042: Nuanced Vocals in a World of Performance

Catalyst: A Creative Industries Podcast

Catalyst is a Creative Industries podcast, from Chapman University. Each episode features Chapman students who have completed a Podcasting course through the Center for Creative and Cultural Industries at the university. Students who had no podcasting experience or technical ability in the genre before taking the course were able to contribute all the segments to Catalyst this season with the goal being that they will take this ‘hands-on’ experience and carry it over to the launching of their very own series. Each episode of Season 6 will feature one to two different interviews conducted by CCI students, exploring different aspects of the Creative and Cultural Industries.

This week we listen along as Even Johnson and Kali Weisman speak with voice actress and musical theater star, Melissa Lyons Caldretti. Caldretti, who is also a faculty member with Fullerton College has played, among others, the role of “Éponine” with the Broadway Touring Company of Les Misérables and might be best known as the singing voice of “Barbie” in several animated movies, albums, and toys. Kali and Even dive in with Melissa to talk about what it is like to work in musical theater including the nerve-racking process of being cast, the differences between performing in a theater production and animation voice acting and even cover the roots of musical theater in America. They wrap up the interview with several stories from Melissa that highlight the by-the-seat-of-you-pants nature of live performance, before closing with a recording of Caldretti singing ‘Perfect’ by Tom Kitt.