Broadway singers

I have no idea. I'm not an actor. But based on what I was told, they go through hours of rehearsals. So I assume the actor practices his lines until he gets them right. But the core meat of learning to be an actor has to be done first. How can you act, if you do not have a foundation.

No matter how good you are, you need technique - and that means a great deal of practice, practice, practice. The Susan Boyles of the world are few and far between (and even she had the technical experience of a structured choir, and would have needed training were she not on national TV), alas - despite what Hollywood would have us believe

hhusted: I meant Broadway singing -- not acting. Two separate things. Obviously, acting takes years and years and it does take hours to prepare a scene. But, I wonder if every singer in a Broadway show has spent equally as much singing training as acting training. I hear them all the time in other rooms at auditions. They all sound exactly the same, and they're not all that amazing for the most part.

Even singers have to train. They have to rehearse their songs as well. They may not have to do extensive practicing as an actor does, but they still have to practice thew song to get it just right. I attended a Broadway show that was in rehearsals, and they were practicing the songs days before the event.

I go to a screenwriting class on Monday evenings, and I hear them practicing in the next room.

I know people do train for musical theatre. I was simply wondering if anyone knew of any case wherein the person was just a really good singer whom hadn't musical theatre trained but booked a Broadway chorus spot anyhow.

I've worked with singers (they were trained in opera, but perhaps this gives you an idea). I noticed after a time that even singers need to have imaginative abilities in order to transport emotion, like an actor. So all singers need to practice insanely much to get the technical stiff down, but some people do have a certain power to transport emotion, which is a talent that can be refined, but needs to be there in the first place to make someone really a star. In the case of singers, there are also some who have interesting "colors" to their voices. One of the singers had this quality. He had a rather brittle voice and didn't carry as far as others (so he would never get a gig at La Scala) but his voice was generally considered very interesting because of of its "color." So he might be cast in unusual roles, but would otherwise have trouble getting "standard" roles.

To answer you directly: no, I doubt there are any accidents with voices. There an enormous amount of technical work that needs to be done in order to get a performance quality voice. That said, the training need not always be in a conservatory. Lifelong membership in church choirs has also adequately trained singers who would then go on to make decent careers. But this is rare and ultimately they end up training a lot too.

Indeed, @uraniumfish - technically, the famous Maria Callas, was flawed, but her emotion and power made her one of the most famous opera divas of the 20th century

@ajadeidealist That, and several wealthy Greek investors who boosted her career.

I used to have a speech and singing coach. She told me that professional singers work hard to train their voices. It isn't about just belting out a song. As Uraniumfish suggested, the singer has to learn many things to sing correctly. The singer has to learn technique, voice, extension, and many other things to put on a great performance. Some people already have a talent and singing comes natural for them, while others have to work harder.