Is hurting your voice now a requirement for winning Best Actor/Actress in a Musical?

Amid reports of LaChanze's alleged negligence following her win for The Color Purple this year, and another thread a few days old about John Lloyd Young being pulled out of Jersey Boys midway through the show, I think it's time to ask ourselves:

Is hurting your voice now a requirement for winning the Best Actor/Actress in a Musical Tony?

It seems that too many actors are dangerously performing roles 8 times a week that could hurt their voices. Just look at last year's winners. Norbert Leo Butz had all types of problems being in and out of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels because of nodes this past spring. Victoria Clark cut down her schedule to spend more time with her family, in addition to noting the toll the role had taken on her.

There is no question that LaChanze and JLY's voices are in much worse shape now than they were this past winter when their shows opened. Now I know there's responsible people behind each of these productions, but isn't there a point where enough is enough?

Is the problem that we're casting great actors who sing very well, but just don't have the stamina to consistently perform the material?

And should actors be going out and giving their all no matter what condition their voice is in if it's only going to make things worse?

Just wondering what everyone thinks.

I think that sometimes you have to know your limits. I don't think anything is worth damaging one's voice permanently.

It's a really hard choice for a performer. If you take off for vocal health, you risk the public's assumption that you aren't dedicated to your show, which is most of the time, hardly the case. It's probably the hardest thing in the world for these performers to sit home while their show is going on without them, knowing that their fans are dissapointed. But it's something that has to be done if singing that night's show could end up hurting them.

Performers are humans too. Sometimes even the most trained singers can't do it every night. Most opera singers only sing about 3 shows a week.

In Renee Fleming's The Inner Voice, she has a chapter about "Longevity" that puts some interesting perspective on this issue.

Like Emily Skinner said after bursting a bllod vessel in her throat during SideShow - "There are just some roles you can't perform 8 times a week."

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Everyone wants to hear that high "power belt" now from the leading ladies (and gentlemen) in almost every show, so songs and roles are being written that push the physical limits of what can be done "safely" and comfortably 8 times a week. I'm not surprised performers are hurting their voices doing this.

There is no way to sing and sustain notes in a high mix or belt register without taxing your voice. Some can last longer and know how to do it properly... but even then, it will wear you out eventually, over a long run. The ones that don't know how to (or can't) produce these belt sounds properly are the ones to "hit the mat" first. Eventually, all will fall, though. It's inevitable.

Yet another reason why I don't really care for this kind of "star search" singing when it comes to musical theatre roles. I'd rather be wowed by other things than somebody's vocal range... like maybe their TALENT.

Hopefully this trend will go out of fashion eventually... but it won't, until musical styles and tastes change. And that could take decades for pop music to evolve to whatever the "next level" might be.

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I said it a long while back and I'll say it again, when composers stop trying to write in these far from necessary ultra high keys and people (like message board posters), stop being "wowed" by who's notes are highest, then it will stop. It's become a contest and pretty soon, there won't be anyone left to do it. Again, it's never "pretty" to hear high notes screeched by someone who looks like they're about to burst a blood vessel in their neck and pass out all at once, it's just the current fashion and it's absurd and foolish.

I say just lower the keys.

That goes for guys too. There's just about nothing for a baritone nowadays. Most male roles these days are written for ridiculously high tenors. It also keeps baritones who sing well out of work, putting in tenors who could just hit the notes, but not sound good instead.

In the case of JLY, it has nothing to do with this current trend of American Idol-type singing. The Four Seasons were an early 60s group known for Frankie Valli's soaring falsetto vocals. Those high notes are a prerequisite of the role and the group's fans that are now packing the August Wilson Theatre expect to hear that sound when they see the show so lowering the keys for JLY isn't really an option. The thing is that Frankie Valli himself couldn't sing two dozen of those songs 8 times a week (and according to longtime fans of the group, he hasn't done so since the 70s and leaves a lot of those high notes to his backup singers).

I just hope Young doesn't do any permanent damage to his voice in this role.

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Hopefully JLY's condition is just related to the sinus infection he has. He said there is no permanent damage. In his defense, he has been so dedicated to this role and taking care of his voice. He doesn't drink alcohol, caffeine or even take Advil.

I have nothing but respect for an actor/actress who feels he/she cannot perform because people pay good money to see a show and should not be subjected to a sick actor/actress who just isn't up to par. People get sick, it happens.

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I think that an Elphaba should only do 7 shows a week. Having to hit those note's sometimes twice a day is ridiculous! I hate when people complain how an Elphaba's last note in Defying Gravity sounded strained or screeched. If you were doing that 8 times a week your voice would be doing that too!

EDIT: I read an interview with Julia Murney and she said those note's used to be even higher but, Schwartz lowered them.

Updated On: 8/7/06 at 01:51 PM

I think the composers are not to blame... You can't take a role and then miss any number of performances for its difficulty, either you can do it or not.
I very much doubt that they took the part saying "If it's too demanding, I probably won't be able to do all performances, thank you".
And if they discovered the vocal complexities of the show and / or role during its run, that is not a valid excuse either.
You can't take the part to see "how it goes", or make up excuses after.

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We all know my opinion of LaChanze and I'd rather not have everyone bash me, but for the most part (with the exception of that wonderful thespian) Tony winning actors have demanding roles vocally and dramatically. People also feel the need to scream, even with those microphones. (Roles are also written for people to scream.)
On Victoria Clark's case- Kudos to her! I think it's great that she decided to spend time with her son. At least she made it known to the public, which is also a plus.

"EDIT: I read an interview with Julia Murney and she said those note's used to be even higher but, Schwartz lowered them."

If you are referring to the Playbill.com's interview with Murney, then that's *NOT* what she said. Her exact words were:

"And, I think — I might be wrong here — but I think [the key] might have actually been higher!"

Not exactly the same thing.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/98509.html

Sant, I guess I'm wrong. I thought Julia said it WAS higher.