Is Evita the hardest role to sing---ever?

[Leadingplayer]

?

[bwayphreak234]

I think it is hard to pinpoint one role as THE hardest role to sing. Is it ONE of the hardest? Yes. However, there are many other roles that are just as challenging to sing.

[wicked1492]

Elena Roger sure makes it sound like it is.

[Visceral_Fella]

"Elena Roger sure makes it sound like it is."

I actually laughed out loud.

[sparrman]

Well...there's also Che...

[IdinaBellFoster]

Che isn't a walk in the park but there are far more vocally challenging male roles.

I think a lot depends on the singer, but as stated below, for Elena it's Eva.

[EricMontreal22]

What defines role? I mean Porgy and Bess and Blitzstein's Regina were Broadway shows, and I'd say the female leads are at least as challenging to sing...

[AwesomeDanny]

Every voice is unique, and so different people find different things harder than others. While most people would say that Evita is extremely difficult, I remember an interview with Loni Ackerman in which she said that Evita was actually pretty easy for her because it actually suited her voice quite well, but she had lots of trouble singing Norma Desmond when she did a production of Sunset Boulevard because it was in a different part of her voice. I don't think that any one role can be definitively the hardest to sing.

[ZiggyCringe]

I wonder. Why do women (Patti in "Evita", everybody in "Phantom") get the Wednesday matinee off, and the men never do. I would suggest thast Che is a more difficult role to sing than Eva, but there's no Che standby.

[ljay889]

Tony in the West Side Story revival had an alternate.

[ComingUpRoses2]

I do think it depends on the performer. Everyone has a different range. I've tried singing a few of the songs in the original keys and they fit nicely in my range, but my friend, who's a wonderful singer, tried and she could barely get a note out. It just didn't fit her voice at all, but she can sing things that I could never sing without sounding awful.

[Visceral_Fella]

Also Jeremy Jordan is getting an alternate in Newsies. I'm not sure how difficult of a role it is as I haven't seen the show.

[ClumsyDude15]

Also Jeremy Jordan is getting an alternate in Newsies. I'm not sure how difficult of a role it is as I haven't seen the show.

I think it has more to do with his busy schedule [SMASH, possible other projects] than it does with the vocal demands of the role.

[LYLS3637]

No it's not. Not by a long shot. What about Cunégonde in CANDIDE? (For "Glitter and Be Gay" alone) Amy in COMPANY? (maybe not musically, but certainly lyrically) Freddie Trumper in CHESS? Effie in DREAMGIRLS? the Tenor in SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD?

I'm sure there are dozens more...

[Wynbish]

"(ALW) writes for the British female vocal chords."
"The whole way of women's singing changed after Evita." - Randy Graff

[SporkGoddess]

Cunegonde is difficult but the role sits pretty comfortably within a lyric coloratura soprano range. Evita is all over the place, range-wise.

[Bettyboy72]

I think training and self care has a lot to do with being able to sing a role properly and for a long run.

Patti admits in her bio that she didn't know how to sing when she played Eva and was trying to learn on the fly. I think singing Eva is do-able when you have the skill, the power and the discipline.

I think it is harder to sing rock scores, so I think that Diana for N2N is among the more difficult ones. However, Marin was much more skilled than Alice at vocal care and technique and never burned her voice out and didn't miss shows.

Alice blew out her voice and then would be caterwauling on youtube and the like. She really seems to have to no sense of vocal care.

Jackie Burns, one of the most consistent Elphabas, takes extremely good care of her voice including not talking much during her off hours. She takes the role and delivering the songs seriously.

[givesmevoice]

I wonder. Why do women (Patti in "Evita", everybody in "Phantom") get the Wednesday matinee off, and the men never do. I would suggest thast Che is a more difficult role to sing than Eva, but there's no Che standby.

Both of the original actresses in London (Elaine Paige and Sarah Brightman) required alternates because of vocal fatigue and the tradition continued when the shows came stateside. I'm sure if an actor playing Che or the Phantom had a similar complaint, an alternate would have been cast.



And I agree with Bettyboy that training and self care have a lot to do with it. (Although even if you have the vocal rest part down pat, like Patti said she did in Evita, you might still have a hard time.)

[Bettyboy72]

I think that the Eva alternate was born out of Patti's lack of training and her initial inability to deliver the songs 8 shows a week. I see no reason why Elena couldn't "sing" the role the way she does 8 times a week. She isn't belting her face off the way Patti and Paige did.

If Elphaba can do 8 shows, why can't Eva?

[hermajesty]

That video is so funny, Wynbish

[givesmevoice]

I think that the Eva alternate was born out of Patti's lack of training and her initial inability to deliver the songs 8 shows a week. I see no reason why Elena couldn't "sing" the role the way she does 8 times a week. She isn't belting her face off the way Patti and Paige did.



"A few months into the run, Elaine started having problems with her voice. The score to EVITA is quite rangy for the character of Eva. Add to the fact that Eva is on stage for about 90% of the show and sings for well over three-quarters of it. Elaine had to relent 2 of her 8 weekly shows to her understudy, Susannah Fellows. This created the now common-place occurrence of having an Eva and an alternate Eva."

and

"The fear that Patti would lose her voice like Elaine had was allayed by the casting of her alternate, Terri Klausner. Terri wound up getting the great reviews that Patti had wanted. The strain of several shows a week and recording the cast album (which, despite all odds won a Grammy Award in 1980) was grinding away at Patti. Plans were already made for the show to travel to San Francisco, and then move to Broadway."





the now-defunct Evita International

[sondhead]

Che is definitely not more challenging to sing than Eva. Nor is Cunegonde. This discussion is focussing on things like range but what actually makes Eva such a legendarily challenging role is the combination of the style/range of singing AND the AMOUNT of singing. To not even mention the physical and emotional strains of having to be the lynchpin of a show, make all of those costume changes, etc.

[tphiliboy152]

Jeremy Jordan has an alternate for many reasons. The new york accent which he uses (which is really strong) can take a toll on ones voice as well as all of the notes he needs to belt. He also needed an alternate for when he leaves for Smash.

[My Oh My]

Wynbish, you totally made my morning with that video, roflmao.

Randy Graff is looking so good these days! Haven't seen her in quite some time. I still think she is a very underrated Fantine. Love. <3

I can sing the role of Eva perfectly! And I'm a baritone!! XD No, but seriously, I don't have trouble singing it at all but anyone who says it isn't high, is a liar. Some parts are so effing high, when my voice isn't up to it, I sound like a cackling hag in heat.

I love singing "Don't Cry For Me..." because it's actually pretty darn high, even if it doesn't seem to be. But it's comfortably high and I like the brightness involved. Gonna go sing some Evita now!

[Wynbish]

Some parts are so effing high, when my voice isn't up to it, I sound like a cackling hag in heat.

Hence, you sound like Evita!