Recently, my good friend and
sometimes student Todd Buchholz asked if I
would do a piece on “the difference between
singing opera and musical theater.” (Todd is
a REALLY BRILLIANT guy, so when he
speaks/asks, I really pay attention.
In addition to being an author of some
consequence, he graduated Harvard and then
taught Economics for them before doing a few
other odd jobs, none the least of which was
as Economics Advisor to President George
Bush, the elder and …he possesses a really
fine baritone voice.)
While I have written
previously on the subject and having given
it a new look, I may just have a fresh
perspective on the subject.
The first thing that jumps
right out at me is what Johnny Carson asked
me during the commercial break, after I had
sung my second song at my first appearance
on the Tonight Show. I had sung
Granada,
a powerful piece with a solid high G at the
end. The audience reacted well so ... Johnny
held me over for another segment, virtually
unheard of for a first appearance on his
show. After some light exchange, he asked me
if I would “favor” him with another number.
I then sang Spring is Here, a Rodgers
and Hart song from I Married and Angel.
While the audience was showing its
appreciation, we “went to black” and Johnny
excitedly asked “How did you do that? You
started with that big voice for
Granada
and then sang Spring is Here, the way
I sing it!”
Since we only had a minute or
so, I summed up my repertoire philosophy by
saying, “I allow my voice to assume the
characteristics of the repertoire, rather
than imposing upon the repertoire my concept
of my sound, Simply put ... when I sing
opera, I make a “full-out operatic sound,
but mentally shift gears when the lyrics of
a song demand simplicity and a more personal
intensity, as a for-instance.”
Boy ... that would really
sound pretentious if I read it written by
someone else, but I know how I “feel” about
singing songs of a great variety, sometime
in one venue; in my Community Concert
program, I sing Art songs in Italian,
German, Spanish, and French, an aria or two
and finish with the Soliloquy from
Carousel, by Rodgers and Hammerstein. My
first encore piece is Old Mother Hubbard,
in the style of Handel followed by my medley
from
Oklahoma
and ... if demanded,
Mattinata by Leoncavallo.
As I recall, the last time I
wrote about this ... I had missed the most
obvious way for me to demonstrate what the
previous words I have just written were
meant to convey; my readily accessible,
archived Audio/Video pages!!! You might want
to print this out-for reference-if you
choose you go there now!
Please go first to the
Tonight Show
Granada,
with Johnny. While it is certainly no
operatic aria, per se, it is definitely in
the genre; big, full, focused ... and loud
enough to be heard over the pit orchestra at
the Met ... without the use of a microphone
(that’s the important part!).
Now, play Spring is Here
and notice how I am essentially just using
supported speech to convey the pain this
fella is feeling in his loneliness.
While there, you might enjoy
the Figaro Aria, again on the Tonight
Show.
Scroll down a bit and play
my aria from Manon ... bearing in mind
that the performance is miked ONLY for the
television cameras ... not the 3000 seat
theater!O Rosalinde is a fairly
light aria of flirtation.
Now, for contrast, go back
up to the Rigoletto scenes-the greatest
baritone role ever written, to my way of
thinking-and play the Duet with Gilda
and specifically, the Cortigianni
scene, if you want to see and hear some of
the greatest music ever written.
Bear in mind, this is a dress
rehearsal, in theater ... no mikes for the
house! What you hear on the camera is what
the audience hears.
Now, for contrast, a concert
one evening in Benton Harbor, MI, in a
convention center, everything miked. Here ya
get more contrast.
I had a two-hour rehearsal
before this concert at 2:00 in the
afternoon. Neither the orchestra nor the
conductor had ever played any of the pieces
... so I had to sing-70/80%-into the
orchestra and cue the conductor, singing
through each piece ... at least twice. That
night, I had to then sing it for the
audience. The orchestra would play a piece,
I would come out and sing. (I must have been
nuts when I put this concert together, with
about ten high G’s, three high A’s ... but I
only had it dropped into my lap on Tuesday
when my friend Don Stewart called me from
Guam, where he was filming American
Ninja, whose filming had been rained out
and he couldn’t make his concert.)
Mattinata
is first, essentially an aria, written for
Enrico Caruso.
Avant de quitter
... from Faust
Largo al factotum
... Barber of Seville
They were three arias, with
three to five minutes in between, a whole
bunch of high notes and then, shifting gears
to;
Where is the Life that Late I
Led,
from Kiss Me Kate, by Cole Porter
I had to “unload the
fullness, less room in the mouth” my voice
and put on my musical comedy head. Listen to
the difference in the voice and how it is
more conversational, not as full or heavy,
dark, whatever.
And then ... listen to how I
had to pull back from the almost too loud
start to sing Johnny Green’s great
arrangement of Easy to Remember-I had
sung that with Johnny in the Hollywood
Bowl-by Rodgers and Hart. Crooning at its
best, a great song.
Then the great Cole Porter’s
one of a kind song, Begin the Beguine,
big high G on the end! It is a full-out
romantic ballad and a joy to sing. (I had
sung it with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston
Pops on an All Cole Porter Night. They paid
me extra for the recording but somehow
screwed up the sound and it was never
released
Then, I had to open up the
lower voice and shift gears to sing Ol’
Man River, Kern and Hammerstein. It was
another of Johnny’s arrangements, which he
gave me, written up a full-tone, in D with
all them high notes ...
Finishing with the
Soliloquy and that last high G. I had
essentially sung the concert three times ...
I was one tired puppy ...
Finally, for some other
contrast, try the Cabin Scene from
Unsinkable Molly Brown (I suspect you’ll
enjoy the dialogue between Ruta Lee and
myself), Colorado My Home, If I
Knew, The Girl that I Marry,
My Defenses are Down, all kinds of fun
things ...
And … the Lerner and Loewe
Concert is terrific!!! Johnny arranged the
original concert with four shows … and then
Lerner and Loewe had the effrontery to write
another show, Camelot … that had to
be included for the Hollywood Bowl. It was
too late for Johnny to arrange all of the
numbers, so he had to use the Robert Russell
Bennett arrangements (not a bad arranger
;-)) and add concert endings to them.
The best song on the program
is Gigi, which Johnny used to end the
first half of the program, when we sang it
at the Bowl. We had the Roger Wagner
Chorale, with Roger still at the helm.
Listen to what happens after I sing the
whole first chorus; the chorale comes in
softly, adding voices and harmony until the
crescendo and the word … GIGI!!! It
was my first concert at the Bowl and when
the chorale sang that crescendo … it was so
gorgeous, I couldn’t sing!!! Johnny did a
bit, laughing and falling off the piano
bench saying, “Earl Wrightson and Bob
Merrill did exactly the same thing the first
time they heard it. Tweak your speakers and
give it a magical listen …