As part of Festival Weekend, to complement Glimmerglass Opera’s production of Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, Dramaturg Kelley Rourke moderated a discussion with four singers regarding the division between operatic and musical theater worlds — which seems to be more permeable each day. Below are excerpts from that discussion.Panel:
Karen Lykes: Faculty of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Vocal Consultant for the Young American Artists Program
Joyce Castle: Renowned singer who has appeared in numerous Glimmerglass Opera productions. She will return next season as the Mother in Menotti’s The Consul.
Jennifer Goode Cooper: Young American Artists Program Member: cover for Kate in Kiss Me, Kate
Robert Kerr: Young American Artists Program Member: Danieli in Das Liebesverbot and Gremio, Gregory and Second Gunman (cover) in Kiss Me, Kate
Question: Many opera singers did not start out with the intention of a career in opera. In fact, many of their first musical experiences were not operatic at all. I was hoping you could each talk a little about your first musical experiences and how you’ve ended up where you are today.
Karen: I grew up in Arkansas listening to recordings, especially musical theater. We didn’t have a musical theater program in my high school, so it wasn’t until I went to college as a voice major that I began singing in shows. Originally I wanted to do nightclub work! I was influenced by singers like Barbra Streisand. It turned out, however, that my voice and my career went in a classical direction. I still love the musical theater repertoire, and in my teaching I always seek out programs where I can have a mixture of musical theater and classical singers in my studio.
Robert: When I was growing up, just like Karen, I spent hours sitting in my room listening to musical theater recordings, not opera. I would try to emulate the sounds I heard them making. When I graduated from high school I was convinced that I would head to Broadway after college. My sophomore year of college I had professors encourage me to explore the classical side of my voice. I was young, however, and didn’t listen to them. It wasn’t until after I graduated that I started singing at Opera Columbus in the chorus and in smaller roles. From there I’ve followed primarily an operatic career path. Being a Young Artist here this summer has afforded me the ability to reconnect with my musical theater roots!
Joyce: I first sang in public at the age of three in Louisiana. My mother accompanied me on the piano. I don’t remember it, but my mother does and she says I was fabulous. Music was very important in our home. I played the piano and always sang for my relatives whenever they asked me to. When you’re a singer and you know it early on, you never know anything else. I never had a choice to make. I would sing anything and everything. I went to the University of Kansas and was a double major in voice and theater. I performed in musicals, operas and plays. It’s all the same. It’s about communicating and entertaining.
Jennifer: I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and my first experiences were singing in church. When I got to my tiny Evangelical Christian high school with a class of 100 I was one of the few people brave enough to audition for the musicals! After high school,I headed to NYU for an undergraduate degree in voice. Karen was teaching there and encouraged me to explore the classical repertoire. I was initially very intimidated. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the same immediacy as I did with musical theater. My final recital there was about half music theater and half classical repertoire. I went on to do a Master’s degree in classical voice at the Manhattan School of Music, where I sang roles in all of the English-language operas. Having my early operatic roles be in English allowed me to understand how to communicate in the operatic art form with the same immediacy as I do in musical theater. I no longer find it daunting or intimidating. To me both forms are simply about communicating.
Question: Opera singers are required to master a variety of styles; the technical challenges of Mozart are different from Strauss are different from Monteverdi. In a sense, musical theater is simply another style in the mix. I was wondering if we could take a moment to talk about technique and the considerations brought to musical theater repertoire.
Karen: In classical voice we talk about singing with a raised soft palate and a released larynx. This is how we get that full, resonant sound that is so closely associated with classical music. In musical theater it is typically less appropriate to have that really full sound. The ideal sound is something closer to how we speak. In musical theater we talk about singing up to the palette instead of over the palette.
Joyce: I’m a mezzo, so certainly I use a lot of chest voice! I suppose I don’t think of it as that different from belt. I make sure there is good support, and then I simply listen to the sound I’m creating and that guides my technique. I find I have to be very careful how high I take my chest voice. I’ve done a lot of Mrs. Lovetts (Sweeney Todd) in my day and I find myself using a sort of “fake” belt in that show. I’m not really hurting myself because I’m putting it up in my nose, instead of shoving the chest voice up there. That’s certainly the way Angela Lansbury did it!
Karen: I’ve noticed recently the interest in having a belt sound that goes even higher, up to an ‘E’ or ‘F’. There are a few singers who can naturally do that, but so often I hear singers taking their chest voice up there and creating an entirely different sound from the rest of their voice, which can be dangerous.
Jennifer: Does the word “belt” mean something different for a man?
Robert: I think it is a matter of not keeping the space as open in my airway when I’m singing in a musical theater style. It really is all about placement. Where are you putting the voice and how does it feel?
Question: As part of this seminar, I wanted to briefly listen to a few excerpts from a great singer who excelled in classical and popular and musical theater repertoire: [Eileen Farrell singing excerpts from “Pace, Pace, O Mio Dio” and “Stormy Weather”] Anyone want to comment about what you hear in her performance?
Joyce: It sounded good to me!
Karen: It’s a matter of style. If you can really hook into the heart and soul of the style then the technique will come together as well.
Jennifer: It goes back to that issue of communication. All of the technical concerns really come into focus if you understand how to communicate clearly in whatever style you are learning and performing.
Joyce: One thing that is frustrating today is that many Broadway singers don’t need to have the chops they used to because they are amplified. It is so fantastic to hear Kiss Me, Kate with a real orchestra down there and not four synthesizers! What a treat!
Karen: And, like you said, to have singers who have the chops to sing this music without amplification.
Jennifer: I think the vocal style really changed once amplification came into the picture. Whether it is a classical or musical theater technique, once microphones came on the scene singers could pull off their voices much more without being concerned about whether or not they were being heard.
Question: Even unamplified, do you think there is a different way you approach the text in musical theater repertoire than in operatic?
Jennifer: I think of it as being able to caress the words more. In operatic singing you really need that full, open resonance, but in musical theater the palate can open and close a little more flexibly with the words and the text.
Karen: I was just at the Tanglewood Festival attending Renée Fleming’s master class, and she related an incident regarding meeting Barbara Cook, who is still singing well into her 80’s. Renée asked her what her secret was to such a long and healthy singing career. Her answer was: singing on the consonants, particularly m’s and n’s. If you go back and listen to singers like Tony Bennett and Mel Tormé, they both point to Mabel Mercer as a major influence because she taught them how to sing on those consonants as well.
Joyce: To me what that means is the line, singing through the melodic line. With my students I sometimes tell them: Take a listen to Fred Astaire! I think he’s such a fantastic singer. He has a wonderful way with the words and the line of a song.
photo:
1. from left to right: Jennifer Goode Cooper, Joyce Castle, Robert Kerr. photo credit: Michael Manning
