The opera-izing of the American musical

Last week, I saw two classic Broadway musicals in seven days: "Annie Get Your Gun" at Glimmerglass, which I wrote about in my recent article about that festival, and Oklahoma! at the Arena Stage in Washington, which I finally saw on Saturday night.

Opera companies all over the country are putting new emphasis on presenting classic musicals in the original orchestration, without amplification: the Chicago Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass, and probably the Washington National Opera in the future. In theory, I'm all for it. Amplification has raised the decibel level of the Broadway experience and done some sad things to the vocal technique of many Broadway singers, who croon rather than projecting. At the Arena Stage, "Oklahoma!" opened with Curly singing the first phrase of "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" offstage, and then the amplification ramped up when he made his entrance, and I felt the palpable sense of disappointment of a burst bubble; something of the initial magic was lost.

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Dan Balz 09 Aug, 2011

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