#The Broadway Baritone: {Chuck Wagner} | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thisstrangeobsession · 3 years ago

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1) Prefer a baritone, for sure. The wider the range, the more freedom to explore different vocal qualities, and a fuller lower register can add so much power, especially in Confrontation. That’s why this show is so, so difficult to cast - how does someone craft two performances with very similar ranges, without resorting to either just yelling or putting on a silly ‘villain’ voice? A tenor may not have the variety of timbres necessary to differentiate Jekyll from Hyde, and a pure bass probably couldn’t sing This Is The Moment or the end of Take Me As I Am/Dangerous Game.

2) Yes. It doesn’t matter much how, but they need to be believable as distinct people. It’s more about the intention in the voice - Anthony Warlow, for example, doesn’t change much about his voice in his iconic album performance. It’s very much the same instrument, but the diction and slightly sinister phrasing make all the difference. Robert Cuccioli does and always has had, appropriately, two extremely different qualities to his voice, sounding completely different as a more ‘pop’ higher baritone or as a bass (I wish he’d brought more of the latter, actually, but I’m sure it was all about balance and vocal health, especially after the Pre-Broadway tour really put him through the ringer). Speaking of...

Robert Cuccioli will always be #1 for me. The intensity, the desperation, the pure focus with which he uses every phrase to tell a story, is second to none. Is he the strongest vocalist of the bunch? Nah. Both Craig Schulman and Joe Mahowald, who understudied, are astounding singers, but out of that Broadway cast, only Cuccioli brought a performance truthful enough to overcome that script/those lyrics. He made that production - and the better versions that resulted - possible. I don’t think it would’ve lasted more than a year with anyone else after Anthony Warlow had to decline. He should’ve won the Tony Award.

Thomas Borchert is #2, for many of the same reasons. Intention. Truth. A keen understanding of character(s) and playing to his strengths. His Jekyll is, like Bob’s, a bit of a self-righteous nerd, striving for perfection and oblivious to his own faults, but his Hyde is far more maniacal, without ever losing the danger and the, well, evil, while delighting in murder and mayhem.

Anthony Warlow is #3, only because he never performed the whole show. His voice is the gold standard for all baritones, really. As I’ve said, his performance is iconic, navigating a dual role in what was essentially an all-new score, without the full context of the script, and he set the bar so high it’s no surprise many consider him their favourite, even if only on an album. I really wish there’d been a West End or Australian production with him when he returned to performing, but alas.

Special mentions: Rob Evan. Chris Murray. Anders Ekborg. Joe Mahowald. Craig Schulman. Brad Little. Jan Ammann. Chuck Wagner.

I have some questions:

I always feel like the role of Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde is basically the definition of a baritenor role (basically, mostly baritone with the ability to solidly hit tenor notes). However, the role has been played by people who are more on the baritone, deeper-toned side of things (Chuck Wagner, Ethan Freeman?), and also more recently more on the higher tenor side (Drew Sarich, David Jakobs, Constantine Maroulis, duhhh).

Furthermore, the vocal differences between Jekyll & Hyde. Some actors change their voice a lot to play Hyde. Sometimes the vocal difference actors do for Hyde manifests as sounding generally deeper and “rougher” (uhh Cuccioli), other times it can sound just raspier (David Jakobs), among other things. Some actors don’t change the sound of their voice THAT much and just make it more of a BIG acting shift.

My questions (which you can totally pick and choose which ones you feel like answering, this isn’t an assignment even though it totally sounds like one lol) are:

1) Do you prefer the sound of a higher-sounding or a lower-sounding actor in the role? Why?

2) Does Hyde need to sound different than Jekyll? Why? What do you imagine the vocal difference between Jekyll & Hyde to be?

3) Who are your top 3 favorite voices in the part, and why? (Because I know if I just said “favorite” a lot of answers would be Warlow lol.) You don’t need to pick an order.

I’m beyond curious about what you think about this. If you don’t think that the voice is that important then say it, I won’t cyber bully you lol. I might just be a vocalist who thinks too much about Jekyll & Hyde, but I think that the vocal aspect of playing the role is really integral.

Also don’t feel like you have to answer all these questions at once, or even all these questions. Literally just tell me your thoughts on ANY of this, I’m so interested.

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