Q & A

 

I began as a trumpet players in school bands.  That's where I learned breath control and how to read music.  Other than that--and only a couple of semesters of voice lessons--I've done lots of listening and lots of imitating other singers over the years.  All my life I've been an imitator.  Now if I could just imitate their earnings I'd be able to quit my day-job.  

 

 

Actually I didn't audition for the chorus.  I was invited to sing by a longtime member of that chorus with whom I had sung a few months earlier in the Italian opera L'Elisir d'Amore (The Elixer of Love).  But no one even asked me if I had ever sung in German.  The pressure was on--sort of--when I was seated front row center for the concert--with only the orchestra between me and the conductor.

 

 

Yes.  And that goes along with my knack for imitating.  For instance while preparing for the role of Dr. Seldon/The Starkeeper in Carousel, what sprang to my mind was the series of Pepperidge Farm TV commercials from years ago.  I recalled the actor speaking in a downeast Maine dialect, and I adapted that for the character that I needed to play.  And a longtime member of that theatre group praised my dialect in particular.  Then when I needed to play the Nazi admiral in The Sound of Music, I relied on my memory of listening a character from the 1960s TV show Hogan's Heroes.  And the midwestern deputy sheriff from The Desperate Hours?  The drawl that I used for that character came primarily from the real voice of one of my co-workers.

 

 

Quite a few of my acting jobs from from the same theatre company--The Community Players of Concord, which is the closest one to where I live.  I've been acting with them since 1996, and the regulars there know my work well. In fact it was an actor/director with whom I had worked in that group who recommended me for the role of Drake the butler in Annie with the Nottingham (NH) Theatre Project in 2002.  And the director of Shine Music, Jane Cormier, was the co-founder and artistic director of Operafest! of NH, the organization that had produced Lucia di Lammermoor and other productions in which I had performed.  In 2005 Jane referred me to Granite State Opera artistic director Phil Lauriat, and Granite State Opera ensemble member Nina Eppes invited me to sing in The New World Chorale.  Another Granite State Opera ensemble member, Kathy Andrle, invited me to sing in the chorus of Handel's Messiah in Milford, NH.  And my actress/singer friend Sue Schott, with whom I had performed in The New Spats and Spangles, gave my email address to Mame director Michael Curtiss In addition I'm on a NH theatre mailing list that is maintained by actress/music director Donna Trapp, with whom I have worked (Carousel, Annie, The Sound of Music, Mame).  Plus I'm a member of BostonSingersResource.com, which posts auditions in my region of the USA. 

 

 

 

 

I call myself a singer who acts, but one actor--commenting on my performance in The Desperate Hours--said to me, "Not bad for a singer."  Over the years my acting ability has developed to the degree that I sometimes get acting roles in musicals that don't include solo.  But then at other times, such as in Titanic: The Musical and also Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, I was chosen for specific roles primarily because of my singing voice.  My work in opera--both in principal (solo) roles and as an ensemble member (minor non-solo roles) in which I sing tenor in harmony with other voices--came as a result of my primarily being a singer.  And my more recent classical singing actually dates back to my years as a member of a church choir that performed primarily classical music.

 

 

I would like to find work as a guest soloist with symphony orchestras.  Singing in the Boston Pops Holiday Chorus accompanied by the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra--and conducted by Keith Lockhart--has been one of my greatest thrills, and I truly believe that I have the potential to sing as well as the guest soloists with whom we worked.

 

 

Yes, that's correct.  But of course all the principals in that production were guests.  Certainly I would like more opportunities like that, and sometimes it's just a matter of whom I know and being in the right place at the right time.  In the case of Lucia, the music director and the artistic director were already familiar with my work, and they had started rehearsals with no one to sing the smallest of the principal roles--that of Arturo Bucklaw.  So they auditioned me after the second rehearsal that I attended, and offered me the job, which involved one solo and a total of 30 minutes on stage.  I accepted then and there, but I walked away telling myself that I was crazy because I had only 2 weeks to memorize my part.  But the lead tenor in that production, Ray Bauwens, commended me for learning my role in such a short period of time.  It was like cramming for an exam, but definitely a rewarding experience.

 

 

First of all, I wasn't planning on auditioning for Inherit the Wind.  I was simply driving my daughter Amanda to auditions.  On our way home, Amanda talked me into auditioning, and I turned back and auditioned for the role of the fire-and-brimstone preacher.  When that role went to an actor who was better for that character, I reluctantly accepted two non-speaking roles but then had a great time and found the roles to be very challenging.  And working with a first-rate director--an Actors Equity member who had lived and worked in NYC for several years--was great training for me as an actor.  And when the director greeted me at the audition by saying, "ED!!!" and throwing her arms around me, how could I refuse?