Julian taught me to sing, to make music, to act, that it was ok to love Opera and Musical Theatre equally. He helped me become a better and stronger person, to take risks on stage and off. And, even though I didn’t realize it at the time, he taught me how to be a voice teacher. He was always professional but so personable. He shared his gifts as an artist and as a human being freely, with love and generosity. He somehow always made me feel like I was his colleague as well as his student; such a gift to a young aspiring singer.

This is a story about the time my voice teacher convinced me to sing something I had no business singing by invoking the name of Leonard Bernstein.

I learned to teach every voice type, gender, vocal problem, temperament, and musical style.

I taught sopranos, mezzos, soprano belters, mezzo belters, sopranos how to belt and belters how to sing soprano; tenors, bari-tenors, baritones, basses, and baritones who wanted to be tenors; dancers who had never sung before and actors who had never sung before.

I love Stephen Sondheim’s musicals. I love his music. I love his lyrics. Two of his musicals, Into The Woods and Company make my top 10 favorite musicals list. But I have to confess, this wasn’t always the case. <Gasp>

It’s hard to know where to start in praise of Ms. Peters. She is extraordinary in everything she does on both stage and screen… There is simply no one like her. She is a unique and awesome talent. You know it is her immediately: that voice! that hair! (that physique!) She embodies seeming opposites that few can: she is adorable and tough. Strong and über feminine. Hilarious and deadly serious. Her eyes twinkle with mischief and passion, sparkle with tears and laughter.

Sopranos get a bad rap in Musical Theatre today. This makes me mad. I confess, I am myself a soprano, but that is not the only reason it irks me. I’m not quite sure how it came to be that we sopranos are so maligned these days, but here are 10 reasons I think sopranos have the right and need to exist!

I’ve been a hopeless romantic since birth. Let me curl up with a good romantic novel and I’m happy (hello, Pride and Prejudice!).  I love romantic comedies: I know every word of When Harry Met Sally. And naturally, I love love songs; a good one will reduce me to tears.

LET. IT. GO. Out into the universe. You’ve prepared, you’ve practiced, you’ve done your best work at that time, in that place.

When I auditioned for Into the Woods a few years ago, I desperately wanted to play the role of the Baker’s Wife…

But the director had other ideas. Not once did I read for either the Baker’s Wife or Cinderella, or any other role, barring one: The Witch.

You could say Julie Andrews was my first voice teacher. No, I have never had the great good fortune to meet the marvelous Ms. Andrews, but I have been listening to her sing since I was a child and subsequently learned vast amounts about singing (and diction and acting) from her immense talent. So in honor of her 85th birthday this week, I will sing her praises.

I’ve been thinking about my beginnings in Musical Theater and my ten year old self a great deal recently. Even from the very beginning, I was fearless on stage, which is strange because I was, and in many ways still am, a very shy and fearful person. There were nerves to audition, certainly, but for some reason I wasn’t nervous on stage, not while singing.  There was something about performing, creating a character, inhabiting an imaginary world, that helped me transcend my fears and find only joy in the experience.

The importance of a great collaborator, a musical scene partner, if you will, cannot be overstated. As a singer, your pianist can make or break a performance, or can at least make your job easier or harder

I am especially proud of one of my students this week and I feel it necessary to brag about her publicly. However, I also want to tell her story (even as it continues to unfold) because I believe she is a perfect example of the extraordinary vocal transformation that can happen using Cornelius Reid’s vocal techniques and philosophies (as he taught them to me).

I’m still a little in shock. Last night was a first for me after 30 years doing theatre: it was the final dress rehearsal for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (for which I am the vocal director) and the actor playing Marcy Park (the one who sings “I speak 6 languages”) was too ill to perform (she had a terrible flu!). The director called me at 3:30 p.m. saying he needed ME to play Marcy, ON BOOK, thank goodness. I was just about to have lunch and suddenly I couldn’t eat a thing. I was freaking out! I had never done anything remotely like this before- I’m a planner, a practicer, a preparer! Anything remotely improv-like or non-rehearsed scares me to death!

Auditioning is probably one of the most stressful things anyone can put themselves through.  The scheme of stressful events should be amended to death, taxes, moving…and auditioning! Besides wanting to perform well, your only other desire is to be able to read the minds of the auditioners. What are they thinking?

the process of finding great repertoire is like shopping for a great outfit to wear. Yes, a song is like a good piece of clothing; one size does not fit all. The question is: what “fits”?

I’m glad to know all those years watching The Wizard of Oz paid off.  Thank you Billie Burke! You were right there with me, whispering inspiration into my ear with your sweet, trilly voice. “Are you a good witch or a bad witch? Which?”  I am honored to follow in your footsteps. 

So, how does one choose the right repertoire?

1. You do NOT get points for trying, meaning: Always choose a song completely within your ability level.

The signs had actually been everywhere that I would eventually find my way back to Musical Theater, I had just ignored them.

I am a recovering opera singer. My recovery involves finding my way back home to my first love of American Musical Theater…