?

Distinction: Falsetto versus Chest-Voice

Currently, I'm putting my money on Tituss Burgess (for chest-voice) in "Under the Sea" (at 3:23 of Track 13) in THE LITTLE MERMAID

Falsetto can be anyone's ball-park, really:

Then again, is there a distinctively "highest note" by John Lloyd Young in JERSEY BOYS?

Plus Ted Neely busting through "Gethsemane" in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Updated On: 1/28/08 at 04:05 PM

[musicalmaster703]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:15pm

Michael crawford in music of the night

[philcrosby]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:16pm

M. O'Haughey in CHICAGO ?

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:22pm

I dunno about Broadway but I saw Jesus Christ Superstar in 95-96(tour) and there was a guy in there the had the highest voice I ever heard.
Edited to say his name is Larry Alan and he played Annas. I saw him twice and each time he just about blew out my eardrums.

Updated On: 1/28/08 at 04:22 PM

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:28pm

He's probably not the record-holder, but Jonathan Groff goes pretty high at the end of Left Behind. I can't even take listening to it.

[autopilot2]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:42pm

I reckon Billy Porter in Beauty School Dropout on the '94 version of Grease would be pretty close.

iTunes is your friend if you haven't heard it.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:43pm

I think it would have to be the boy from The Sound of Music singing in So Long, Farewell.

[NY_Broadway2]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:46pm

Well it would have been Brian Charles Rooney if they had decided to record the revival of Threepenny Opera but alas that didn't happen so I would have to say David Sabella on the Chicago revival recording

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:55pm

True voice or falsetto?

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 5:16pm

I agree Tituss has the highest Chest voice I have ever heard....

[Juliash]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 5:23pm

"I think it would have to be the boy from The Sound of Music singing in So Long, Farewell."

No way that's only a G...

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 5:28pm

If Falsetto, I would think any of the Mary Sunshine's on CHICAGO recordings.

[Glory]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 5:30pm

the latest roger on the new grease cast recording, in Mooning.

[gottadance2]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 5:37pm

I love Tituss but the man who is doing a lot of mixing of chest and head which is AWESOME. I wouldn't put that as highest chest note. Anyone else with me on that?

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 6:15pm

For just a higher voice, I would think that the operatic character in the recent La Cage revival went higher than Brian Charles Rooney in Threepenny. Neither are on record, but both are equally impressive and quite high.

[SahDu]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 6:30pm

Darius de Haas hits a C# in Lost in the Wilderness on the Children of Eden album. Pretty ridiculous

Edit: Although, technically not a Broadway album. Updated On: 1/28/08 at 06:30 PM

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 6:44pm

Ty Taylor as Man 1 in Songs For A New World. That man hit some crazy notes on that recording!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 6:45pm

An H sharp.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 7:30pm

gottadance2, I'm with you. Many people don't realize that singers who do 8 shows a week aren't singing "full voice" or "in their chest voice" on those notes. It's far too stressful and sometimes physically impossible for the voice. Belters on Broadway who sing with healthy and proper technique use a mix, between the chest voice and falsetto/head voice that grows stronger and more resonant with time and training.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 7:35pm

not a legal cast recording but I have a recording of Rashard Waylor in La Jolla's The Wiz and hit a note at the end of Born on the Day Before Yesterday that is the highest note I have ever heard, higher than any of the previous ones mentioned on this thread. Anybody that saw the show or have heard any audios wanna back me up?

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 7:37pm

What about the actors who play Freddie / The American in the various versions of Chess during "Pity the Child".

Also, Anthony Warlow at the very end of his single recording of "Beauty School Dropout".

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 7:47pm

Philip Casnoff rarely hit that note on Pity the Child in Chess on Bway and it really sounds squelched on the cast recording. I saw him in Chess numerous times and, while those notes are high, the forementioned are considerably higher.

[toomeytwopiece]

Posted: 1/30/08 at 11:00pm

I couldn't resist...

In Threepenny, the highest note in the Jealousy Duet, is not the "high Note" for that character... instead, it was the High A in "Lucy's Aria"

My soprano is actually not falsetto. It's full voice. The High A doesn't actually sound incredibly high, because it's comfortable.

As far as my belt, as a tenor, the highest I have had to belt was a high g above high c... crazy, and always a safe mix.

so there's the threepenny info for ya The opera part of La Cage was not as high

[toomeytwopiece]

Posted: 1/30/08 at 11:04pm

oh, and when I say "belt" - it's a male mix... no male who sings correctly BELTS above a High C or so... it's just not good for you, and it never sounds right. You can growl and make it sound like it's belted, but that's the trick

[jv92]

Posted: 1/30/08 at 11:59pm

The person who originated Henrik in Night Music durring Later.