Deborah Voigt sings Broadway tunes. At least at a UCLA Live series show.

Although the balance between Sperling and Voigt was better, the idea of miking a soprano who can fill New York’s Metropolitan Opera House took some getting used to. And for all her friendly bantering, the formal divide between stage and audience wasn’t often bridged. (RTWT)

I think some “classical” sorts are just trained to strongly to disintegrate that wall. Really. Some manage just fine, but others can’t. Maybe she’s just one who can’t.

And they miked her? Why? In the “olden days of yore” I don’t believe Broadway singers were miked. Why bother with someone who doesn’t need it, I wonder?

She paid more attention to singing long, smooth lines than interpreting individual words in an upbeat “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” (from Kern and Hammerstein’s “Show Boat”), a vivid “Gooch’s Song” (Jerry Herman’s “Mame”), a tender “Willow, Willow, Willow” (Forrest and Wright’s “Kean”) and a hard-edged “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” (Ogden Nash and Kurt Weill’s “One Touch of Venus”).

Sort of sounds like an opera singer, right? At least to me.

Anyway, I have great admiration for classically trained singers and instrumentalists who can do it all, but not all can. Right? And I’m okay with that. Just like I’m okay with those pop artists who wisely decline to try to compose a symphony or opera. And I still admire what they do. They don’t need to prove themselves, as far as I’m concerned.