Opera singer making return visit to Cape for spring production

The last time New York contralto and vocal teacher Judith Farris visited Cape Girardeau Murphy's Law went into effect, sabotaging her scheduled performance.

It was a small, gray rodent that stopped the October show, postponing it until the next afternoon by shutting down Southeast Missouri State University's power grid.

But Farris didn't let that stroke of bad luck turn her away from her hometown, where she graduated from college and learned how to sing.

Soon she'll be back in Cape Girardeau to help students at Southeast Missouri State University develop their gifts in vocal music, as she returns this spring to coach them for a production of the musical "Guys and Dolls."

"Everything I do here pretty much started there," said Farris while working in her New York studio, where she gives voice lessons to aspiring stars. "I learned that I could be a singer, that I was a singer, at SEMO. Most of my teaching since I left there has been Broadway, theater. So for me to come back there in that capacity is just amazing."

Farris has taught many in the vocal aspect of the art of musical theater since leaving Cape Girardeau decades ago, including Anthony Quinn and Matthew Broderick. Now Southeast is looking forward to her doing the same for local students.

As she teaches the students with lead roles in "Guys and Dolls," set to open April 5, she'll also be teaching vocal master classes, as she has done in past visits to Southeast.

"One of the things she's phenomenally good at is the notion of getting a student to project and resonate in their own speaking voice," said Dr. Gary Miller, chair of Southeast's Department of Music.

Miller said many of her students, like Quinn and Broderick, are actors working on Broadway who've landed a lead singing role but who have mostly been trained in acting.

The physicality of sound

"What she's able to do is to get these people to sing," Miller said. "And here in our department, it's the same type of thing. I think people don't realize the physical part of producing sound, whether you're on Broadway or an opera singer, is the same. The styling is where the differences occur."

Given her experience in both opera and musical theater, Miller said, Farris will be able to help Southeast students on both levels.

Her teaching isn't only for those studying vocal music, though. In 2003, Farris used her time on campus to offer a vocal class to the community, something she said she plans to do again.

"That was enormously well-attended," said Miller. "She has a great, great way of communicating. She is marvelously encouraging, but also challenges the student."

It only takes about 20 minutes with Farris to see a "marked improvement" in the student, Miller said.

The idea for the community class came from Farris herself, who maintains that anyone can learn how to sing.

"I believe everyone can sing and should sing," she said. "That doesn't mean everyone can sing at the Metropolitan Opera, obviously, but everyone should sing for their own enjoyment."

And Farris said she sees the university's performance of musicals as a great chance to raise community interest in theater and the new River Campus.

"Everybody loves a musical," said Farris. "If we can get them in on the musicals, maybe we can get them in on everything else."

Farris will come to Southeast in late February or early March.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182