Singing Musical Theater for Judy Kuhn ‘81

Among Oberlin’s notable Broadway and Film-star alumni is Judy Kuhn. You may know her as the voice of Disney’s Pocahontas, from her name being on the ballot at the Tony Awards four times, or from one of her many Broadway credits such as Les Misérables (Cosette), Chess (Florence Vassy), Fun Home (Helen Bechdel), etc. But, she got her start as a classical voice major here at Oberlin!

In January, I got a very exciting text from my teacher saying that Judy Kuhn was coming to Oberlin to give a musical theater masterclass, and she wanted students from the theater, music theater, AND classical voice departments to participate. I grew up singing musical theater from ages 6-18, but haven’t really touched on it since coming to Oberlin. I was really excited when Oberlin announced that they were adding a music theater program, because I was hoping I could take advantage of some of the opportunities, and here one was!

I decided that I was going to sing “Far From the Home I Love” from Fiddler on the Roof. I thought a golden age song would be a nice contrast to the belting of the musical theater majors. Also, one of the roles Miss Kuhn is known for is Golde in Fiddler, so I knew she had a deep connection with the material. 

The day finally came, and I was very nervcited (nervous + excited)! There were three music theater majors, one theater major, and one classical voice major (me). I was a tad intimidated since I felt a bit out of my depth, but after watching the first performer, I knew this would be a safe space to explore. The audience, made up of mostly MT students, was SO encouraging. They hooted and hollered in a way I hadn’t experienced in the classical voice masterclasses. 

Miss Kuhn was very clear that she wanted this to feel more like a workshopping session, not like a performance. She even wanted us to dress in casual, comfy clothing! This was all pretty foreign to me, but I loved it. When it was my turn to sing, my fears had mostly disappeared. The piano was an upright, so I had no crook to “hide in.” I did my best to take up the space of the whole stage, not just park and bark. 

As a voice major, I tend to be consistently very focused on my technique. Miss Kuhn encouraged me to let go of my perfectionist tendencies and focus on story-telling. Acting has always been so important to me, but I have felt my singing technique take priority over it in the past few years. It was so refreshing to solely focus on telling a story. She brought the previous Theater Department Chair, Matthew Wright, to the stage and had him pretend to be my father. (For context, the song is me saying goodbye to my father at a train station, and I may never see him again.) Adding a real person, who was also a phenomenal actor without even saying a word, made everything feel so much more real. Both the audience and I were in tears by the end of the workshop.

This masterclass was so important to bring me back to what my central mission is as a performer: tell a story and make people feel something. I am excited for what is to come!