8 shows a week

On the train home tonight, someone who had just seen our show approached me, "I'm a singer and was thinking throughout the performance tonight, 'My g-d i can't imagine having to sing the Piazza score 8 times a week!' How do you get through it?" ...Good question.

First off, let me say, every actor in every musical on Broadway confronts the same demand of performing 8 times a week. Depending on the material, however, the challenges of meeting that demand vary.

Piazza, vocally, is the most challenging score I've ever sung. It's difficult for me to remember hearing the score with some objectivity, but I do agree with many people who've seen the show and have commented that, at times, Piazza feels like an opera. And a difficult opera at that.

Not only are there many songs (as Fabrizio I sing in 7/8 songs, 2 of which are solos, 1 a duet, and 1 a group number that I lead), but the songs are difficult. Difficult how? Well, range wise they cover the full spectrum of my baritone/tenor range; length wise--some of the songs are quite long; melodically--many of my songs are quite chromatic, harmonically very rich and textured, and anything but the simple, slow ballads audiences are used to tuning in to when they hear classical musical theater; and of course at times I'm singing in another language :)

The end result is a full night of singing to complement what is also a challenging show to get through physically and emotionally for all of the actors in our play.

So how do we do it 8 times a week? Well, like training for a marathon, you start slow and build up the muscles to get through it. Many of us have formal vocal training in opera, and many of us have been building up these muscles for years in other shows 8 times/week throughout our careers. Regarding Piazza's unique vocal challenges: practice, practice, practice...eventually, the vocal chords catch on. That, plus the fact that Adam's score has the rare ability to penetrate your soul...so for a while I just listened and tried to let the music seep into my bones.

Of course, every show in an 8 show week is different. The weather affects our voices, the humidity, what we eat, how much sleep we've gotten, how much we've used our voice that day before the show...so before and during each show i have a warm up I do to get me ready (both physically and vocally). It's like popping the hood on your race car to check out the engine before taking it to compete in the Daytona. You feel out what you've got and work with it. Some days you compete well, some days not so well. But you go out and give it 150% regardless. And whoo-whee it's always a helluva ride!