What's available for baritones?

[frapperia]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 3:08pm

A singer I know was bemoaning the lack of songs available for baritones. I can only think of William Barfee in Bee, and a couple of off-Broadway shows that cater for them. What else is about? I know South Pacific has a bit...

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 3:20pm

Baritones are lucky because some low tenor roles or high bass roles can suit them, depending on their range, and several good musical theatre characters are baritones.

Les Miserables has Javert, and if you're a baritone who can sing reasonably high, Marius, and if you're a baritone who can sing quite high, Enjolras.

In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is a great baritone role. Gaston is really more of a bass-- he has to sing extremely low-- but for baritones with a good low range, they can pull it off.

Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun

Mufasa and Scar in The Lion King

Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd

Chauvelin in The Scarlet Pimpernel

Captain Hook in Peter Pan

Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha

Jake in Side Show

[philly03]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 3:34pm

Some more:

Edward Rochester from Jane Eyre

Jekyll/Hyde from Jekyll & HYDE

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 3:37pm

would Coalhouse Walker in Ragtime be considered a baritone?

I would love to be a baritone just to sing some of the songs from Man of La Mancha.

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 3:44pm

Joey in "Pal Joey" also has some great baritone songs. I sing alot of them in auditions.

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 11:13pm

Also Mark in "RENT" and Bobby in "Company." They're higher for a baritone, but not anything too ridiculous.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 11:26pm

Oh gurlfriend, dont box yourself into obscurity yet! There are some beautiful baritone parts everywhere!!!

What you need to first figure out is if you are a comfortable upper- or lower-baritone. The beauty of the vocal part is many baritones can confidently dip into the bass range and plenty of hidden tenor notes. Find your range and breathing ability (blahblah you probably already know this)

Crack open those industry favorites (available on Amazon). The Singers Musical Theatre Songbook (Baritone/Bass) Volumes 1-5 for some classy standards and plenty of modern stuff.

On Broadway today???

Franklin Hart in 9 TO 5
Usnavi in IN THE HEIGHTS
All Male Characters (Princeton is borderline) in AVENUE Q
Tony and Dad in BILLY ELLIOT
Nick (and sometimes Tommy) in JERSEY BOYS
Dan in NEXT TO NORMAL
Emile and Billis in SOUTH PACIFIC
Dillamond in WICKED (haha)

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 12:01am

^and the Wizard.

Judging by the male understudies i've seen go on lately, you don't need to have the high notes to understudy the role.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 12:49am

Is the only difference between a Tenor and Baritone (and the Bass for that matter) the range? Is it just your range or does it have to do with other things...timbre perhaps?

In terms of notes, Billy Bigelow is definately considered a baritone, but the part goes up the a "G" on the top of the staff (in the treble cleff).

Most tenor solos aren't going to really go any higher. On note higher to an "A". Henrik in ALMN goes one higher after that to a "B"...but those are only two higher.
So is there more to it than just your range?

[dayao]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 3:00am

Many of the leading roles for male singers in musical theater from the 1920's to the 1970's were written for a unique kind of baritone, known in the world of opera as a "bari-tenor", a lyric baritone with an extended high end giving such a singer the ability to also sing comfortably in the tenor range.

The European operetta, which was the template for early musical theater, utilized this type of singer regularly. John Raitt, the original Billy Bigelow in Carousel, was a bari-tenor as was Gordon MacRae, who played Billy in the 1956 film version; so was Harve Presnell and among today's singers, James Anest. Alfred Drake, Howard Keel, Robert Goulet, James Barbour, Paolo Szot & Natnan Gunn are baritones. Ezio Pinza was a bass baritone. Larry Kert, the original Tony in West Side Story & Robert Rousenville, the original Candide, are tenors.

The role of Ravenal in Show Boat was originally written for a tenor but in the 1946 revival through the present the role was changed to a bari-tenor or baritone. Many bari-tenors differ from baritones in another significant way: they usually have much more powerful voices than a baritone but this is not always the case.

The leading role in Pal Joey sounds much better with a bari-tenor, although the original Joey was Gene Kelly, a light lyric tenor. Most of the male roles in recent American musical theater are written for an untrained pop vocal style which relies almost completely on heavy miking for volume and falsetto for high notes.

[Larcen26]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:42am

Well, Musical Theater is really a haven for Baritones. Most of the calssics have Baritones as the lead.

Well...it was.

Current musicals only write good Baritone songs once in a blue moon. Prettty much follow Mark Kudisch's career and you will find the only ones of the "modern" era.

Everything else is written for lower tenors, but with very high "money" notes at the end that are generally out of a solid Baritone's range.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 11:01am

Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees
Sid Sorokin in Pajama Game
Harold Hill in Music Man
Joe in Most Happy Fella
Tony in Most Happy Fella
Tevya in Fiddler on the Roof
Curly in Oklahoma!
Hadj in Kismet
Bob in Wonderful Town
Fred/Petruchio in Kiss Me, Kate
Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls
Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady
Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady
Jeff Moss in Bells are Ringing
Nicky Arnstein in Funny Girl
Both Antipholuses in Boys from Syracuse
Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun

[frapperia]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 12:48pm

Why is that, though? I mean, I love this guy's voice, he's got gorgeous tone and I enjoy the range he sings within. Why is there such a focus on tenors these days? Is it the 'poppy' element that a lot of musicals seem to have? Updated On: 7/10/09 at 12:48 PM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 1:17pm

Larcen mentioned Marc Kudisch, which makes me realize no one's mentioned Carl-Magnus from A Little Night Music. he's a favorite of mine, for sure.

[frapperia]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 1:50pm

Haha, awesome, keep 'em coming. I am determined to keep this guy in musical theatre somehow (he's training to be a doctor too and is being tugged in two very different directions)! The more possible roles I can find for him the better

(This is him, btw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ghiQSN6ZxA + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-YONn1RCf8 - his voice makes me shiver! We met through Zanna, Don't!, which he was in off-West End recently)
Updated On: 7/10/09 at 01:50 PM

[Larcen26]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 2:18pm

To an extent, yes I think it is due to the "poppy" element to more modern shows. But also it is due to a belief that pervades a lot of "youth" culture at the moment...if you can sing high and loud, you can sing well.

Which is funny, becasue in female voices, the exact opposite is considered "fashionable" the lower and louder you can sing, the better. Sopranos roles are starting to fade away too.

I, as is shown in my sig, am a baritone so I know, and basically, the only choice is to disregard most things that were written in the past ten years at least. Especially if he is trying to build his rep. Some of the individual songs in shows are fine, but rarely is an entire role within a baritone's range.

Baritones have a long and storied history in Musical theater, if only some new composers would remember that.

Look into Rodgers and Hammerstein and Sondheim. That should keep him busy for a while.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 2:32pm

Which is funny, becasue in female voices, the exact opposite is considered "fashionable" the lower and louder you can sing, the better. Sopranos roles are starting to fade away too.

yes! I'm a soprano, and although I don't really sing solo, I know there's not a lot of newer musical theater stuff for me.