chenoweth's opera voice
chenoweth's opera voice
#1chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:10amI know that she has been cast for the Ghost of Versailles in 2010 for the Met, but doesn't the Met refrain from using personal microphones? I know that she was classically trained and has a wonderful opera voice, but will she really be able to fill the Met?
#2re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:11am
I don't see why she couldn't do it. She has a legit Masters degree in Opera Performance. She should absolutely be able to fill the Met.
Updated On: 1/28/08 at 01:11 AM
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#2re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:12amWhy wouldn't she?
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
COOOOLkid
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/15/05
#3re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:12amOmG! ARE YOU QUESTIONING KRISTEEEN CHEENOWETH'S SINGING ABILITIES?!?!?!?!?!
"Hey, you! You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!"
-Family Guy
NYC_or_Bust
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/8/05
#4re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:13am
you're kidding right?
I've always had this image that when cheno reaches her upper range...it's like that scene in 101 Dalmations (the cartoon) where all the dogs start talking to each other in the city and eventually it just becomes a lot of barking....
her CANDIDE performance...wow...i had to replace a couple of antique pieces of Fenton glass on my sidebar.
I adore the black band holding on the Phantom's mask. ~ Jenna2
#5re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:17amDo they really not use peronsal mics? I didn't know that. Either way she's got a few years to practice...
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#6re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:26am
Met opera never mics their singers.
City Opera doesn't do it for their operas. But, if there is a musical going on there then they do it.
But, the theatre at the met is built in such a way that it isn't hard if you know how to sing the right way to get it to project.
The opera houses that don't mic are built for that in particular and thus have amazing acoustics.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear"
Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#7re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 1:38am
OmG! ARE YOU QUESTIONING KRISTEEEN CHEENOWETH'S SINGING ABILITIES?!?!?!?!?!
how dare you
#8re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 2:55am
"City Opera doesn't do it for their operas. But, if there is a musical going on there then they do it."
Singers at City Opera do not wear body mikes, but for some years now City Opera has used microphones onstage for its operas. City Opera prefers to call it "enhancement" rather than miking, but it's miking.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3D91E31F930A3575BC0A96F958260&scp=2&sq=new+york+city+opera+microphones+enhancement&st=nyt
I'm not the biggest Chenoweth fan but I would think she'll be audible at the Met without wearing a mike. The Met has good acoustics, and singers with smallish voices have been audible there (although there have been rumors that some of those singers were miked).
LuPonatic
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/06
#9re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 9:09amCheno will be heard because she has a very bright, forward tone. This is more important than volume.
#10re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 10:03amKristin's voice is gorgeous!
"Everytime you step on that stage it is somebody's first Broadway show and somebody's last Broadway show. Make it count."
#11re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 10:06am
P.S. The Met has also used "enhancement" mics for years. But shhhh, it's not a well known secret.
Milla
#12re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 11:12amIt may be that the Met has been using "enhancement" mikes for years. I've certainly heard those rumors. But I'm not sure I believe them. For one thing, I do think it would get out, that it would be more than occasional rumors. So many people work at the Met. It would get written about.
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#13re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 12:13pmYou don't have to have a heavy voice to be heard throughout the theatre. You do need a "ping" to your voice, and Kristin has that.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
#14re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 12:25pmany see her or hear anything about her performance in phantom a while back?
keen on kean
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/06
#15re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 12:33pm
Didn't she sing a recital at the MET? That would have tested her audibility in the house.
And they do enhance at the MET. Who cares?
#16re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 4:26pmShe did an interview once, many years ago (I think pre YAGMCB) where she talked about how it bothers her that "young" Broadway performers needed mikes. She said that if they had been properly trained then they wouldn't need mikes and because she had her masters she knew how to sing without technology to help. I think it's posted at the America Theatre Wing website
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention...I'm the good cop, he's the bad cop.
DefyGravity777
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/28/08
#17re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 6:38pmIf the acoustics are anything like Grand Central Station she could whisper it and everyone could hear her. LOL
Don't believe everything that you hear! Only the peeps involved know the truth!
AnnaK<3LMIP
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/20/07
#18re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 6:49pmYeah, I thought she already did a gig at the Met? Am I smokin' crack?
I mean, Denzel Washington? Gun to my head..of course.
#19re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 7:52pm
She did a solo concert at the Met, which is not the same as appearing in a Met production.
I can't remember if the Met presented her or if she rented the Met for her concert.
Btw, the Phantom she was in was the Maury Yeston-Arthur Kopit version.
AnnaK<3LMIP
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/20/07
#20re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 8:25pmGood, that's the better one.
I mean, Denzel Washington? Gun to my head..of course.
LuPonatic
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/06
#21re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 9:24pm
"You don't have to have a heavy voice to be heard throughout the theatre. You do need a "ping" to your voice, and Kristin has that."
HERE HERE!!
ashbash1990
Broadway Star Joined: 10/15/06
#22re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 9:46pmCheno has a very legit opera voice, it shouldn't be a problem... NYC_or_Bust, I LOVED the Candide performance, boy do I wish i was soprano...
What a night! I was in more laps than a napkin!
whatever2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/06
#23re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/28/08 at 10:03pm
a few observations/clarifications, if you'll indulge an opera parvenu:
(1) the new york state theater has an "ehnancement system"; it's a modified version of a system installed in amsterdam to deal w/ atrocious vocal acoustics in a hall built for other purposes. the state theater was built for dance, not voice ... city opera actually had little choice. that said, the best way to think of the system is that it mikes the house, not the performers. (in point of fact, the enhancement system places more mikes in the pit than "on" the stage.) it is widely hoped that the pending enhancements to the facility will improve things.
(2) the metropolitan opera house of course has an amplification system, but it is an urban legend that the Met mike singers. never.
(3) opera singers are trained to sing differently than popular singers. (i'd attribute it to the diaphragm, but there's more to it than that.) this is why the old battleships used to just trod out, stand on their marks and belt them out -- and why the new generation finds the theater that directors and audiences increasingly demand so much work -- singing AND acting is damned physical! being classically trained, i suspect chenowith knows what she needs to do with her voice to reach the family circle.
thanks for indulging me ... the stuff about amplification at both NYCO and the Met comes up on this board every six months, and i hate seing city opera's predicament (i.e., a sh*tty hall for voice) miscast -- if they didnt HAVE to "enhance", they wouldnt!
"You, sir, are a moron." (PlayItAgain)
keen on kean
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/06
#24re: chenoweth's opera voice
Posted: 1/29/08 at 12:39pmWhatever2- thank you for a clear and expert explanation. The New York State Theater was built pretty much to Balanchine's specs, and designed for perfect ballet sight lines. It has more acoustic holes than Swiss cheese.
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