Gastvortrag von Christin Bonin (TWM Forschungskolloquium)

Herzliche Einladung zum Gastvortrag von

Christin Bonin

"The Broadway Belt. The Aesthetics of the Broadway Belt and its Implications of Gender, Ethnicity and Social Order"

im Rahmen des TWM Forschungskolloqiums

Zeit: Mittwoch, 11.12.2019, 12.00 - 14.00 c.t.
Ort: Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, Georgenstr. 11, Raum 109

Abstract:
Discussions concerning the Broadway Belt are vague within prominent academic circles, even when reviewing belt sound and belting technique. The majority of recent research in belting attempts to analyze the acoustics of belted tones, to describe the belt sound, and to establish the most efficient pedagogy necessary to teach and learn belting. However, the idiosyncratic Broadway belt as the elite female Broadway musical performer singing with a non-classical voice remains a phenomenon difficult to explain. This thesis aims to analyze the discourse of the Broadway belt on stage, belting talent, sound, and technique, and moreover the actor’s personage of this Broadway musical icon. A first focus lies on the belt voice’s origins. The critical investigation of Broadway musical theater’s development and the employed belt voice, the belt sound and vocal technique, question some established explanations offered by academic voice research. Elite Broadway belters of the 20th century exemplify crucial changes in Broadway musical theater: their belt voices, their acting, and their dancing on stage lead naturally to an investigation of the woman behind the sound. This inquiry into the Broadway belt’s gender, essentially the discourse about her “star-” and “diva” status, and the Broadway belt’s public reception strongly suggests a feminist perspective: The Broadway belt contradicts gender presumptions and social order through belting out in feminist roles on stage and speaking out offstage which designates her as an advocate of the American women’s movement. Given that the Broadway belters and the characters they portray are predominantly a Caucasian phenomenon until today, African American belters and their roles in Broadway musical theater have come under scrutiny in this feminist survey.
Finally, my investigations, discussions, and argumentations are displayed through the case study of “Rose” in Gypsy, one of the most influential roles for a Broadway belt in Broadway musical history until today. Five elite Broadway belters and their success as “Rose” in Gypsy on Broadway from 1959 until 2009 demonstrate the aesthetics of the belt voice, a belter’s role choice, and the Broadway belt itself in the changing landscape of Broadway musical theater. The results of this thesis shall help to rediscover the Broadway belt as a pillar of Broadway musical theater and to suggest the creation of new musicals for Broadway belters of any ethnicity and gender to guide Broadway musical theater into its platinum age.

Christin Bonin ist Master of Arts der Musikwissenschaft und examinierte Gesangspädagogin und Opernsängerin, sowie eine erfahrene Sängerin in Operette, Musical & Jazz. Ihre Bühnenlaufbahn begann als Preisträgerin im Bundeswettbewerb Musical, Chanson und Song. Sie war mehrere Jahre als Soubrette in Operetten und Musicals auf Festspielen und Tourneen in Europa unterwegs und sang u.a. mit Udo Jürgens, mit dem sie auch CDs aufgenommen hat. Als Mitglied des Staatsopernchores des Staatstheaters Karlsruhe und der Bayerischen Staatsoper wirkte sie in über vierzig Opern mit. Nach achtjährigem Frankreich-Aufenthalt als Konzertsängerin und Gesangspädagogin gründete sie 2004 ihre Gesangschule "Star me up" in München, aus der über 30 Preisträger bei "Jugend musiziert" hervorgingen. Sie ist Autorin der Fachbücher Belt Voice Training – Singen mit schmetternder Stimme und Singen macht glücklich und schreibt zurzeit ihre Dissertation im Fach Theaterwissenschaft an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität bei Prof. Dr. Rösner.