Performance: Detroit, MI
03-Mar-06
THESE THREE TENORS SING A LOT MO’ THAN OPERA
By Lawrence B. Johnson
The idea at first was to get some exposure for a group of African-American opera singers, all three of them tenors. They would tour and sing opera arias, like the famous Three Tenors, but with a difference. These guys would spice their programs with other styles, such as blues or gospel or R&B. In that spirit it would be an African-American thing, and the group would even call itself Three Mo’ Tenors.
Well, that’s how it all started back in 2001, when the original three cast members hit the concert trail together. They just hoped to get noticed. They couldn’t have foreseen fabulous success. They couldn’t have imagined they were creating a franchise.
Now, five years later, all the original members have moved on, but the zeal, the stylistic mix and indeed the franchise endure in the Three Mo’ Tenors show that opens Tuesday night at the Fisher Theatre.
Did we say three tenors? Make that six. These days, the touring company includes two casts, and for good reason. The vocal demands of the Tenors’ far-ranging program are simply too great for eight performances a week. So two different threesomes appear on alternate nights, which means you get a slightly different vibe on stage depending on the show you see.
“Each cast has its own stamp,” says tour veteran Marvin Scott, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native who has worked with Placido Domingo (of theThree Tenors) at the Washington, D.C., Opera and sung Mozart roles with regional companies. “That’s part of why I never get tired of this show. It has such a varied personality. Our director doesn’t let us do everything like opera singers. We have to stay true to each style. That makes it difficult and yet a wonderful challenge.”
Just as the show extends from Puccini to jazz to spirituals, the presentation varies from solos to a cappella ensemble to numbers driven by a six-piece band. Scott says the musical settings, whether Broadway or blues or art song, always put style and expression first. “I never feel I’m overwhelmed by excessive arrangements,” he says.
But Phumzile Sojola, who grew up in South Africa and only joined the Three Mo’ Tenors tour a month ago, admits he’s been overwhelmed by the whole experience.
“I never thought I could be part of something like this,” says the 36-year-old Sojola. I didn’t know I had it in me. To sing these songs — in all the genres we do — I thought you had to be born here and grow up drinking American water. But it has grown in me. It’s been a wild ride.”
Sojola’s life has been quite a ride. He came to the U.S. as a teenager and enrolled in a college course to become a New York City police officer. Although he’d never thought of himself as a singer, he took a voice class just for fun, caught the ear of a teacher at the Harlem School of the Arts and ended up singing opera — in Cincinnati!
“I had never really experienced expressing myself until I began singing,” Sojola says. “And the whole opera experience was amazing to me. I had never seen black men singing opera before. Now I’ve done that, and I’m singing the music of Ray Charles at the same time. It’s been such a privilege and a thrill. One of the best parts, on this tour, has been seeing so many kids in the audience, hearing all these different styles we do.
“For somebody who comes from my background, that brings such a joy.”