The specifics of female characters embodiment in contemporary Ukrainian musicals and rock operas (on the example of Nataliya Sumska’s creativity)
Authors: Fedenko A. 
Published: December 2019

Background. The creative mastery process of the musical and rock opera genres has become one of the urgent vocational training problems today considering the growing popularity of these genres both in the world and in Ukrainian musical culture. There is a need to investigate the methodological aspect of professional activity in this direction like a set of requirements for the modern actor working in the music-dramatic genre. The lack of specialized literature and scientific works which investigates the embodiment phenomenon of vocal and stage images by actors in contemporary Ukrainian musicals and rock operas raises an urgent need for its consideration. Phenomenological analysis of the vocal and stage creativity of the actress Nataliya Sumska, namely, her stage works in rock operas “Eneida by Serhii Bedusenko based on the poem-burlesque by I. Kotliarevsky, “Bila Vorona” “(The White Crow”) by Genadii Tatarchenko and Yurii Rybchynskyi and “Nezrivnianna” (“The Incomparable”) Musical, based on the famous play by Peter Quilter (the composer Ivan Nebesnyi) are the material of this study. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to investigate the performing principles and vocal techniques that contribute to the embodiment of contentemotional female images characteristics in contemporary musicals and rock operas on the example of Nataliya Sumska’s acting creativity. The results of the study. The success of the Nataliya Sumska stage activity is closely related to the actress’ high level of vocal skills. Didona’s role in the rock opera “Eneida” has required from the performer a whole range of professional skills, first of all, vocal – that is, acting universalism. The vocal and stage image created by Nataliya Sumska is realized through singing, which organically combines the traditions of folk-song performance with the best achievements of the national academic and variety performing arts. The dominance of “folk” color in the sound of the voice is one of the creative tasks that the author of the rock opera sets before the actress. The bright individual “synthesizing” vocal and performing style is the original combination of ethnic origin with jazz and pop rhythms and harmonies offered by the composer, made the unique image of Didona by N. Sumska’s performance. Thus, a perfect actress’s mastery of different singing styles and the ability to use her own voice to achieve high artistic output is of great value, as composers in rock operas and musicals are constantly performing acts of styling. In the role of Jeanne d’Arc from the Ukrainian rock opera by Genadii Tatarchenko and Yurii Rybchynskyi’s “Bila Vorona” (“The White Crow”) the main features of N. Sumska’s art were clearly revealed, such as: great tragedy, heroic pathos and pathetics combined with lyric scourge and poetic sorrow. The stage techniques, by which N. Sumska created the image of Jeanne, were: enhanced sound supply and high dynamic tone of performance, expedient use of registers, expanded palette of sound dynamics and its filing (“filer un son”); going beyond the range of sound characteristic of academic vocal performance, the use of different singing styles and techniques; skillful presentation of intonation recitation gradations (from whisper to cry); possession of sound amplification equipment; maintaining a vocal line, subject to any nature of sound production; finally, acting is the ability to convey the character of the heroine through the voice, facial expressions, gestures, to make the viewer feel the pain and joy of her soul. Thus, Nataliya Sumska is fully capable of using the necessary means of artistic expression, various methods of performance, revealing the semantic and emotional content of the stage image and the work as a whole. In the “Nezrivnianna” (“The Incomparable”) Musical Nataliya Sumska embodied the comedic image of an American pianist who believed in her talent as an opera singer and one of the earliest representatives of “outsider music”. The actress brilliantly demonstrated that she was able to sing both “strictly past the notes” and only in “disgusting” voice, as her role required. She did not only change her voice for the horrific performance of operatic classics, but she was able to convey faith and belief in her own success to her Florence heroine. The actress was able to achieve great artistic power in the embodiment of the image, first of all, thanks to the mastery of vocal technique, as different modes of the larynx, specific techniques: conscious oscillation of sound, different attack power, accentuation of individual sounds, etc. Conclusions. Considered the creating specifics of vocal and stage image in contemporary rock operas and musicals by actress Nataliya Sumska, we came to the conclusion that vocal performance in modern rock operas and musicals poses special requirements for actresses. Modern musicals and rock opera demonstrate all possible polystylistic and polygenre syntheses, including the incorporation of folk and academic elements, and some genres of light music. The vocal part is complicated by changes in priorities in harmony, which is represented mainly by dissonant sounds. Accordingly, the melody of rock operas and musicals today is filled with unconventional unexpected intonations and lines, characteristic of metrorhythmic constructions. Conversational intonations, variety of singing manners and vocal techniques that form the basis of modern musical performances help to emphasize the emotional lines of the work. The presence of conversational dialogues, dance episodes with specific plasticity, the use of elements of the musical language of other cultures, a wide style range (from folklore to avant-garde, from Baroque stylings to jazz and smash hit), features of singing with a microphone – all this requires knowledge of specific acting and choreographic techniques, a good mastery of vocal technique, that is, all that constitutes professional acting universalism.