An afternoon at the theater
>> Saturday, July 12, 2008
For the last couple of months my girls and I have been looking forward to today, for just before Lauren came home from France I bought tickets to take them to see the touring production of Andrew Lloyd Weber's The Phantom of the Opera at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. Both of them have seen the film, but neither have seen it on stage. I saw it a number of years ago, when the kids were small, and I loved it. Now that they are young adults, I thought it a great experience to have with my girls. Afterwards we will be meeting their grandparents for dinner at one of our favorite spots, Mimi's Cafe. We're looking forward to a wonderful day!
Here's a clip from the film of my very favorite scene!
6 comments:
I really enjoyed the clip, Nettl. It sounds like you had a great time. I haven't seen "Phantom" yet, but I saw "Cats" onstage at Detroit's Fisher Theatre, back in the '80s and it was wonderful! I love live theatre. When I worked at Wayne State University, I often went to plays performed at their well-known and excellent Hillberry Theatre.
Since you are a singer, maybe you can answer a question that has puzzled me for some time. What is the difference between "theatre" singing voices, as opposed to "operatic" singing voices? I can tell they sound different, but I don't know why. Thanks! Kathy
Singers who are trained for Broadway are trained in a different way than those who are trained classically. Classical singers are taught the "Bel Canto" method of singing, which stresses round, open, pure, vowel sounds, and a steady, even, not too narrow nor too large, (warble), vibrato.
Broadway singers are trained to "Belt" sing which is a harsher, more forced tone. The vibrato can vary from singer to singer, depending on the style that's being sung and the piece, from a warm, even vibrato, to a straight tone with no vibrato whatsoever. Some Broadway singers are nothing more than pop singers, especially in the more contemporary pieces.
I might add that the guy who played the Phantom in the show that we saw yesterday is classically trained. He has his master's degree from Julliard, as is also a classical pianist. He was a tenor and was fabulous! The moment he opened his mouth to sing and those gorgeous tones flew forth, I grabbed Lauren on the leg, rolled my eyes, and audibly sighed. She totally agreed. He was a honey, for sure. In fact, after the show ended, both the girls said that if they were Christine, they would be tempted to dump Raoul and run off with the Phantom. LOL!
Thanks, Nettl! You answered my next question, which was "Could a Broadway singer sing classically, too?"
worth noting too that some singers that were classically trained end up on Broadway -- Chenoweth for one, and Tucker did both --
We took our daughter to see Phantom for her 13th birthday in San Francisco -- the Curan Theatre had been remodeled just for the production, and it was wonderful -- she got to see it a couple more times with school groups
Weber is one of the few still creating musicals that actually required trained voices, something that my daughter complains about a lot
Since she is a classically trained soprano with a 4 1/2 octave range, I respect her opinions on these things!
Thanks for sharing and explaining!!
Thanks, Bev for your comments! Actually, Kristen Chenoweth is from Oklahoma and recieved her bachelor's degree in Musical Theater at Oklahoma City University. She then went on and received a master's degree in Opera performance. She is a soprano, but she employs the "belt" technique in her theatrical style. I'm not really fond of her technique, but who's to criticize? She's a huge hit on Broadway!
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