Rosalind Elias is an opera singer who spent her time singing some of the more difficult roles. At the age of 85, she is now transitioning to Broadway to be inFollies, which raises the question of what is more important: the singing or the acting? For opera, the focus is on the music. The music gets, at the very least, the same priority as the staging, often more. Now, Elias has had a bit of musical experience, playing Mrs. Lovett in Sweeny Todd and Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night of Music, but it is not the same. Those shows are ones that opera companies do, for example, the fact that Sweeny Todd was done by the New York City Opera. It is with Follies that Elias is doing something different, and I wonder about what her focus will be on.
In musicals, the music, staging, and acting are all of equal importance. When planning the schedule, there is always the attempt at making sure each gets as much time as it needs. With opera, if the music and staging both need work, the priority goes to the music. Here, she gets to experience something different that makes me think about how we view different productions. Each type has their own version of what is more significant than anything else, but when you cross two varieties where all of the things are important, how to choose what gets priority when push comes to shove? The article also makes me think about how the mentality has to change between acting, singing, dancing, etc. What does this mean for actors, especially those who are transitioning to a new world after spending their career doing something else?
