Legit singing on Broadway- Page 2

[TabooPhan1]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 4:29pm

Just a different perspective:

I'm a lyric tenor (I only go to about an A or Bb) and I've found it hard being cast in my vocal range because I'm more of a character actor. It's all perspective, I think unless you're an ingenue you really have to work to fit.

GClef- I can understand how you would conclude that new styles would influence stamina towards an 8 show per week schedule (it obviously does), but even trained operatic (or "legit") singers claim that no one should perform 8 shows a week. It's apparently very damaging...

I've also commented on this before, but I think the mic situation is a little jaded. I think mics are a little more necissary nowadays because A: theaters are not as small as they used to be. Look at the Shubert in comparison to the Minskoff. There's a HUGE difference. B: Musical Theatre (as it has always done) is evolving. The style is different and requires different technique... My only point is that you can't really get upset with the style for evolving. Afterall, Sondheim was fairly revolutionary in style. Without evolution we'd still be listening to chamber music :P Without evolution there would be no Godspell, Pippin, Jesus Christ Superstar, etc...

HAVING SAID THAT: I agree that modern music is too obsessed with lengthy ranges and not quality of voice. However, I think it's possible to have a good quality pop voice. I can sound pop-ish or a little more legit if I want. I think I'm really a general mix of both, not really leaning one way or the other. It's all about preference I guess, but the times they are a changing, and I personally enjoy it :P

[wickedkiwi]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 5:37pm

i agree with taboophan there.

i guess the bottom line is that, like in everything, it's all about how well rounded you are: more styles = more musicals = more work for the flexible singer.

however i completely get what the others are saying. i honestly don't think i've ever even heard a bass singer on broadway in the last 6 or so years, and indeed each year the songs just get higher and higher for all singers. And while the styles may be evolving, our voices are not -- I seriously think more scientific study regarding what actually IS or IS NOT safer for the vocal chords is SERIOUSLY in order. are our chords made for belting or singing legit? is it different for each person? etc. we can hardly judge millennia of human evolution based on a sole 100 or so years of musical theater history, or even the few centuries of bel canto and such techniques. however we have no record of how (if at all) our caveman ancestors sang, so really we may never even know.

on another note: as a girl, i'm sick of hearing people say "oh, she's talented" just because someone can belt higher than so and so. for me, talented is the performer that makes me FEEL something, and to that extent i believe that, for the most part, Broadway's been dead for years.

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 6:14pm

Belting is not dangerous so long as it is done properly. The reason so many classically trained singers/teachers say that belting is dangerous is because using classical breathing techniques whilst belting is dangerous. If you are taught properly how to belt, it's not dangerous. Check out any info on Estill vocal work, it's very interesting. It really helped me, because so many teachers talk about singing in such a wishy-washy artsy-fartsy way that actually KNOWING what is going on when you're singing helps you correct problems and change styles and increase your range much easier [sorry, bad grammar - tired]. Very practical.

[Operagod01]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 11:06pm

mixed belting is NOT dangerous at all. When the belting gets too wide then problems start. There are also some really "freakish" vocalists who can break all the rules and never get into vocal trouble.

The majority of us need to have a technique we can depend on. People think Merman belted. If you just mean that her voice was loud, yes she "belted it out", but her voice was MIXED. Judy Kuhn has a mix so well integrated that you untrained ears think it's all chest voice. Marin Mazzie has that as well.

What has changed is what kind of tone quality is accepted as being "beautiful"...Yikes! what some people call beautiful is so ugly to me. I am NOT one of those people that thinks belting is ugly, but there sure are a great many people singing on Broadway that have ugly voices. As actors we need to be able to make many sounds, but screaming your way through something does not make you a talented singer. And, as I said before, if you ever heard some of these people w/o their mics.. LORD! That's why when we hear an interesting voice we jump at it! So mnay of them sound the same.. nasal and no overtones! But there are also some people that think Judy Kuhn, Audra, and Marin are a bore (I am NOT one of those people). I think Idina can be amazing, but a unique "beautiful" voice as compared to the above three ladies... no, I think not!

[iliketheater]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 11:44pm

touche Opergod*

I apologize if this is threadjacking, but I remember a thread & article not too long ago about creating a new form of theatre... Musical theatre to be done in opera houses such as the Met (if I'm not mistaken). This is something that I can not wait to see; belting can be great, but I always prefer a legit voice.

Not to mention this form of theatre (if & when it should ever appear) would give the oppportunity for all our legit MT super stars to show off their vocal chops, and maybe even be considered for more Opera productions... our I can dream that it will anyway

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 12:25am

MERMAN had a "mix"?
I always thought that She and McArdle were the only true Belters cause they have no mix.
Even Karen Morrow had a mix.
Is it the writer's these days that write Music
"all ovet he chart"
and not for one specific range?
I prefer Baritones to Tenors.

[GClef2]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 2:36am

Betty Buckley on Elegies.

That is some of the most painful-sounding belting I have ever heard...

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 7:18am

Ok, well, maybe I'll make myself unpopular on this topic as the posters here seem to be singers mostly. I'm the type of person who can pretty much listen to all styles of singer and appreciate SO LONG as that person knocks my socks off in the acting department. If it's just a beautiful voice with expression, I can appreciate that, but it doesn't do it for me, you know. I think singing is generally (for me) a secondary regard. That's the reason I prefer Idina (with her rough, and frankly sometimes bizarre vocal choices) because she is ALWAYS (well everytime I've seen her) been completely in the moment and connected to what she's doing. That excites me far more than someone like Hugh Panaro who has a beautiful voice, but seems to pose his way through his roles...again, not trying to slur Hugh, his voice is beautiful and I have seen only limited performances by him...all on tape.

I don't know, I don't think I'm making much sense.
The acting, for me, is paramount.

[GuyfromGermany]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 7:25am

Very good point, Camp Actor!

I just saw a wonderful production of "Fiddler on the Roof" and the actor playing Tevye wasn't the best singer but he acted the part so good that it was a joy watching him!
But I guess Tevye is one of those roles which rely more on good acting than good singing anyway...

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 7:26am

I was once a VERY legit tenor. I have a very high voice with almost no low register whatsoever. I deal with it.
Back in the day, doing mostly legit work, it didn't matter I was a bit overweight (well, more than a bit). Then I moved to NYC and my very ingenue/young leading man tenor voice did not sit with my very character look. So I struggled for awhile.
Then my pop voice really developed, I lost a lot of weight and my look finally fit my voice. Suddenly, casting abounds.
This is sort of a discussion for another thread but that's an important thing in musical theatre (and, as always noted, just not as important in opera): it's vitally important that you LOOK like Raoul if your voice matches the type.