ABSTRACT
In A History of Singing, John Potter and Neil Sorrell note that technology had a "liberating effect" on Broadway, extending its sonic and aural palette beyond the traditional "legit" sound that tends toward either a more operatic vocal quality or the nasal belt of stars such as Ethel Merman. While in reality the musical draws on a range of styles, using rock as a frame for the performance in its orchestrations and vocal palette, Superstar explicitly used a rock sound, departing from traditional boundaries of sonic authenticity in musical theater. Often associated with "urban rebellion and a working class aesthetic," the Rock Voice departs from the legit vocal sound of Broadway's Golden Age. While microphone amplification has become standard on Broadway and in the West End, the New Broadway Voice and the Verismo Voice both focus on something other than technological wizardry in their performance aesthetic.
