The Female Musical Theatre Performer: A much negelcted entity...

...In Fairy World anyway. See, it has come to our attention  that we admire a whole host of male performers, but when asked to stop and think about their female counterparts, we struggle. Why?? We're women. We like to sing (not brilliantly, granted, but we sing...), and most musicals have female leads (or do they?...hmmm...), and there are plenty of accomplished performers out there. Karina has a healthy respect for Elaine Paige which has been unearthed recently (even if she did receive a curt rejection from the EP forum when she applied to join following her concert epiphany. Ouch. Not a big enough fan...we suppose...the shame...!), and we both would jump at the chance to see someone like Barbra Streisand in concert. One of our anonymous friends has asked what other female performers we admire and that's when we truly had to stop and think. Because...we don't rightly know.

Is that shameful?? The fact is that just one of the many reasons we're such good friends is because we have very similar tastes, music included. Neither one of us is generally speaking fond of female voices, especially those towards the higher end of the register, because they can so easily nudge the screechy spectrum. Another common phenomenon, in our humble opinion, is being nasal. Ladies, more so than men, fall foul of this little trait. Also, women frequently succumb to the 'I sing (shout) loud, therefore I sing well' rule and, especially nowadays, rely on vocal acrobatics, melisma, 'riffing' (call it what you will) rather than just singing a song and trusting  the music and their voice to convey the beauty, emotion or the message of the piece. It can be very annoying. For us anyway.

Then there's the problem with musicals in general. Frequently the male parts are more dominant  (unless you're looking at shows such as 'Wicked' or' Legally Blonde'... errrrmm...yep, this is turning into a somewhat weak argument as there's also 'Sweet Charity' and 'Calamity Jane' and 'Evita' and 'Chicago' and.....but bear with us) and for some reason it's the men who appear to get more accolades. Is musical theatre just a two tier society like the rest of the world (not about to start a feminist rant here so no worries) or could it be that male voices - and performers - are just more popular (to borrow the words of Galinda) than their female counterparts, both with the public and in the press, to a point?

It might also have something to do with fan bases. Although this is a generalisation and an incredibly inexact science (as you might have already gathered), on the whole male performers seem to attract a large, steady female following and female performers appear to attract a sizable, but often transient, young female and gay following. Naturally, this is not an exclusive statement and variations to this apply across the spectrum. But. We think of Michael Ball; large and visible female following.  Sheridan Smith; big younger female and gay following (as witnessed at the WoS awards). Ramin Karimloo; vast (and growing) female following. Kerry Ellis; young women and gay men by the bucketful. And so on and so forth. Male MT performers seem to have much larger, and more 'static' fanbases. They seem to be more popular!!

 Of course straight men also enjoy theatre  (and for the record, this post is not intending to be a poke at anyone's gender or sexuality, likes or dislikes!) but straight men, on the whole,  although they obviously attend  theatre performances, rarely make up a large part of any specific fan group. A bit like our dads; love theatre, wouldn't dream of  joining a fan club or stage dooring (unless there's something they haven't told us).

So could it be that just because we're women and no longer teenagers, we automatically tune in to the male voices and are more critical of the female voices and vice versa? Women do frequently make up a large portion of a theatre audience, with their husbands/boyfriends often just 'dragged' along for the ride, or simply left at home... Could it be that male performers are still preferred over female performers vocally as much as everything else? Is this a historical thing? Maybe there is no hard and fast rule to this and maybe it's just us.

We like male voices more than female.

Looking at our respective CD collections there are few female vocalists present. Karina has Alison Moyet, Alison Goldfrapp, Annie Lennox, Edith Piaf (who was a belter...and some would argue screechy. I love the raw passion of her songs but appreciate the irony - Karina) alongside EP albums (though all evidence of EP in my collection might have to go now following 'the rejection'...not that I'm bitter  -Karina), we both have our Barbra Streisand's and Tamsin has Lady Gaga, Duffy (annoying after the first couple of listens) Doris Day and Madonna  tucked away somewhere, but otherwise the remainder are all male vocalists in our collections...our point being; all of these female vocalists are mainly on the lower vocal register. But that's not to say good female vocalists don't exist. Neither would we be so arrogant as to suggest that just because we haven't come across them, neither has anyone else.We might be fickle but they are out there somewhere, we know they are! (Tamsin is leaning towards Adeles latest, now that she is singing stuff that makes sense instead of laments about pavements.)

So... in conclusion.... we have searched and thought and pondered and contemplated and come up with the following female MT performers we like. The decision making process has been much, much longer than we could have ever anticipated, and we have revisited this list so many times it started to feel slightly surreal. Be warned, there may be very few surprises...(not saying we're predictable or anything...):

Lea Salonga

Our admiration for Ms Salonga is well documented. She moved us to tears at the O2 and managed to do the same on the Les Mis 10th Anniversary DVD. Whether it's Ms Saigon, The Miz or anything, her voice has a purity that is almost impossible to explain and nigh impossible to replicate. She is good. And we'd see her in anything if she came back to the West End.

Kerry Ellis

Although arguably best known for her 'Elphaba', and latterly 'Nancy',we heard Kerry in the Chess Concert at RAH singing 'Svetlana' (and, in our opinion, she outsang Idina Menzel...). Great voice, charismatic and is doing brilliantly for good reason; she is a powerhouse but with emotional punch.

Barbara Dickson

So who were you when you sang 'I know Him So Well' with your mates? Elaine or Barbara? Barbara has a stunning tone to her voice and we feel could have easily been equal to - if not bigger than - EP. She seems to prefer less publicity, maybe, and therefore hasn't been seen in quite as many prominent roles. Yet another person we would have seen in anything and still would, as she is fabulous.

Summer Strallen

A revelation, this lady. Seen by us in 'Love Never Dies' as Meg, and escaped our attention completely before the show had its refurbishment. Then suddenly Summer literally became one of the stars of the show. She's a triple threat; pleasant voice (particularly her lower register), great dancer, good actor. Pretty as well. We should hate her but we can't.  And her sister, Scarlett, appears to be in a very similar league. However, these talented ladies' auntie, Bonnie Langford has never been a big favourite in our eyes (and very, very occasionally the familial similarity is there for all to see)...

Ruthie Henshall

With her clenched jaw and bad 'cockerney' accent, this lady is another one who divides audiences. But she has been around forever.Respect. And used to date Prince Edward (...and John Gordon Sinclair...?). And has some hefty theatre credentials as well as a memorable voice and stage presence.

Louise Dearman

Currently charming the crowds as Galinda/Glinda in Wicked, Louise really impressed us. She has a high soprano which doesn't have that annoying, shrill quality, good acting skills, great comic timing and she comes across as a really nice lady. So we look forward to seeing her in lots more things!

Ute Lemper

Possibly something of an acquired taste, this lady, but Karina was introduced to Ute Lemper through listening to her friends records in her student days in the early 90's. Missed her in Chicago in London, but would love to see her for real in a concert or something. Maybe in Vienna...? She is a 'continental' after all...

Frances Ruffelle

As quirky as they come and we like her... the MT answer to Helena Bonham-Carter in our opinion! Well remembered for being the original Eponine, skating in Starlight Express and representing Royaume Uni in Eurovision; what's not to love???

Alexia Khadime

Alexia has an exquisite tone to her voice and remains our  all time favourite 'Elphaba'. She managed the iconic high notes of 'Defying Gravity' and 'No Good Deed' without succumbing to yelling and put so much soul and emotion into her singing and acting we sat there mesmerised. We hope to see her in lots of things in the future, as she deserves to be a regular of the West End stages.

Tabitha Webb

This lady almost slipped through the webb (excuse the appalling pun...) had it not been for a journey down memory lane and a particularly memorable weekend spent in the Isle of  Wight listening to Les Mis in concert at Osbourne House. Tabitha was 'Cossette', a part we normally are indifferent to for too many reasons to mention, yet not only did she do the part justice, she actually made us like Cossette, which is miraculous.

And that's it so far. We're not saying the other, numerous female performers we've seen and heard weren't good or spectacular in their own way, they just weren't... as memorable. And it really might just be a preference thing. Who can say. We are always open to suggestions, opinions and recommendations and, as always, hold the right to change our minds at a moments notice!