Caissie Levy and Vocal Health

[MollyJeanneMusic]

Loving this conversation that Caissie Levy started on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CaissieLevy/status/1156574485883043842

Lots of people have responded and/or retweeted, including Alex Brightman, Eva Noblezada, George Salazar, Telly Leung, and others.  Any thoughts?

[JennH]

Alex's response made me LOLOL! 

All I can say is, I totally agree. Singers and dancers are perceived so differently, especially when it comes to this. A dancer gets injured and almost immediately will be granted the time to heal. A singer will not, because for some otherworldly reason I can't comprehend, the vocal cords are not perceived as muscles, which they 1000% are. I can't understand why singers get vilified when our cords are injured. Singers almost have to be literally voiceless, have strep or some insane thing, to be granted that time. I have personal experience with this too, a loooonngg time ago, I was sick enough to possibly not go on for a couple shows (I was theme parking at the time) and I had to do steps A-L, etc. AND go to the first aid office for it, but when any of the dancers I was working with got injured, they didn't have to go through nearly the amount of steps I did. It's believed that because a singer can still go on because none of their extra limbs are hurt to prevent from actually going on stage, we should just "suck it up buttercup" and go on. The vocal cords ARE indeed muscles that are athletic in a different way, and need to be perceived as such. 

[IdinaBellFoster]

I’m happy she spoke up. I saw the posts on here accusing her of being “fired” from WICKED and thought that seemed wrong.

[Luminaire2]

Caissie had a challenging run due to her vocal cyst, and fans at the time were so cruel towards her, especially as she preceded Eden.

I remember at the time the complete contempt many held towards her. When her vocals were working fully she was fire, and I am so glad she got herself taken care of.

People are jerks.

[Stellasteve]

I was fortunate to see Caissie twice during her LA run, and I did not detect vocal problems.  In fact, she restored my interest in Wicked.  I had seen it on Broadway with Idina at the 1-year mark.  Idina's ferocity and ragged vocals in Defying Gravity blew my girlfriend and me away such that we turned to each other at intermission and said, "That was amazing."  Then I caught the 1st National Tour in San Francisco in 2005.  SJB was out injured, and Eden was filling in.  She sang the role well, but when I got to intermission it felt like something was missing.  I wasn't amazed the way I had been the first time and lost interest in the show.

Fast forward 2.5 years, I moved to LA and my new girlfriend came to visit from the Bay Area and she'd never seen the show, so I took her to see it.  Caissie had just taken over and I felt that electricity again, and my girlfriend enjoyed it so much we took her mom again in March.  Caissie's vocals were thrilling and she brought a great eagerness to the role.

I know there was a lot of dislike toward Caissie in LA at the time.  I think it was at least partially due to the fact that Eden grew up in LA, so people liked the local girl aspect to her starring in the role.  I have no dislike of Eden.  I saw her in the Falsettos tour recently and quite enjoyed her.  I might just have caught her on a bad night in SF, but I am sooo glad I saw Caissie.  I even look for the bootlegs of her on YouTube periodically just to relive the experience a bit.