Too Many/Not Enough Sopranos
There is a chamber opera by Edwin Penhorwood entitled Too Many Sopranos about the predicament of four sopranos arriving at the Pearly Gates, only to be told there is no room for all of them in the heavenly choir. It was written for the opera program at Indiana University, at which Professor Penhorwood serves as the musical director of the Graduate Opera Workshop. It is a favorite of college opera programs because it has a multitude of roles for sopranos. It’s also funny.
In musical theater, particularly in post-Golden Age musical theater, there aren’t a lot of roles for sopranos. There aren’t that many roles for women, for that matter. A major problem for many of the high schools at which I have had students is that they choose musicals that are largely male-dominant, and then don’t have enough boys come out for auditions (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, anyone?).
According to an article on the website Production Pro, the 2018-2019 Broadway season featured 67% of the titled roles in musicals going to male-identifying actors, with female-identifying actors playing 32% (.27% played by non-binary actors and 7.1% of the characters not being identified by gender). And this is just the titled roles – often, the ensemble is largely male as well.
And in general, even the true soprano roles don’t sit all that high. Musical theater is all about text and story – the tessitura must be in a place where the audience can understand what is being said. High notes are saved for places where the text has been repeated and we’re coming to the money note.
For example, if we don’t know that you’re singing “all night!” at the end of “I could have danced all night,” then you weren’t doing your job the first 8 times you sang it. Plus it’s in the title – what else could you be singing?
(That said, I still grit my teeth at Rodgers’ setting the final “your dream” in “Climb Every Mountain” on an Ab5, because no matter how good you are at maintaining vowel integrity while creating the oral space you need for that note, the best you can do is a modification that may sound like “yah draab” – but fortunately, it’s the Act 1 closing song, and if you hit that Ab right, the audience is applauding wildly before you even release the note – and then again, what else could you be singing at that point, anyway?)
But the roles that are for sopranos, particularly for the lighter coloratura voices, tend to be for the ingenue. This makes sense – that vocal color and range generally is associated with the young maidenly type. The mature female singer roles are often filled by mezzos or contraltos, with the occasionally dramatic or full lyric soprano (Mother Abbess, Nettie). An exception can be found here and there – Madame Grimaldi in Bells are Ringing and Madame De La Grande Bouche in Beauty and the Beast are both high sopranos with coloratura.
Resources for the Legit Soprano or Mixy Mezzo
What if you are a soprano of a certain age? Or a mixy mezzo who isn’t that much of a belter but has a decent top (raising hand here)? What are your options?
If you have a subscription to Steven Gross’ musicaltheatersongs.com, you may search for songs for specific ages and voice types, by level of difficulty for the pianist (if you’re looking for audition repertoire), by composer, by era, etc. This is a seriously valuable tool – you will have to look at songs to determine if they are in fact for soprano or simply for a “legit” voice.
Caveat: Check the actual ranges of the songs – there was one song I found from the musical It shoulda been you that was listed as soprano, but when I looked at the song, it was noted to sing the song down an octave! So rather than a range of D4-G5, it’s really D3-G4.
It will be easier for a soprano or mezzo who can belt to find music and roles to which you are suited. I’m still working on it myself.
Soprano-friendly composers for mature women
- Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County (Francesca)
- Scott Frankel/Michael Korie, Grey Gardens (Big Edie/Little Edie); War Paint (Elizabeth), Far From Heaven (Mrs.Leacock)
- Ricky Ian Gordon, My Life with Albertine (Grandmother)
- Adam Guettel, The Light in the Piazza (Margaret, Signora Nacarelli)
- Jerry Herman, Mame (Gooch’s Song), Milk and Honey (Ruth)
- Jeffrey Lunden/Arthur Perlman, Wings (Emily)
- Stephen Schwartz, The Queen of Versailles (Jackie)
- Kurt Weill, The Street Scene (Anna Maurrant)
The Queen of Versailles hasn’t made it to Broadway, yet, but here’s a clip of Kristin Chenoweth singing one of her big songs from it, with composer Stephen Schwartz at the piano (and yes, she does belt in this song):
As disheartening as it is to see the words, “mostly male cast” on an audition notice, think of it this way –
At least we’re not in Elizabethan times, when men played women’s parts!
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