I don't mean "Who are the best belters?" I'm wondering what you think some of the most original and distguishable voices on broadway are. Meaning...no Lea Michele's or Annaleigh Ashfords. lol. While they're great, I wouldn't exactly call their voices unique.
You don't even have to like the voices necessarily. Just realize that they're definitely unique and different than what we usually hear.
Some that come to mind...
Marisa Jaret Winokur, definitely. Bernadette Peters Nathan Lane Dan Fogler's voice always...stuck out to me. Patti Lupone definitely has that distinctive mix of vib/head voice. Daphne Rubin-Vega. Though I never much cared for her voice, its very different from what we usually hear on stage.
Her voice is really different. And absolutely amazing in my opinion.
Now what would you say if today I started over?
Without a thing but this taped together four leaf clover
And I'll pretend like everything is already alright
And I'll run toward the sun till the castle's out of sight
Carol Channing Angela Lansbury Carolee Carmello Jenn Colella (she's got a liiittle bit of twang that's pretty unique, I think) Mary Testa Mandy Patinkin
Bernadette Peters Patti LuPone Daphne Rubin Vega Kristen Chenoweth (I don't know if unique but very distinct) Leigh Ann Larkin Jaime Lee Kirchner
"Maybe Mandy Gonzalez and Karen Olivo? You can always hear them stick out on the In the Heigts CD."
I somewhat agree. I can see why you would think that. They both have a lot of power but I think Karen's voice is just power not different, you can always hear her. And Mandy is very powerful and she can sometimes have a very noticeable voice.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
Tammy Grimes and Glynnis Johns both had a distinctive, unique vocal sound that set them apart from other performers. Also Elaine Stritch has a highly recognizable but limited vocal range that she uses with great skill and effect to serve the song she is performing better than more technically superior singers could.
Larry Kert had a seamless youthful light tenor sound that was so perfectly suited to the music of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim & Kander-Ebb that to this day I prefer his vocals of the songs in "West Side Story" and "Company" over anyone else’s.
"I long-ago realized that this country is a nation of
morons, when it comes to knowledge of anything outside, or beyond, pop culture." Steve Slezak
I find that currently, most "Broadway" voices are very much alike in timber, color and size. I have a very hard time differentiating one voice from another on recordings without looking at the listing on the label. This is not being critical, it's just an observation. I suppose this makes it easier to replace people from one cast and another . That being said there are many performers whose style and techniques that I admire enormously, I still don't find very much difference between one voice and another. There are a few (Judy Kaye, LuPone, Peters, Esparza), but they are few and far between.