When I was a senior in high school, I came up with all of these justifications for going to school as a music major rather than a theater major. Here's 17-year-old Sammi's list, and 25-year-old Sammi's older, wiser corrections.
Misconception #1: I want to sing opera rather than musical theater because in MT I'll do 500 shows of the same thing, whereas in opera I'll be doing different shows every time I get to perform.
REALITY: ....I'd be LUCKY to do a 500 show run of anything, because then I'd be employed as a performer. I got cast with OFY and sang Mabel 70+ times. And opera companies do the same 10 operas over and over, with some exceptions. I've done 3 Figaros and 3 Magic Flutes.
Misconception #2: I'd be bored doing the same show over and over again....and opera's get 1-10 performances, whereas MT does a million.
REALITY: As dispelled above, I perform the same role in multiple shows, regardless of the genre, and I do between 1 and 75 performances for opera OR MT.
Misconception #3: Opera music is more challenging than Musical theater, and MT music is boring.
REALITY: The show I've been preparing over the past 8 weeks is some of the hardest ensemble music I've ever learned. More difficult than Mozart (not the language, although the words are hard to remember because they subtly change all the time in a Sondheim-esque way). It's also very emotional, and evokes the Romantic period of music. Both are schmaltzy, but so what.
I'm starting to enjoy musical theater and opera equally, and am realizing that careers in each are not mutually exclusive. Which is thrilling. Basically, I'm going to start auditioning for whatever I want and think I'd be good at. Let's hope I don't make a total ass of myself in the process.
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