Vocalist.org archive


Date sent: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 16:09:46 EST
Subject: Re: Musical Theatre Fachs?
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Ok Alleson...based on your description (and the fact that you are doing
Iolanthe) here are some suggestions for musical theatre pieces:

>From Flower Drum Song..."Love, Look Away" Great song, romantic, sad...though
in the original show the character is Chinese, the song is done in reviews
also, so anyone with a rich sound can carry it off. It's in the Soprano book
of the anthology, but I work primarily as a mezzo (trained as dramatic
soprano)...and the richer & warmer the voice, the better on this piece!

If you want to show off comic character and a more Musical theatre type style
try "The Gentleman is a Dope" from Allegro (another R & H show). Though this
song can be belted (& often is), it also can be done in a very "torchy" way
and be extremely effective.

Trying for something old fashioned & stylish? "Glad to be unhappy" is a good
choice, as is "I want to be bad" (though this one maybe should be saved for
an even younger ingenue than yourself).

Many songs by Kurt Weill are wonderful "crossover" kind of
pieces...sophisticated music & he worked with a wide variety of poets,
playwrights, & literary giants...from Ogden Nash (One Touch of Venus) to
Langston Hughes (Street Scene). Well is a rich & rather untapped source for
musical theatre folks...& opera folks will appreciate the sophistication of
his music & wit of his lyrics. BTW Threepenney Opera (which he wrote with
Brecht) is one of my LEAST favorite Weill pieces, so if that is all you've
heard, don't be thrown off by it...look for some of his other pieces with
different collaborators.

hmmm.... a very lovely more contemporary piece is "How could I ever know"
from The Secret Garden. Very pretty & you might be just the right age & type
to place this song sung by a ghost to her grieving husband. (another soprano
piece, but not really high for an operatically trained singer).

On all of the musical theatre pieces, be aware of the STYLE of the piece.
Don't choose a non-legit kind of piece if you really only sing well when you
sing legit. There are lots of great old-fashioned musical theatre songs that
sound beautiful when sung "legit"...but the belt numbers, or numbers which
require crooning or a more pop type of presentation sound ridiculous when
sung as if they were full-blown arias (as do many art songs).

Best of luck to you & to all the other listers out there auditioning for
summer programs & the Met & the Merola etc etc etc. Barbara