The times and the market for aspiring vocalists are evolving, and many classical singers are finding a calling in more than one vocal style.
Most (if not all) singers embark upon classical training, but an increased number are riding the wave of musical theatre. More contemporary and rock-oriented shows, such as Rent and Spring Awakening, call out to a generation of born-and-bred belters and influence classically trained singers to sing beyond their operatic comfort zone.
Others are enjoying stints in shows from the golden age of American musicals, such as South Pacific and Camelot, or in musicals that border on the operatic sound, such as Light in the Piazza, Les Miserables, and The Phantom of the Opera.
So how is this affecting the way today’s singers approach the market? How is it affecting the voice teachers who prepare them?
“Many young singers coming into our program want to incorporate musical theatre and opera for two reasons,” said Dianna Heldman, New York University associate director of vocal performance. “Some come in with a love for both and can’t decide while others want to receive training in both in order to expand their employment potential beyond one genre. There is also the allure of singing in one’s own language that appeals to young singers, and let’s face it—many of us who went into opera started out with good experiences in high school musicals.”
Like other prestigious performing arts programs, NYU has seen many voice students look to musical theatre to attain training not only in voice, but also in acting, dance, and movement. The school requires its opera students to take courses in musical theatre and its musical theatre students to take courses in opera and train in the classics for a deeper understanding, appreciation, and ability.
“If one wants to attempt both, they must be versatile enough to cross genres,” Heldman said. “This requires a solid understanding and application of vocal technique so much so that it allows the voice to speak without compromise in the vocalism called for in the piece. It also requires a performer who knows the parameters of their instrument and respects what their voice can and cannot do.”
While many singers have found success crossing genres, Heldman does not believe it is possible for all and feels that only solid training started early on will assist this development.
“I do not believe that all singers can find success crossing over in today’s versatile performance industry,” she said. “To switch, for example, between operatic repertoire and contemporary musical theatre is quite difficult. Unless the voice does this naturally or has been trained to be that flexible from an early age, most singers will find it almost impossible to be true to the composer’s intentions in both genres.
“Most every successful singer begins with an innate musicality and a good technical foundation based on pedagogical principals long established in our field. That, however, is just the start. The general feeling is that classical singers can’t act and music theatre singers can’t sing. I would ask that everyone who reads this do their best to dispel this inaccuracy and encourage their students to study and perform without compromise.”
Tenor Matthew Chellis is one such successful crossover. Chellis crosses over regularly and with great versatility between opera, musical theatre, and orchestral and oratorio concert work.
“I was very fortunate in the program I was in as a student at the University of Michigan,” said Chellis, who later attended the Opera Center at Juilliard and now teaches at Roosevelt University in Chicago. “When I first started there, kids majoring in musical theatre were only able to take a half-hour voice lesson. I decided to become a voice major instead, so I could train classically. Later, a man by the name of Brent Wagner took over the program and was just incredibly accommodating to me. They allowed me to be a member of the musical theatre department without being a major, which allowed me to get in a lot of my core acting and dance and movement training.”
Chellis, like many other singers who double-dip in musical theatre and opera, said the many philosophies that surround training between the two genres ignite controversy between voice teachers.
For example, many opera programs don’t include the same emphasis on acting and movement as musical theatre programs do. And some classical voice teachers might dissuade students from singing musical theatre while they are in the midst of serious operatic study.
In Chellis’ case, teachers encouraged him to pursue opera while also singing the tunes of musical theatre composers such as Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart.
“Some teachers might feel that a singer can only accomplish one style or the other well,” Chellis said, “but good singing is good singing. You have to look at the state of the business right now. There is work to be had if you are able to be versatile in a healthy way. It’s twice the number of auditions, so you can really get out there. Pursuing both was a huge benefit to me as an actor, and it also helped me immensely in building self-discipline.
“It’s always a challenge to maintain both styles, but good work is good work, and hopefully voice teachers will listen to their students and point them in their desired direction, if what they want is to be successful in both.”
Timothy Noble is another vocalist and teacher who has enjoyed immense success in both opera and musical theatre. Noble, who has appeared in all the major opera houses throughout the United States and at several prestigious international venues, has always made crossover work a part of his repertoire.
“I think those who are trained exclusively for opera sometimes have a different view of musical theatre—often [as] lesser in musical value—but I came from that kind of background, rather than opera,” said Noble, who now teaches at Indiana-Bloomington’s prestigious School of Music. “I feel like I crossed over into opera, rather than the reverse. My voice took me to where it belonged, and I was just fortunate to be able to do both with a modicum of success.”
Noble’s career began when he toured with the Fred Waring Show. This ultimately led to his appearance in the Broadway production The Selling of the President. Later, Noble returned to school to pursue his serious vocal studies, appearing in 13 operas and as Harold Hill in The Music Man. Soon after, his opera career took off in Indianapolis Opera’s production of La bohème, San Francisco Opera’s production of The Cry of Clytaemnestra, and with work as a leading baritone from 1988 to 2006 with the Metropolitan Opera.
Noble says his knowledge and ability as a versatile singer are the key to what has made him successful in an ever-changing and ever-demanding market, adding that today’s crop of young singers are in a better position to have a singing career if they are able to meet this standard.
“The obvious benefits of being able to successfully do both musical theatre and opera are that there will be more opportunities for work if you are good, and as a result, more income is possible,” Noble said. “I think that students today pursue both genres simply due to the fact that putting your eggs into one musical basket is risky, at best. The market in this country is really saturated with singers, and jobs are difficult to come by, so exploring all of your options is not a bad thing.”
Noble agreed, however, that some of the controversies surrounding so-called crossover singing can be valid.
“The possible drawbacks could be that opera singers might look with distain at those in musical theatre who are doing opera, with the reverse being true as well,” he said. “The other possible drawback, and it depends on the artist, is that singing with a microphone tends to make singers lazy in their application of good vocal technique. If an artist were to finish a musical and not have sung that show in a particularly good way technically, then try jumping into something like Aida, I think that the artist’s voice would have a fair amount of difficulty in readjusting to legitimate singing, and the performance would suffer. If singers give themselves time between productions for the voice to readjust, they will be more successful.”
Proper technique is the name of the tune when it comes to singing musical theatre and opera, say teachers.
Musical theatre is typically described as being more speech-like in nature, while opera relies on pear-shaped sounds, resonating with the head voice.
“Developing a technique that is conducive to both styles is obviously paramount,” Noble said. “Embracing the old Italian management of the breath, using the lips, teeth, and tip of the tongue for diction, high placement, and the employment of the aggiustamento in the passaggi will accommodate both types of singing. Of course, girls will have to work on the belt voice, but if taught properly, this will do no damage to the voice. The most important thing to remember in any good singing is proper use of the breath and its management. If this is adhered to, the voice will not tire and remains fresh, thus prolonging the career.”
Noble said good voice teachers are imperative to this process.
“Teachers should recognize the potential in individual voices and steer them down the proper vocal path,” he said. “If a teacher knows only opera and the student is only interested in musical theatre, then it becomes incumbent upon the teacher to refer the student to someone who understands the technique involved.”
Corinne Ness is one such teacher. She trains a variety of young singers in both styles.
“It’s important to understand the function of the voice,” said Ness. “The interpretation sounds ‘off’ if you have Bel Canto trying to fit into musical theatre. The teacher has to show the student how to achieve different sounds for different functions.”
As a vocalist and the director of musical theatre at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., Ness has been the guest lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music’s American Musical Theater Program, has been an invited speaker on musical theatre pedagogy at two national NATS conferences, and has offered several conferences on the subject of musical theatre singing throughout the Midwest.
Many teachers say vocal technique between opera and musical theatre is rooted in the same basic philosophy, but Ness offers a different approach.
“I don’t think the technique is the same,” she said. “I think being able to define the function of the sound is important. In classical singing, the vocal folds remain open longer, and there is more air flow. In belting, the vocal folds are closed longer, and there is less air flow and more subglottal pressure. You wouldn’t approach an aria the same way you would approach [Stephen] Schwartz or Sondheim. The sensation is not the same.”
Ness added that singers must achieve a specific pharyngeal resonance and singer’s formant in classical singing, which is different from the brighter, oral-centered resonance space of musical theatre. And, like any high-level art form or artistic endeavor, being versatile in two styles is a challenge and takes time and training, and often, sacrifice.
“A singer has to train well to have that kind of focus,” Ness said. “I always describe it like being in a mall. You’ve got your anchor stores and your stores that cater to other styles. The further away you get from that anchor, the more different it is going to be. Sometimes, to be able to do that, you have to give something up. To be able to build your strength, stamina, and ability in a certain direction and give the music its due focus takes time and dedication.”
Ness said that she feels the shift between opera and musical theatre for young singers is becoming more apparent.
“Musical theatre 40 years ago wasn’t that far away from opera, vocally speaking,” she said. “Today’s musicals are producing more contemporary sounds that this generation can identify with. Classical music is a great style and sound, but if you look back on the time that it was created, it also was the popular music of its day. Those performers were not reliving the music of hundreds of years ago. The performers of today are dealing in a variety of colors and sounds—even in opera—with jazz influences and pop influences. We don’t seem to prize that the way we do Mozart or Puccini.
“We don’t always celebrate what is new. I think more singers and audiences are connecting with the contemporary, not necessarily the older European imports. I happen to love that operatic voices are learning to be more versatile. It’s great for the art form of music theatre to have powerful voices when they understand the style.”
Many opera companies are following suit, programming shows such as Candide and Sweeney Todd as part of their seasons, along with operetta and opera classics.
Light Opera Works in Evanston, Ill., a company 27 years in the making, recently changed its programming from operettas only to classic and less-performed musicals and just one operetta per season.
“This is just the way of the times today,” said artistic director Rudy Hogenmiller. “The audiences wanting to see operettas are getting smaller. People want to see the classic American musical, and more singers and actors want to get back to their roots and perform them. I think for companies to remain alive today, they have to take a look at the market and know what sells and what audiences want to see. That’s why you are seeing opera companies programming musicals. It’s going to be a money maker for them and allow them to continue performing the more obscure works.”
Light Opera Works is unique in that it frequently unites performers and audiences from the opera world who want to dip into musical theatre.
“Most people from the opera world seemed to start in musical theatre and, somewhere along the way, made the decision to switch to opera,” Hogenmiller said. “I find, in working with many of these singers, [that] they enjoy doing musicals. They find it fun and refreshing, and it’s something different for them. They get to sing, as well as dance and enjoy more staging, which sometimes, I think, opera performers wish they could do more of. I think it’s rewarding when singers can be versatile and be up for something a little different than they’re used to. It makes them more marketable.”
Hogenmiller said when it comes to casting and programming, it’s the singer who can perform the music well that gets the part.
“When we program a production, it’s always about the music, whether it’s a musical or an operetta,” he said. “And there is some great music to be heard.”
Hogenmiller shuns perceptions that one art form is more legitimate than another and encourages singers to reevaluate their boundaries when embarking upon their training, always keeping today’s market in mind, if they want to work.
“I always find it annoying when people consider musical theatre to be less important or of less worth,” he said. “These are American classics and are one of the only true American art forms. They are just as important to acknowledge and preserve as an opera such as La bohème.
“It’s difficult to sing opera, but it’s just as difficult to sing something like Gypsy eight nights a week on Broadway. Whether its opera, operetta, or musical theatre, it’s all the same. You are just finding another way to tell the story.”
