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| THE TENOR BOOK4 SPOTLIGHT: The Tightrope Act | |
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When I ask people to describe what it is about the tenor voice that's so compelling, they often compare it to watching a high-wire act at the circus. It's the danger, the excitement, the awareness that they could fall... and an admiration, maybe mixed with a bit of unbelievability, because the guy walking, jumping, doing cartwheels along the tightrope is doing something that - in a million years - we wouldn't attempt. |
| RICHARD MARGISON | |
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Richard Margison: "I've learned more about singing through Verdi than any other composer. With the through line... taking you to the top of the mountain... and showing you when to come down." Conductor Edoardo Müller: "The correctness of the phrase is a result. You have to start with the meaning of the words. If you find the perfect way of saying the words, you will find the way that Verdi found for the music." |
| Il trovatore: Run
through in rehearsal hall, two days before moving onto the stage: Richard "lets it
fly" during the Di quella pira - the male chorus was staggered, staring at
him in awe. Stage director Ian Campbell, a character tenor himself in his
pre-administrative days, asks Richard afterwards: "Are they always there? the
C's?" Richard says "Oh yeah, that's the easy part... What's hard is the lead-in to Ah si ben mio... that's a killer." |
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| FRANCIS EGERTON | |||
| Frank Egerton is a gifted actor, comic and otherwise - something that's very useful for the wide range of characters he portrays. As a young tenor with a light lyric voice, he started to specialize in Rossini heroes - but says he quickly figured out that at 5'5" and of slender build, he wasn't going to get as many roles as the really tall tenors, the guys who are 5'8" or 5'9" ... Frank has the curiosity and personality to revel in the character roles - and after more than 40 years in the business, he says there are still nights when he stands in the wings, listening to the lead tenor onstage, admiring and learning. |
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Stage director Linda Brovsky says that the most intelligent performer on stage is often the character tenor because he has fewer lines, less time than anyone else in which to establish a character for the audience. He needs to know movement and mannerisms from different periods, and needs to adapt to them quickly because he isn’t going to get a lot of attention from the production staff during rehearsals. And he usually has to sing in more different languages than a leading tenor does. Sometimes called a comprimario - he who sings with the primary tenor - the term character tenor is more descriptive of the roles and the acting skill needed to carry them off. |
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MORE OPERA PAGES, FEATURING THESE TENORS: Turandot | The Marriage of Figaro | Of Mice and Men | Peter Grimes | Idomeneo | Il trovatore |
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| AUTHOR'S JOURNAL The Serendipity Factor | ||
| TONY, PETER & ME | ||
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With Los Angeles Opera's production of Peter Grimes, I had arranged to photograph the final dress rehearsal as part of my research for the tenor book. Philip Langridge was singing the title role and we'd already agreed to set an interview for a later date. I drove the 130 miles north to LA, only to be told by a junior media rep [who had best remain anonymous] that Langridge was ill and a replacement had flown in on the red-eye from New York the night before. Since it's sometimes all about me, she said facetiously, I was mildly irritated that my project had changed at the last possible moment. As we were walking through the backstage area to the house, I asked the rep who the replacement tenor was - after all, Peter Grimes isn't a role that just anyone can sing. "Ahh, sorry, can't remember his name," was the response. More irritation, imperfectly concealed. |
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| At the precise moment we walked past the principal tenor's dressing room door, it was opened from inside, and standing there was... Tony Griffey. This was the tenor the media rep couldn't remember?! I'd worked with Tony in San Diego on Of Mice and Men and had already interviewed him for the book, had reveled in his success at The Met singing this particular role, and I was delighted to see him here... and to be able to shoot him as Grimes was a big bonus. |  |
![Anthony Dean Griffey in the role he created: Mitch, in "A Streetcar Named Desire" [with Sheryl Woods]](tenor_images/tg_street.jpg) |
He was glad to see a friendly face, big hugs all around. Tony had a few hours of sleep after flying in, then spent the day in costume fittings, meeting with the conductor, and being walked through the blocking by the assistant director - then it's time for makeup, introductions to his colleagues for the evening, and... Show Time. And I spent a bit of time before the rehearsal musing on the role that serendipity has played in my research for the book. | |
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| THE INTERVIEWS - in conversation with SCOTT WYATT | ||
| Scott Wyatt, a 30-year old
singer and voice teacher, was called on to step into the lead role of San Diego Opera's production of Idomeneo, replacing
the tenor who became ill. A frenzied weekend of phone calls around the world by
administration generated a list of every known tenor who could sing the role -
it's a relatively short list. Domingo and Pavarotti were unavailable... geez, no kidding.
Everyone else was too, except Scott Wyatt, who had covered (or understudied) the role
twice, but had never sung the role on stage; indeed, had never sung a leading role on any
professional opera stage. The opera compay took a deep breath... and took a chance. Monday evening was the first dress rehearsal. Scott's plane landed late that afternoon; he was driven to the theatre where, standing in the middle of the backstage hall area, he was swarmed over by the wardrobe people making adjustments to his costume - all the while being introduced to his fellow singers and conductor. The Assistant Director walked him through the blocking, literally taking him by the hand and moving him from one spot to the next on stage, while he was singing. After an intense week, Scott gave a credible performance on opening night. By the end of the run, he was a seasoned veteran and his performances were extremely good. We talked about his experience and the kind of confidence it takes to accomplish what he did, which he sees as just part of the job. |
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mlh: Let me ask you specifically about this role, about Idomeneo. Now you covered it a couple of times, right? But you didn’t go on? SW: No, Jerry [Hadley] was very healthy at Santa Fe. And so was Gösta [Winbergh] at San Francisco. So, I sat back and watched. And learned a great deal from both of them. mlh: But, you come in less than a week before opening, and it’s been what? a couple of years…? |
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Because, you know, watching you walk through that first rehearsal, you seemed to have most
of it there. SW: Little memory glitches here and there. In San Francisco’s run of the show, they had had some assistant directors that kind of got me all familiar with what to do. And I was ready to go on at San Francisco, in fact I was chompin’ at the bit. I was really hoping Gösta would step back one night. mlh: [laughs] SW: At Santa Fe, they hadn’t done any staging rehearsals for us at all. If Jerry had got sick, it would have been kind of scary. But the scarier thing is, I did know the role. I had it memorized, I was ready to walk on. Not knowing the blocking, but knowing the music. mlh: How much did all that help you, this time? SW: Well, the staging helped in probably 60 to 70 percent. Lotfi’s rendition was different - there’s only so much you can do in some respects with Idomeneo, you know, stand here for a while, do everything you can to look interested in what the other guy’s saying, even though he’s saying the same thing 300 times. [laughs] mlh: And you have that long stretch… SW: Before the aria! It’s a killer! mlh: … where everybody sings at you, and all you have to do is kind of look at them. SW: Yup. I hate it. I feel so goofy. |
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mlh: When you got to opening night, did you feel ready? SW: For the most part. I’m the kind of singer that can do just about any role you give me as long as you give me about three weeks to a month to let it set into my voice. The voice kind of develops around the role and, you know, and I can fit my instrument to the role if I’m given enough time. Because it’d been a year and a half since I’d done this and got thrown back into it with less than a week, opening night I think went okay – I was really experimenting with some things because I had no time to do it before that. And I think a lot of people think that opera singers... it’s a real easy job, you know, you get a lot of |
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| glory. You’re given this gift by God and you just go out and display it - not how it works. Yes, I mean God did grant you the gift, but he expects you to work with it. And if you’re a tenor, and a bigger tenor voice, he only granted so much of it each day. And it runs out on you. So you can’t be sitting there, testing the waters a lot and rehearsing all day long, because you won’t have anything that night to work with. So Saturday [opening] night was kind of a test run for me. That was more like the dress rehearsal for me. And then the second night felt more like what I would want an opening to be like. | ||
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NAVIGATION
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OperaBasics
- An Introduction The Art of Making Opera - Inside the Book Explore More: Top 10 Ways to Fall in Love With Opera Principal Singers
& Singing |
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WORDS & MUSIC SHOP recommended recordings by tenors & Artist Profiles of many favorites coming soon: LATER 20th CENTURY TENORS |
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