about musicals
Wed, 18 Jan 2006, 12:31 pmWalter Plinge4 posts in thread
about musicals
Wed, 18 Jan 2006, 12:31 pmDo you think that many actors have any hope of getting cast in a musical if they aren't that good at singing or do you think that if they had singing lessons they could become good enough?
Re: about musicals
Wed, 18 Jan 2006, 04:32 pmWalter Plinge
Wow good question...
If you aren't that good singer, but you are that good an actor then you do have a good chance of getting cast in SOME ROLES.
Many character roles rely on the comedy of the character more than the singing, so a poor singer with good acting skills will (should?) beat a good singer with poor acting skills.
Examples: Dolittle in "My Fair Lady"; Mordred in "Camelot"; Moonface Martin in "Anything Goes"
And of course some musicals have non (or hardly) singing roles: Uncle Max in "Sound of Music" Fyedka in "Fiddler" the Director in "A Chorus Line" even Pasha Selim in Mozart's "Die Entfuhrung" and Frosch in "Fledermaus"
However if you are a poor singer you shouldn't expect to get the main leads.
Also it depends on whether the director prefers to cast actors who can sing or singers who can act.
Singing lessons definitely help if its the right teacher.
And remember, some of the GREAT performances in Musical Theatre history were done by performers whose "singing" was only OK, but their "performances" carried the role (and the show): Richard Burton in "Camelot"; Rex Harrison in "My Fair Lady"; Glynis Johns in "A Little Night Music"
If you aren't that good singer, but you are that good an actor then you do have a good chance of getting cast in SOME ROLES.
Many character roles rely on the comedy of the character more than the singing, so a poor singer with good acting skills will (should?) beat a good singer with poor acting skills.
Examples: Dolittle in "My Fair Lady"; Mordred in "Camelot"; Moonface Martin in "Anything Goes"
And of course some musicals have non (or hardly) singing roles: Uncle Max in "Sound of Music" Fyedka in "Fiddler" the Director in "A Chorus Line" even Pasha Selim in Mozart's "Die Entfuhrung" and Frosch in "Fledermaus"
However if you are a poor singer you shouldn't expect to get the main leads.
Also it depends on whether the director prefers to cast actors who can sing or singers who can act.
Singing lessons definitely help if its the right teacher.
And remember, some of the GREAT performances in Musical Theatre history were done by performers whose "singing" was only OK, but their "performances" carried the role (and the show): Richard Burton in "Camelot"; Rex Harrison in "My Fair Lady"; Glynis Johns in "A Little Night Music"