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| A journalist was
questioning the legendary George Abbott about his extraordinary career.
“But what was the most important change in the theatre that you have
observed?” Mr. Abbott pondered for a moment and replied “Electricity.” If I were to be asked that same journalist’s question about the musical theatre during my lifetime, I would say what’s made the most important change is the cordless microphone, or more specifically, the tiny, almost invisible radio-mic. Why? Because this recent technology has allowed composers and directors and designers the assumption that every one of a large cast of characters can contribute important utterances from anywhere on stage, thus providing all the freedoms of presentation we associate with unamplified naturalistic drama, while at the same time providing spontaneous live sound to be mixed at a desk in the style of a recording studio. There is now an audience expectation of a filmic or televisual level of credible human behavior from actors, requiring truthful, detailed performances that depend on the radio-mic. |
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And, of course, this expectation has demanded a new kind of
performer, a singing actor, drawn to explore the complexity and ambiguity of
human behavior, welcoming the rigorous scrutiny of his thought process more
usually associated with appearing in front of a film camera or communicating
a Chekhov play. The top note must still thrill, the vocal performance must
still come up to the highest standards of the opera house; but all that
technique must seem to be part of truthful, human-scale communication.
Demand usually produces, supply; a new breed of performer has arisen, and of that new breed, none in my experience is more expert, more skilled, more instinctive or more revelatory than Ron Bohmer. His quickness of mind and the sensitivity of his nervous system are so extraordinary that he can not only convince you he is making up the words of each song as the situation demands, but even the music too. As we contemplate the imminent return of the film musical, the demand for
the multiple brilliance of artists like Ron will increase. Catch this superb
new artist now while the special quality of his work is relatively rare. |
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