THE BROADWAY SINGER, 2ND IN A 5 PART SERIES

THEN, singing on Broadway used to be easier than it is today. First of all, you didn't have to have any high notes and you did not have to dance. You just had to be a good actor to be hired on Broadway with a modicum of vocal talent. life was good. You had a job--ON BROADWAY!! Ah! "Those were the good old days".

In those halcyon days composers wrote music with a basic range of an octave for actors and actresses so that these performers were not taxed. That was it! If there were any dancers in the shows, the dancers danced, and the singers sang. Singers did not have to participate in too much dancing, unless they wanted to or they looked good up there dancing! There were only singers and there were dancers. The two never "twained". Dancers danced, actors sang (to the best of their ability). Surely the talent was there, but music was not so important then. Big numbers were the norm of the day. This was the big moment for the dancers. Now....

NOW you have to be a triple threat to get by on Broadway and you have to act, sing and dance! And ..... the music is getting more difficult with higher notes, stretching the singer higher and higher. Actors started taking voice lessons and dance lessons in order to compete with the dancers, who were already taking voice lessons and acting lessons trying to get to do a major singing role! Singers made more money. Dancers got paid very little, so the dancers were pushing the actor/singers out of the way. It was a cat fight!

TODAY you have to be a great singer with great chops and great personality to stay on top of the heap. As in today's commercials, well known personalities, movie stars, TV stars started moving into Broadway, pushing the "legitimate" Broadway performer out of the lime light. Of course, they brought in more money, but often times, the theaters needed to amplify the singers. The days of Ethyl Merman were over. "Sing to the last seat in the house" was gone. Technology came to Broadway. I wonder how Broadway survived before amplification?

The same thing happened in the operatic halls. Smaller voices were hired, which were cheaper, and more amplification was needed. Bigger voices demanded more money, the "instant singer" was in with less cash, the bigger voices out. Cecilia Bartoli, endowed with a very small voice, could not be heard at the cavernous Metropolitan Opera and had to be amplified along with many others. This week I read that the New York City Opera will no longer amplify any productions starting in 2010! This is wonderful news. Bigger voices are coming, both to the operatic stage and the Broadway Theaters.

To be a "Broadway" performer, you still have to take voice lessons, dance lessons, coachings to become successful. Indeed, singers like Kristin Chenoweth are highly successful because of their classical/operatic training. I still believe that if you want to be at the top and stay at the top, you have to study and build your instrument and use it properly. If you sing well, act well and dance well, the possibilities are endless. How many times have we seen a Broadway performer head off to Los Angleles and become a movie star! It used to be that Broadway stars were for Broadway only, but the performers of today are so versatile that you see them in movies, theater, tours, commercials, voice overs, etc. Think of the money they're hauling in!!!

One never stops working on your craft. If you become complacent, others will pass you by because you have become stale with no dimnensions. You need to grow, see your dreams become a reality, and build your career from a broadway performer to a mega star,. There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.