Our new columnist for “Crossover Corner,” Peter Thoresen, offers advice for the classical singer new to musical theatre repertoire on how to find music to add to your “book” by creating curated playlists in streaming platforms.
Happy spring and welcome to “Crossover Corner!” I love the practical and professional advice offered in Classical Singer, and I’m delighted to bring my voice and experience to “Crossover Corner” to continue empowering and inspiring singers and their teachers to be thoughtful, strategic, and joyful in all aspects of their artistry.
A little bit about me: I’m Dr. Peter Thoresen, countertenor, voice teacher, music director, writer, lover of show tunes and a fancy da capo. If there’s a such thing as reincarnation, I’d like to come back as a Jerry Herman act one finale (think Mame) or one of Cleopatra’s 325 arias in Giulio Cesare. But I hope there’s some time before I cross over….
Between puns, my aim is to fill this space with practical tips, related experiences and interviews, and strategies to aid you and/or your students in preparing, performing, and thriving in the ever-expanding canon of musical theater repertoire.
I’m an opera singer who grew up as a child actor in the musical theater world and a voice teacher whose students perform on Broadway, in national tours, and in concert venues all over the world. I direct music and teach voice in Broadway academies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and a common thread in our work together is preparing—mentally and vocally—to create opportunities where they previously didn’t exist: in a word, entrepreneurship. In a different chapter of my life, I led the music entrepreneurship program at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and served as business manager to legendary opera singer Thomas Hampson while serving as administrative director for a chamber music festival at Lincoln Center.
I begin our time in “Crossover Corner” with this bio not because I like talking about myself—but really just to shed some light on how I work with and build experience for vocalists, effectively planning and executing careers rooted in musical and entrepreneurial agility.
Crossover work in your singing is most definitely an entrepreneurial endeavor. And this type of flexibility is necessary in crossing over, and back, and over again in a musical landscape requiring singers to do more than many initially planned for, while remaining authentically themselves. A tall order, but here we go! Welcome!
Let’s jump right in with repertoire. Repertoire selection for crossover work is where many classical singers and their teachers can come to a fork in the road, or even hit a dead end. It might be that one party has a mental block against a composer or the subject matter of the lyrics, or perhaps a teacher has strong tessitura concerns—for instance, not wanting a soprano student bending her voice around literature they deem too dependent on chest voice. Whatever the sticking point—and I’ve heard most of them—we’re all better served when we have options and the opportunity to “Yes…and” someone. While the response “No” is a complete sentence and highly useful in situations, it’s also a conversation stopper and an idea killer.
So, where do these options come from? Here’s a practical strategy for performers and teachers of all stripes who fall anywhere on the spectrum of comfort in exploring, programming, and assigning the musical theater canon.
Open your go-to music streaming platform armed with a plan. Remember, too many options can quickly spin into overwhelm and indecision, so be strategic in your scope as you investigate what you’re looking to add to your book. Keep your parameters flexible enough to discover pleasant surprises along the way, but do yourself the favor of setting aside listening time earmarked for something specific like a new up-tempo piece or a ballad. Further still, it’s helpful to narrow the parameters to a time/style period or a span of years. A fast-gaited Lerner and Loewe song is clearly a marked departure—in text and form—from a comedic up-tempo song from Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years. And lower the stakes a bit. Finding “the one perfect musical theater song” isn’t the goal. Remind yourself of the aria package model where you’re curating a selection of sonic looks for your voice. We’re after the same thing here, and it will take some time and research.
Next, pick a musical theater recording artist with a few significant similarities to your (or your student’s) voice. Consider voice type, similar stylistic affinities, and perhaps even timbre—though be cautious with that last one, as we don’t need to be as Fach focused here as we do in opera land. For example, let’s pick Kelli O’Hara, a Broadway artist who’s well known and decorated for her work in musical theater and whose training and stylistic authenticity afford her an ongoing spot on the Metropolitan Opera roster—most recently as Despina in Così fan tutte, and again in the near future in the world premiere staging of The Hours (Kevin Puts), opposite star soprano Renée Fleming, whose pre-pandemic crossover work had her starring in Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza in London and across the United States.
After picking your singer, click your way to their artist page or profile. On my end, a simple search and click on Spotify lead to me to Kelli O’Hara’s home there. By simply scrolling down, I glean a wide variety of repertoire options, some familiar, some less so. And then a curious click on the “This is Kelli O’Hara” feature guides me to a selection from My Life with Albertine—composer Ricky Ian Gordon’s 2003 musical based on sections from Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. And instantly my crossover antennae go up as I recall that Gordon’s A Horse with Wings and more of his arts songs on the album by the same title are programmed regularly by classical singers. I toggle over to Google, and in another click I’m on Ricky Ian Gordon’s Wikipedia page where just three sentences in I’m reminded that he set 10 Langston Hughes poems for the highly celebrated soprano Harolyn Blackwell—another classical singer with strong and successful crossover experience. The very sight of her name reminds me of my favorite recording of “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” (Sweeney Todd) from the Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall album (1992)—an album featuring several opera singers singing musical theater repertoire. Within a matter of minutes of picking Kelli O’Hara as my test subject, I’ve been led pretty swiftly to both an up-tempo piece for a lyric soprano and a playlist including opera singers singing Sondheim. Sure, some of the process relied on my own experience, tastes, and instincts—but don’t we want those showing up in our artistry and that of our students?
No Spotify account? No problem. That was just an example of one of many digital platforms that can aid in this type of repertoire research. Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube (to name a few) and their respective playlists and artists profiles will help you through the same process. And don’t forget, this process isn’t limited to picking an artist known primarily for their work in musical theater. The same process using Ian Bostridge led me to a fabulously curated list of Noël Coward songs. Where will your next search lead you, your students, and your listeners?
