Callas, Come Back

I had a very snarky opening paragraph to this entry, but I decided to delete it. Just didn’t feel right. I guess I’m a marshmallow at heart.

I would like to propose a new type of singing artist. This artist would strive for musical integrity, a warm and clear sound, natural projection, and most importantly, honesty and humanity in the voice and performance. The story should be told with musical expression, not a bunch of perfect pitches and vowels strung together in an emotionless void. I’m not saying that we should abandon mastery of the notes and the languages; I just think that when we are on stage, we should commit ourselves to the character, to the music that we have been given, and to the story itself.

I don't understand many of these actresses today who seem so dull on stage or who tell me that they just ‘can't get into the character.’ What is that?? The best actresses are the ones who inhabit the characters that they've been given. When it comes to lines and choices, it is not "what would so-and-so do?" but rather "what would have brought me to this decision in my life? What would I have to experience or think to come to this decision?" It may seem like a slight adjustment, but it makes a world of difference.

The experiences that I have had make it possible for me to access emotions and see things in different ways. We are not so very different from each other - stray a bit here or make a left turn instead of a right there, and we might all end up somewhere new. That’s what acting is - putting yourself in a situation that someone else has created and then figuring out how you would have ended up there. And of course I could be totally off-base here. This is just how I see it.

Don’t get me wrong: this is absolutely terrifying. You are never more vulnerable than when you explore the choices that you could have made, but didn’t. I just think that as singing artists, we have been given the most expressive of tools and it is our calling to create living scenarios.

Now who wants a s’more?