<p>My colleagues and I just presented data from a six month survey of casting notices posted on Backstage.com at an international voice conference. I think the information gives a great deal of insight into what exactly is happening in the casting world and is worth sharing. </p>
<p>We setup a filter through Backstage that sent us casting notices for singers 18-24 for union and non-union musicals, cruise ships, and theme park shows. We gathered 1238 notices from mid-October to mid-April. Using a variety of sources, including the notices themselves, we were able to classify the casting notices into four categories: Classical/Legit, Traditional, Contemporary MT, Pop/Rock. These categories represent the type of singing required for the show unless the casting team asked for something else, which did happen occasionally. For instance, some contemporary musicals asked for a pop/rock audition song and stated "no musical theatre." That notice was classified as "pop/rock" even though the show was not "pop/rock" since pop/rock singing would be required if you were to be successful in the audition room. The terms legit and traditional can be confusing as there are without a doubt soprano roles in "traditional musicals." However, the majority of notices seeking sopranos specifically stated "legit" and were therefore classified as "legit." </p>
<p>The numbers below represent the type of singing that was expected from performers age 18-24 in the audition room during the six month time period we surveyed. Here are the percentages we found.</p>
<p>5% of auditions were seeking classical/legit singers
40% of auditions were seeking traditional musical theatre singers
30% of auditions were seeking contemporary musical theatre singers
25% of auditions were seeking pop/rock singers</p>
<p>If you look at Broadway only, we found:
6% Legit
22% Traditional
33% Contemporary
39% Pop/Rock</p>
<p>Contemporary musical theatre vocal style is very closely aligned to pop singing. In fact several authors have begun calling the vocal style found in contemporary musicals "FM Sound." If you combine contemporary and pop/rock musicals, you will find that 55% of all auditions and 72% of Broadway auditions require singing that has elements of pop music in it. Traditional musicals have a strong connection to jazz and big band music and often require chest dominant singing including belting. Even if the singer is not belting, a speech-based delivery is often essential. If we combine all categories except legit, we find that overall 95% of auditions required non-classical singing.</p>
<p>Here are a few of the vocal demands specifically listed in notices from each category:</p>
<p>Classical/Legit
technique rooted in bel canto/classical pedagogy
opera/operatic
Italian-style
coloratura soprano<br>
lyric soprano
glorious legit soprano
experience with Gilbert and Sullivan a major plus</p>
<p>Traditional
vitality in the lyrics
speaking on pitch
soaring bari-tenor voice
robust classic American musical sound
big first-rate Broadway belt voice
Ella Fitzgerald/Billie Holliday big band sound
Ethel Merman
true chest belt<br>
comedic actress who can sing
song-and-dance man </p>
<p>Contemporary Musical Theatre
Broadway singers with pop sensibility
Disney pop sound<br>
contemporary with pop flair
must sing effortlessly in many styles and vocal registers
fantastic belter who can mix through the break to soprano
powerful contemporary mix voices
conversational belter
mezzo folk singer
huge pop/rock belt
avoid musical comedy</p>
<p>Pop/Rock
vocal pyrotechnics
yodel flip
strong falsetto
gritty rock belt
gravelly distinctive voice
smoky belt
soulful phrasing
gospel/rock power belter
vocals in the style of ...(insert various celebrity singers)</p>
<p>It became quite clear to us that it is not just an opinion that Broadway is moving away from classical singing, its a fact. We do believe students still need to be able to sing classical musical theatre convincingly. However, we propose that more time should be spent on contemporary styles in academic training as that appears to be what our students will be singing most often once they move to NYC. We will be publishing a full report on our findings and when we do I will post a link to it.</p>
<p>VT</p>