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As a seasoned performer, having worked professionally in Musical Theatre in New York City, on national tours, internationally, etc., what do you think the important keys to success emerging artists must consider before embarking on a career?

(Photographed Below: Michelle Rosen in The Phantom of the Opera)

If you listen to musical theatre singers of the past, they had very unique and recognizable voices. They may not have had technically perfect instruments or in some cases any vocal training, but they could inhabit a song, some quite beautifully. I worry about the graduates of all the hundreds of musical theatre programs across the country now. They may sing well, but in this highly competitive market, what is individual and special about them that will make them stand out? They are all beginning to sound the same – are we training the individuality right out of them?
The other thing MT performers need to know is: acting first. Unless you are an astonishing dancer or a good dancer who’s content to stay in the ensemble, what performers on Broadway have always been and continue to be are actors first and foremost. If you’re being sent in for an agent submission or going to an Equity call, they just ASSUME you can sing (and you’d better be able to!), but they are looking beyond that for strong acting and personalization of the work you bring in. [Read more…] about Spotlight on Michelle Rosen

You recently took a sabbatical from your private teaching studio. What can you tell us about that experience and where it has led you?

I love teaching singing, but if I’m being honest, doing it for 15 years independently and then for the last six, building it as a business had taken its toll.
In June of 2018 I stopped teaching privately with the intention of returning back to my work in September.
What followed were some of the most uncertain and exciting months of my adult life. At first I felt quite lost with the time I had suddenly acquired, but after a while I was able to establish new creative habits around singing and music making. In addition, I traveled, studied, caught up with friends and just generally rested. [Read more…] about Spotlight on Davin Youngs

Jeanie has completed being in Toowoomba, Australia where she just finished teaching the first-ever LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ at the University of Southern Queensland. She was so grateful to have been joined by Brenda Earle Stokes as her faculty and assisted by Dr. Melissa Forbes, and Heather Keens, some of our esteemed Australian Somatic Voicework™ alumni, who all did a terrific job! Thirty participants, some of them reviewers, gathered to be apart of the first international LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™. Jeanie is so grateful to all the participants for making the event such a huge success. We received some truly wonderful press, please click here to check out a wonderful feature from 7 News Toowoomba. [Read more…] about Greetings from Oz!

Your work as both a singer and pedagogue has spanned several continents; can you tell us about your work and how it has evolved over the years (i.e. the switch from musical theatre to jazz focus, etc.)?
Musical theater became my sole focus through high school and then at Boston Conservatory where I was musical theater major training in music, voice, dance and acting. It was a rigorous, challenging and all consuming program that taught me about all aspects of the theater and musical theater at that time. The program also provided invaluable experiences on the technical crews and as a director and collaborator. I did the summer stock, then small professional productions in the Boston area as well as two summers as a singing waitress on Cape Cod 6 nights a week. That experience certainly taught me that better vocal technique was needed to sustain my “Broadway” goal. I had a naturally strong voice and had had some good foundation with two “classical” voice teachers from the age of 16, both whom embraced musical theater and the reality of chest voice and belting, but at the end of one summer when I had no voice for two weeks, it was clear that too much singing and too much partying were not sustainable!! Luckily I had no vocal damage, but it was an important lesson learned. [Read more…] about Spotlight on Lisa Thorson