Most Vocally Demanding Roles

[asoftplacetoland]

What do y'all think is the most vocally demanding role on Broadway right now? Or of all time? 

To me, right now, it's Kim in Miss Saigon regarding girls and Anatole in Great Comet regarding boys. 

Of all time? Probably Elphaba and most definitely Christine from Phantom. 

Thoughts? 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Yup: Kim, Anatole, Christine, and definitely Elphaba.

I'd also add the Phantom, Elle Woods, Jean Valjean, Mama Rose, and the one that takes the cake: Eva Perón. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Evan Hansen.

[JBroadway]

I don't think Anatole is THAT hard in the grand scheme of musical theatre roles. Not saying it's a walk in the park, but I think Evan Hansen is much harder. In terms of current shows, Dewey in SoR is also definitely up there. Really anything Andrew Lloyd Webber, since he doesn't really know how to write for the human voice. 

[asoftplacetoland]

Also the part of Eliza Schuyler is pretty dang hard. It doesn't seem like it would be but it's definitely challenging. 

[poisonivy2]

I read Patti Lupone's memoirs and obviously she has an axe to grind with ALW but she said Evita Peron was a very punishing role for the voice and that she totally blew out her voice singing it. 

I would imagine Evan Hansen is tough simply because of the fact that he's in every single scene AND it requires so much emotional intensity. 

[JBroadway]

poisonivy2 said: "I would imagine Evan Hansen is tough simply because of the fact that he's in every single scene AND it requires so much emotional intensity. "

 

I mean, yes, but not SIMPLY for those reasons. It's also just very difficult to sing music-wise. It's lots of sustained high belting. I believe he even belts a B toward the end of "For Forever" which is nuts. 

 

[muscle23ftl]

Evan Peron, Rose Vibert, Norma Desmond.

[GeorgeandDot]

Evan Hansen is kind of a dangerous role.  If the performer isn't staying safe, they can cause permanent vocal damage.  The part is very hard to sing, requires extreme emotion, and is on stage nearly the entire show.  The age of the actor is also a factor.  Any man under the age of 35 has to be cautious because their voice has not fully matured.  This is when it is the most susceptible to damage.  All in consideration it is probably the hardest role to sing on Broadway right now.

Elphaba is also an extremely difficult part.  I actually knew a woman who was cast early in the run when she was 23 and turned the role down because every teacher or vocal coach that she contacted about it, told her that it was a vocal killer and that if she were to perform that role 8 times a week at her age, her voice would never sound the same after.  She's created a very successful life for herself regardless and is on Broadway right now, but she probably wouldn't be if she had taken that role way back when.

Some of hardest of all time: Eva Peron, Jean Valjean, Fanny Brice, Mama Rose, Caroline Thibodaux, Hedwig, Sweeney Todd, Nellie Lovett, and Eliza Dolittle.

I would say Christine and the Phantom, but so much of their music is prerecorded so I'm not counting them.

[JBroadway]

Fanny Brice? Really? Granted I'm not SUPER familiar with the score, but I never thought of that role as very difficult to sing. I mean, Sheridan Smith, who is not much of a singer, was able to do a passable job with it (though I know many will disagree with that statement), 

[GavestonPS]

Many singers have told me that more damage is done singing too low than singing too high. Some roles--Eva, Elphaba--are both and that may be why they are so troubling. Based on the excerpt I read, that is what LuPone meant when she said ALW "hates" actors.

[GavestonPS]

JBroadway said: "Fanny Brice? Really? Granted I'm not SUPER familiar with the score, but I never thought of that role as very difficult to sing. I mean, Sheridan Smith, who is not much of a singer, was able to do a passable job with it (though I know many will disagree with that statement), 

 

"

I think we're talking about damage to the vocal chords, not necessarily how a singer sounds to the listener. They aren't always the same thing.

And of course a particular role may be difficult or even impossible to some singers and yet easy to others.

[BroadwayRox3588]

PThespian said: "Every single actor who has played Dewey in SOR has sustained vocal injuries that have kept them out for extended periods of time. 

In one case it was so severe it almost ended the guy's career. 

It's a really demanding role. 

 

"

I completely agree with this. For a musical theatre actor to maintain a hard rock voice, and stay healthy at the same time is quite the task. He does some crazy stuff, vocally.

[JBroadway]

GavestonPS said: "I think we're talking about damage to the vocal chords, not necessarily how a singer sounds to the listener. They aren't always the same thing.

Well, the question was about difficulty, not necessarily vocal damage. Though of course the two often go hand in hand. Fanny Brice just doesn't strike me as a role that is especially difficult to sing. You're correct in pointing out that how the singer sounds is not a reliable indicator, because they will often cast people who can sing the crap out of the score. But as a person who sings and has studied music a bit, I think I have some sense of how difficult a score is by listening to it. Not an infallible sense, which is why I fully admit I could be wrong. But enough of a sense that I'm not just going off of how the singer sounds. My remark about Sheridan Smith was just to illustrate that, despite the fact that she's not a strong singer, the score did not prove too difficult for her to sing (in my opinion).



And of course a particular role may be difficult or even impossible to some singers and yet easy to others."

Sure, but you could say that about any of the roles people have mentioned. 

 

[GavestonPS]

JBroadway, I wasn't picking a fight and I certainly wasn't disagreeing with you about a Fanny Brice I've never heard. I was merely pointing out that there were two notions of "difficult" flowing through the thread.

I've done several productions of FUNNY GIRL, but not since body mikes became ubiquitous. In the productions with which I was involved, the sheer quantity of Fanny numbers, many of them belted over a large chorus, made the role challenging.

[OlBlueEyes]

Lily Garland, if you believe a recent biography of Madeline Kahn. All the major players in the production were interviewed, except for John Cullum.

Kahn missed many shows in the early run of On the Twentieth Century, and the other cast members attributed this to a fear of high notes. Cullum I believe said that he had found her transcribing notes lower in "Sextet" on her own.

[OlBlueEyes]

Lily Garland, if you believe a recent biography of Madeline Kahn. All the major players in the production were interviewed, except for John Cullum.

Kahn missed many shows in the early run of On the Twentieth Century, and the other cast members attributed this to a fear of high notes. Cullum I believe said that he had found her transcribing notes lower in "Sextet" on her own.

[GeorgeandDot]

Idk how I could forget Lily Garland.  That role requires a superhero.

Fanny Brice can be quite a challenging sing.  It just really depends on who is singing it.  It sat in Streisand's voice nicely, but not everyone is so fortunate.  She sings almost the whole score and almost every single song requires her to belt her face off.  It's quite a hefty sing, especially if a production includes an extra performance of My Man post curtain call just for the hell of it, which is something that I've seen twice now in regional productions.  It can be very hard for an actress to do.

[HamilHansen]

Kim from Miss Saigon

Jean Valjean from Les Miserables

Christine from Phantom

Elphaba from Wicked

Anatole from Great Comet

Aaron Burr

Evan Hansen

[The Other One]

Cunegonde in Candide

[ljay889]

what about roles that aren't as demanding in vocal range as they are in stamina and intricacy? Mama Rose and Mrs. Lovett come to mind. They don't require the largest range, but you need plenty of stamina to get through singing Rose with all of that dialogue and yelling. Mrs. Lovett requires singing extremely  intricate intervals and rhythms, Patti LuPone even admits that she struggled with several notes in "God, That's Good."

Edit: Just saw these two roles were indeed mentioned.

[ladypresent]

Drew in rock of ages is the hardest male role to sing. Vocally Highest role ever written for a broadway show. He sings a high c multiple times and once he sings a high D in the bridge for High Enough. he also ends the show singing don't stop believing, which is constant high b's over and over. All this while singing "rock" and not a healthy musical theater or operetic placement. 
Second to that would be Jekyll in Jekyll and Hyde.  

[Sondheimite]

ladypresent said: "Drew in rock of ages is the hardest male role to sing. Vocally Highest role ever written for a broadway show."  

 

"

hahahahahahHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA

[freewilma]

Diana in Next to Normal.  

[The Other One]

The lead role(s) in The Apple Tree.  None of the songs are all that difficult individually, but they ask the singer to go from lyrical to belt and back over and over again.