Thursday, January 11, 2007

Susan Johnson: Greatest Broadway Voice Ever

I finally uploaded (after a fashion) the first number Susan Johnson got to sing in the Broadway musical Oh, Captain! I think Johnson had the greatest voice in the history of Broadway musicals, a unique combination of belt and contralto, like a belt voice on an operatic scale. There was never anything like her before, and there certainly won't be anything like her again now that everybody's idea of a "belt" is some high-voiced person wobbling into a microphone.

This song is one of those numbers that really couldn't have been sung by anyone else; when she sings her first long, loud sustained note (on the word "want" in the line "If you want something") it's truly thrilling even in a recording; it must have been a knockout in the theatre.







No comments: