[Vichysois]

Just wondering what people who know voice types/classifcations and have seen the actual score considered his voice type to be. I've the score, and Collins written notes go from F#2 all the way up to A4 (these notes both occur in the "I'll Cover You" reprise). My understanding is that baritones generally have a 2-octave span, with a few semitones at either end. (So, low F to high G, or any similar range). The rest of Collins notes fit well within standard baritone range, but a High A seems a bit of a stretch as not all baritones have that note.

Yet, I've seen Collins called a "low blues baritone." That seems to imply that he's a low-lying baritone for his songs, which covers his low notes...but "Santa Fe" has F#4s in it, which are nearing the top of baritone range....and his high G's and A's seem sorta random in terms of the connotation of "low baritone."

Michael McElroy played Collins quite a bit, but he hasn't the lower register for the character, nor a baritonal tessitura IMO. (See the recent DVD...his note on the word "shelter" in the ICY reprise is barely a whisper.) His high notes, while apparently comfortable for him, sound a bit too thin for Collins. But then, I'm biased in favor of Jesse L. Martin in all things Collins.

Perhaps Larson wrote the character with Martin's range in mind, thus explaining the large, arguably non-standard, range of F#2-A4? (Standard in terms of baritones not ordinarily possessing a solid high A, though some will say a trained baritone should).

PS I understand the extreme highs in Collins' songs occur during riffs, and that performers needn't necessarily sing the same notes as Martin, but the way the band's music is written really calls for some high-note riffing, particularly in the ICY reprise.

[SomeoneLikeYou]

According to the Actors Equity website...

"Bluesy voice; very soulful; gorgeous R & B or Gospel baritone."

[Monsieur D'Arque]

According to legend (maybe there's documentation of it somewhere), many of the main characters in RENT had their vocal parts written in imitation of the range and voice of a famous singer or musician from the Eighties and Nineties.

Mark: Elvis Costello (the only one whose influence really remained, with La Vie Boheme and Mark's entire visual style of glasses, plaids, scarfs and cameras taken directly from Costello)

Roger: Bono

Collins: Tom Waits

Tom Waits, a gravelly bass with a great high tenor range when he has to, could have sung Collins's stuff (more then than now, though), hence the character's unusual range.

[Vichysois]

^Hm. That's quite interesting.

The Elvis Costello thing also interesting, but something that may conflict a bit -> I heard the costumes for each character ended up being slight caricatures of what each original actor wore anyway. Ex. Mark's hair was just Anthony Rapp's hair at the time, as was Roger/Pascal's.

Also I read somewhere that Collins wasn't necessarily envisioned to be African-American, possibly even thought to be Caucasian in early conceptualization...which might lend itself to the Tom Waits thing. Not that a vocal characterization has anything to do with race, but just as an association one might have with a sound.

Do you think that people would be so quick to call Collins "gospel" had Jesse L. Martin not originated the role? Better question would be - did Collins become a gospel/soul kind of singer because of Martin, and Larson sorta crafted the role around him? I read an interview where Rapp said Larson wrote specific songs to utilize the original actor's vocal ranges, such as Halloween's very easy baritone.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

Songs like "Santa Fe" and "I'll Cover You (Reprise)," which, if I remember, was written before the duet version, are very much in character with Tom Wait's work in his early "natural voice" period.

[The Russian]

According to legend???....give me a break! How dramatic can you get...

I agree with the Equity definition.

And yes, a well-trained baritone should be able to belt up to A or B-flat.

[theatre4life]

well, the original Collins was in fact Caucasian - thats speaking of the 1994 NYTW cast. and he was awful - not to say that a white guy cannot play the role - he just has to have some talent.

as for characters based off actual singers, these are the ones i know of:

Roger: Rock 'n' roll grunge voice, like Eddie Vedder or Kurt Cobain

Mimi: Gloria Estefan with a touch of Sinead O'Connor

and, i also believe that for Maureen, they'd mentioned having her sound like Liz Phair. theres probly more notes like that, but i do not have access to my dvd films at the moment, nor the documentary No Day But Today - check it out and pay close attention to the close-ups of the notes for the show.