chenoweth's opera voice

[AlexanderB]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:10am

I know that she has been cast for the Ghost of Versailles in 2010 for the Met, but doesn't the Met refrain from using personal microphones? I know that she was classically trained and has a wonderful opera voice, but will she really be able to fill the Met?

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:11am

I don't see why she couldn't do it. She has a legit Masters degree in Opera Performance. She should absolutely be able to fill the Met.
Updated On: 1/28/08 at 01:11 AM

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:12am

Why wouldn't she?

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:12am

OmG! ARE YOU QUESTIONING KRISTEEEN CHEENOWETH'S SINGING ABILITIES?!?!?!?!?!

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:13am

you're kidding right?
I've always had this image that when cheno reaches her upper range...it's like that scene in 101 Dalmations (the cartoon) where all the dogs start talking to each other in the city and eventually it just becomes a lot of barking....

her CANDIDE performance...wow...i had to replace a couple of antique pieces of Fenton glass on my sidebar.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:17am

Do they really not use peronsal mics? I didn't know that. Either way she's got a few years to practice...

[winston89]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:26am

Met opera never mics their singers.

City Opera doesn't do it for their operas. But, if there is a musical going on there then they do it.

But, the theatre at the met is built in such a way that it isn't hard if you know how to sing the right way to get it to project.

The opera houses that don't mic are built for that in particular and thus have amazing acoustics.

[verynewyorkcurious]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:38am

OmG! ARE YOU QUESTIONING KRISTEEEN CHEENOWETH'S SINGING ABILITIES?!?!?!?!?!

how dare you

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 2:55am

"City Opera doesn't do it for their operas. But, if there is a musical going on there then they do it."

Singers at City Opera do not wear body mikes, but for some years now City Opera has used microphones onstage for its operas. City Opera prefers to call it "enhancement" rather than miking, but it's miking.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3D91E31F930A3575BC0A96F958260&scp=2&sq=new+york+city+opera+microphones+enhancement&st=nyt

I'm not the biggest Chenoweth fan but I would think she'll be audible at the Met without wearing a mike. The Met has good acoustics, and singers with smallish voices have been audible there (although there have been rumors that some of those singers were miked).

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 9:09am

Cheno will be heard because she has a very bright, forward tone. This is more important than volume.

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 10:03am

Kristin's voice is gorgeous!

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 10:06am

P.S. The Met has also used "enhancement" mics for years. But shhhh, it's not a well known secret.

Milla

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 11:12am

It may be that the Met has been using "enhancement" mikes for years. I've certainly heard those rumors. But I'm not sure I believe them. For one thing, I do think it would get out, that it would be more than occasional rumors. So many people work at the Met. It would get written about.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 12:13pm

You don't have to have a heavy voice to be heard throughout the theatre. You do need a "ping" to your voice, and Kristin has that.

[steven22]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 12:25pm

any see her or hear anything about her performance in phantom a while back?

[keen on kean]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 12:33pm

Didn't she sing a recital at the MET? That would have tested her audibility in the house.

And they do enhance at the MET. Who cares?

[insertclevernamehere]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:26pm

She did an interview once, many years ago (I think pre YAGMCB) where she talked about how it bothers her that "young" Broadway performers needed mikes. She said that if they had been properly trained then they wouldn't need mikes and because she had her masters she knew how to sing without technology to help. I think it's posted at the America Theatre Wing website

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 6:38pm

If the acoustics are anything like Grand Central Station she could whisper it and everyone could hear her. LOL

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 6:49pm

Yeah, I thought she already did a gig at the Met? Am I smokin' crack?

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 7:52pm

She did a solo concert at the Met, which is not the same as appearing in a Met production.

I can't remember if the Met presented her or if she rented the Met for her concert.

Btw, the Phantom she was in was the Maury Yeston-Arthur Kopit version.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 8:25pm

Good, that's the better one.

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 9:24pm

"You don't have to have a heavy voice to be heard throughout the theatre. You do need a "ping" to your voice, and Kristin has that."

HERE HERE!!

[ashbash1990]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 9:46pm

Cheno has a very legit opera voice, it shouldn't be a problem... NYC_or_Bust, I LOVED the Candide performance, boy do I wish i was soprano...

[whatever2]

Posted: 1/28/08 at 10:03pm

a few observations/clarifications, if you'll indulge an opera parvenu:

(1) the new york state theater has an "ehnancement system"; it's a modified version of a system installed in amsterdam to deal w/ atrocious vocal acoustics in a hall built for other purposes. the state theater was built for dance, not voice ... city opera actually had little choice. that said, the best way to think of the system is that it mikes the house, not the performers. (in point of fact, the enhancement system places more mikes in the pit than "on" the stage.) it is widely hoped that the pending enhancements to the facility will improve things.

(2) the metropolitan opera house of course has an amplification system, but it is an urban legend that the Met mike singers. never.

(3) opera singers are trained to sing differently than popular singers. (i'd attribute it to the diaphragm, but there's more to it than that.) this is why the old battleships used to just trod out, stand on their marks and belt them out -- and why the new generation finds the theater that directors and audiences increasingly demand so much work -- singing AND acting is damned physical! being classically trained, i suspect chenowith knows what she needs to do with her voice to reach the family circle.

thanks for indulging me ... the stuff about amplification at both NYCO and the Met comes up on this board every six months, and i hate seing city opera's predicament (i.e., a sh*tty hall for voice) miscast -- if they didnt HAVE to "enhance", they wouldnt!

[keen on kean]

Posted: 1/29/08 at 12:39pm

Whatever2- thank you for a clear and expert explanation. The New York State Theater was built pretty much to Balanchine's specs, and designed for perfect ballet sight lines. It has more acoustic holes than Swiss cheese.