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The Four Main Types Of Singing On Broadway musicaltheatreresources.com

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LEGIT
Legit Voice (legitimate voice): Singing in a classical style, generally in the head voice. The term "legitimate" probably comes from the days when there was "legitimate theatre" (i.e. opera and "serious" drama) and, on the opposite spectrum, "vaudeville," which would have used more chest singing. It usually features many of the same distinguishing characteristics as classical/operatic singing, such as: consistent vibrato, tall and round vowels, smooth register transitions, a ‘balanced’ tone quality, crisp/proper diction, etc. Today, this vocal genre is most often associated with musicals from the ‘Golden Age’ of Broadway (c. 1943-1964).  Some celebrated legit singer-actors from that time period include Julie Andrews, Alfred Drake, Barbara Cook.

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* The Legit vocal genre is sometimes referred to as ‘Traditional Musical Theatre’ as well, and that is why I included ‘Belt’ in parenthesis here to differentiate the two.

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TRADITIONAL MUSICAL THEATRE (BELT)*
This type of singing grew out of Tin Pan Alley in the early 20th century. It is a speech-based vocal genre that features crisp, percussive diction.  Functionally, it incorporates thyroarytenoid-dominant production for both genders (aka ‘chest voice’ and ‘chest/mix’). Musical theatre belting originated in this genre- though the belt technique was first used for character/comedic roles only. In the 1930s, Ethel Merman helped legitimize this type of singing for Broadway leading ladies (more on this here). Examples of musicals that predominantly feature this vocal genre include Cabaret, Chicago, City of Angels, and even The Producers.

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CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL THEATRE
This type of singing combines characteristics of traditional musical theatre belt singing with contemporary pop/rock influences. It features ‘bright’, speech-based, mostly straight-tone production and frequently requires higher belting than traditional musical theatre singing.  Pop and rock-type vocal ornamentation and embellishments are utilized at times, but the vocalism still has a decidedly ‘musical theatre’ sound (aka it does not sound like singing you would hear on the radio today). The text and lyrics are usually the driving force in this genre. Some celebrated contemporary musical theatre singer-actors include Sutton Foster, Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Renee Scott, and Christian Borle. Examples of musicals that predominantly feature this type of singing include Wicked, Avenue Q, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

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POP/ROCK
This type of singing is heavily influenced by commercial music vocal styles like pop, rock, country, hip-hop, r&b, and others. It is an empathetic, reactive, and emotion-based genre of singing that embraces vocal distortions like growls, vocal fry, breathy tone, screams, glottal stops, and vowel manipulation. Men and women sometimes sing in similar ranges in this genre, and abrupt registration shifts are common. It is not unusual for stylistic authenticity to take precedence over text/lyrics, and there is often a heavy reliance on electronic amplification and instruments. Some celebrated pop/rock musical theatre singer-actors include Adam Pascal, Heather Headley, Aaron Tveit, and Jessie Mueller. Examples of musicals that predominantly feature this type of singing include Rent, Spring Awakening, Next to Normal, and Once.

* The Legit vocal genre is sometimes referred to as ‘Traditional Musical Theatre’ as well, and that is why I included ‘Belt’ in parenthesis here to differentiate the two.

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