The Best Male Voice on Broadway — Page 4

Aaron Lazar would have no trouble being heard without a mic and ditto for Kudisch.

When I think of great male Broadway voices, here are some of the people I think of, in alphabetical order: Len Cariou, Jack Cassidy, Stephen Douglass, Alfred Drake, Wilbur Evans, Larry Kert, John McMartin, Ray Middleton (if only he'd recorded more!), John Raitt. Some of those guys get in there mostly on vocal splendor and some on the ability to communicate lyrics. And some get in there on both counts.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Billy Porter, while he's no longer in his prime,he could sing to high heaven. Yes it is true he could sometimes go a little overboard with his styling, but he certainly made every song he sang his own. He had, and still has an incredible range, and is always emotionally connected to what he sings. But what always got me with him was that, for the most part, I'd say 90% of the time, his stylings were in service of the song. They reflected whatever was happening emotionally, on a musical level...his interpretations are always arresting. Certainly not a traditional broadway voice...but an incredible one none the less.

Hands down...Steven Pasquale.

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SporkGoddess -- just remember that voice teachers are just like anyone else, they have their own opinions and likes and dislikes when it comes to voices. Just because they are teachers and have experience in vocal training, doesn't always mean their opinions are exclusive.

The reason I say this is because I have had similar experiences as well. My voice professor in college LOATHED Colm Wilkinson, and always went out of his way to remind me of this. Now granted, Colm isn't for everyone, but I personally love Colm's voice, even if it isn't your trademark classically trained one. Another teacher of mine thought that Kathleen Battle was a hack...so it just goes to show that to each his own.

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Give me a meaty baritone voice over a tenor any day.

James Barbour
Norm Lewis
Terrence Mann
...I'm drawing such a blank right now. Ugh!

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Some people have said Brian D'arcy James. Agreed!! I LOVE his voice. I hope they use him for the N2N recording...but they probably won't.

I love Aaron Lazar's voice, but then I went to school with him, so I am a bit biased LOL. I also LOVE Billy Porter's voice; as well as Stephen Pasquale's. I have a lot of love for John Raitt's, and Mario Lanza's. Brian Stokes Mitchell's voice has a unique and emotive tone. Brian d'Arcy James' voice is similarly unique and he's one heck of an actor.

The rest are ok.. but they are musical theater stylists... not singers in the all-encompassing sense of the word. Furthermore, Constantine is a rock singer. Gavin Creel can sing his own brand of pop-rock, but he is mostly a contemporary musical theater singer.

I think of Kevin Cahoon as being more of a singer though than someone like Gavin. Kevin is more versatile, and is great in each style. Gavin is a great example of what the current state of musical theater crowns as a great tenor. I don't know if I agree with that. He's a great sort of tenor, but there are so many sorts now, and the theater is so forgiving that the standards by which we judge singers have changed. A guy's looks, now more than EVER, count toward a singer's status. That seems to be the number one reason anyone is thought of as good nowadays, whether we want to admit it or not.

Updated On: 2/5/09 at 12:33 PM

I'd go with Gavin Creel and Cheyenne Jackson

To be honest, I'm not into that whole operatic vibrato sound, all of those guys that sing that sound exactly the same to me. I'm more on the Adam Pascal, Norbert Leo Butz, John Groff ect. side. But Raul Esparza...he is the bridge between the "new broadway sound" and the "big vibrato sound". Raule is THE BEST...hands down.

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what exactly do you mean by "big vibrato sound"? All the actors you mentioned are trained singers and have vibrato in their voice, butz and pascal having very distinct ones (not to mention Raul's...). It's not as if they straight tone everything.

my favortive male voices are: Raul, matthew morrion, norbet leo butz, patrick wilson, hunter foster, jonthan goff, john galger jr,chenne jackson, hugh jackman, adam pasgal, guys from Taboo. ...nicole

Tazber-

Why are you so obsessed with Orfeh? Seriously, it's a little disturbing...

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Aaron Lazaar. That kind of really refined legit singer in males i hard to come across these days, but its sooo good.

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