"If You Can't Sing Pop, Don't Even Try Broadway"

Ok, so I was at this musical theatre class a few nights ago and the guy that was putting it on was saying some things I couldn't believe. One of them was " So kids, If you want to do musical theatre and be on broadway, you're going to have to be able to sing pop music. Cause thats all that broadway and musical theatre is anymore. Pop culture is taking over musical theatre. So like it or not its the sad truth." Then he went on a rave about how he was in Mamma Mia! (in Canada) and all this other stuff.
Ok, so the first thing that ran through my head was, What the hell was this guy talking about? I mean, sure musicals like Mamma Mia! and RENT are needing people with poppier voices. But look at the rivival of "Wonderful Town", "Little Shop Of Horrors" and "The Producers" etc. So I asked him about those specific musicals that you didn't neccessarily have to have a "pop" voice for. He didn't really have a comment back for it, and kept going on about the whole new "pop culture overtaking Broadway".
I just really couldn't believe that someone would think that there was no way for a person that couldn't sing pop music to get on broadway or do any other kind of musical theatre.
What do you guys think? I don't really believe that "pop culture" is taking over Broadway, and for me I really hope its not true to begin with. With upcoming revivals of "The Pajama GAme" and "Assassins", I don;t think that his comment is true at all. I love the older musicals just as much as the newer ones.
Please let me know what you think.

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It all depends... veteran of Mamma Mia Toronto right?? If it was Justin Nurse, he could tell me the earth is flat and I would agree...


But Broadway, ultimately, has always had a vein of Pop culture.. whatever was popular at that particular time... just like anything in live theatre, Bbradway is a very broad spectrum of styles and such...

Well it depends. There are shows that have hints of pop in it (Wicked's Idina songs) but the rest is pretty much Broadway (Wicked's Kristin and Joel songs). I mean you have Movin Out, Mamma Mia, and Rent. But I agree with Triplestar. What about Producers? Phantom? Avenue Q? Millie? Does his comment really make sense?

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Let's NOT confuse actual pop singing with Broadways *version* of pop singing. None of that crappy singing in RENT, et al, is what pop singing is. Not even Idina/Alice/Kerry are pop singers. They're legit singers with a bit of pop flavor at best. Emily Skinner, Orfeh, Daphne Rubin Vega,Taylor Dayne, that's pop singing on Broadway. It's organic, not what a legit singer *thinks* pop singing is supposed to sound like. Perfect example is Kerry butler in Hairspray.

The comment by the teacher is short-sighted, to say the least. The musical theatre is elastic enough a form to incorporate various styles under its banner. Just as opera has numerous styles such as verismo, bel canto, Wagnerian, etc., so does the American musical theatre. Like everything in life, the present ascendance of "pop" in musicals is merely an episode in a continuing and continuous cycle.

Thanks, Auggie. I've been around, just haven't had a reason to post much lately.

excuse me, Al, since when is the singing in RENT "crappy"!? that's just a stupid blanket statement that didn't make any poiint.

To stay with the originbal topic, singing pop certainly doesn't hurt your chances on Broadway, but i wouldn't say it's "taking over"....

Um, wasn't Kerry being a 'white girl singing pop/soul' in 'Hairspray' sort of THE POINT?

And there's no RAWK in 'Rent.' Simply blasting show tunes does not make RAWK. Which, in many ways, is the point of this entire thread. I can't think of anyone who heard 'Seasons of Love' and said 'Hey, is that Aerosmith?' 'Rent' is musical theater, no more, no less.

Updated On: 2/2/04 at 10:02 AM

If I had paid for the class, I would've asked for my money back. What a load of crap! Some shows require pop singing, some require legit, some require classic training, etc. There's still quite a bit of variety out there and there will continue to be for a long time. Pop musicals are not necessarily a sad thing, but there are quite obviously not the only musical style on Broadway. It sounds like this pop idol wannabe is filling your heads with his own unsubstantiated nonsense. He doesn't know the future of Broadway any more than you or I. Just like Disney is not "taking over" Broadway any more than Dodger Theatricals or the Weisslers. I think producing 3 shows in 10 years is hardly worthy of "taking over" anything. It's all the propaganda of people who are bitter because the shows they don't like are successful. Let's NOT forget, we don't define who is a pop singer and who is not. The industry does. Just because someone's opinion may be that Idina is not a pop singer, doesn't make it so. She did release a pop CD as defined by the industry. That is not my opinion. It is fact.

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I can do everything from Gilbert and Sullivan, Meatloaf,to 50 Cent and the Andrew Lloyd Webber songbook, as long as I break my blue pill in half.

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It's obvious that Broadway has moved to more pop/belting shows over the past decades. For someone like me, and I think Joizeyactor, it's a little scary since we've been planning on doing Broadway and musical theater since we were little, but now it seems like our type of singing is being phased out. We studied shows like Sound of Music, Showboat, and Westside Story which require legit head voices and now we see that every new musical coming out is almost all belting. Will there be any new shows that require a legit soprano or a baritone? I guess we'll have to wait and see... Or just pray for revivals!

I think that this phenomena about being able to belt extremely high is a phase that is going to wear out VERY soon. If you just look at history of musical theatre, vocal stylings vary and rotate throughout time. Songstress, you might find in a few years that there is an appeal to a legit soprano, rather than a belter for newer musicals. I know that when I go into an audition, almost every girl I hear now is trying to belt into the heavens, and some can't even do it properly. But it is just something that is popular right now. And I agree with Mister Matt and everyone else who thinks this "teacher" is full of crap.

However, as robbiej has said, it is very important to be a versitile singer today. Besides the fact that the musical theatre market is constantly changing, and includes many shows with various vocal stylings, why would you want to limit yourself as a performer to only being able to audition for, and perform in a certain genre of musicals? You are limiting the amount of chances you have at attempting to, or getting work.

But to say that the pop genre is taking over Broadway is quite extreme, if not nonsensical and inaccurate.


Cheers,
The Balladeer

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