Recently I’ve seen a lot of talk on social media about whether modern musical theatre numbers are too “pristine” to portray real emotion. And while I will admit I love listening to a crystal clear belt, I’d have to agree with them (in some cases).
I’ve noticed that a lot of modern shows seem to want to impress the audience with a strong belt rather than focus experimenting with diverse voices and, in my opinion, different types of voices (that still compliment each other) is much more engaging than listening to the same type of voice over and over again.
A perfect example of this is Francess Ruffelle’s voice for Eponine in Les Misérables in 1985 (shocker I’m mentioning Les Mis again- I do know other musicals I promise haha!). The unique voice of Ruffelle’s is what makes her Eponine so convincing. While still an amazing singer, she doesn’t try to impress the audience with strong and loud vocals, instead her singing is much more breathy and quiet, because it fits with the character of Eponine- desperately and hopelessly in love with Marius.
Nevertheless, there are still some modern musicals that still do this well. Take the recent productions of “Cabaret” for example. Cabaret has been around since 1966 and, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think it’s ever had “perfect” singing, and today is no expectation. If you listen to, lets say, Amy Lennox’s “Cabaret” (the song) on the Olivier Awards, you will find that Lennox isn’t afraid to sing of key. In fact, she sings off-key on purpose to make her performance seem gritty and unhinged, because it tells the story of Sally’s (the character who sings Cabaret) state of mind gradually deteriorating, not to mention the fact that Sally is supposed to be an average performer, so it just wouldn’t work if she sung perfectly.
(If you are interested in seeing Cabaret, click here: Cabaret the Musical London | Kit Kat Club UK | West End )
Having said that though, I understand that there are some musical theatre numbers (or just musical theatre shows in general) that require performers to have pristine and clear vocals, like dance numbers or ensemble numbers. And some shows don’t really require to have such devastating, stab-you-in-the-heart acting, they’re feel-good musicals and so having a show that’s oozing sadness would kind of defeat the point.
I’m hoping to do more opinion pieces, so if you read this and enjoyed, be sure to check out more opinions regarding musical theatre here: Theatre Opinions | Chorus Box | Engaging Insights on Musical Theatre (mybluehost.me)
If you have any more examples/thoughts about this, feel free to leave them in the comment section below, and, as always, have a great day! 🙂
