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[0:20] Will Armstrong: It's curtains up on another episode of West of Broadway, a celebration of musical theater on the West Coast.

[0:26] Will Armstrong: I'm celebrity publicist and theater veteran Will Armstrong, and we are going to dive right in. My co-host, who you know as radio host, writer, and theater enthusiast, Lara Scott, sat down with acclaimed soprano Shana Blake Hill, who will be one of the guest soloists for the upcoming Verdi Chorus Fall concert, Sound and Fury, being presented November 16th and 17th in Santa Monica. Let's join them now.

[0:49] Lara Scott: Shana Blake Hill, welcome to the West of Broadway podcast.

[0:53] Shana Blake Hill: Oh, you guys. I'm so thrilled to be here. You guys talk to amazing people like Betty Buckley. So I just don't like I don't even know how to act in such surroundings.

[1:03] Lara Scott: We feel so fortunate because Will was actually on Broadway for a while. I am a theater fan, and to get to talk to amazing artists like you and Betty, and we spoke with Ken Page and just get to hear who you are on and off the stage is such a privilege. And I'm so happy that we're gonna get to hear you as part of the Verdi Chorus concert. We're gonna talk more about that in a minute. But you do have something big in common with Betty Buckley that I don't know if you know. You might if you listen to the episode. You're both dog moms, which is a huge thing.

[1:33] Shana Blake Hill: Oh my gosh. Yes. Well, yes. Tell us about your dog.

[1:37] Shana Blake Hill: Oh my gosh, she's the best. She's a Catahoula, which is the Louisiana State dog. So she's kind of a big hairy, lazy ranch-style dog with lots of personality. She's super judgy. She judges me daily.

[1:51] Lara Scott: She sounds like a cat, actually.

[1:54] Shana Blake Hill: I know. She has some cat-like qualities. She's actually curled up right next to me on the couch right now because she doesn't let me out of her sight. And she's really my best, best girl.

[2:07] Lara Scott: How wonderful.

[2:08] Shana Blake Hill: Oh my gosh. I seriously, this could be an animal podcast. Maybe there's something there, Shana, about performers and their animals.

[2:16] Shana Blake Hill: I think that somebody needs to take that and run with that. Well, I will say that most people that I have met in the theater both give and need a lot of love. And dogs are pure love, so that might just explain it. And she's so body positive. I mean, she's just like, look at my belly, and I'm like, I know. And it's just the best.

[2:33] Lara Scott: They do just kind of let it all hang out.

[2:35] Shana Blake Hill: It's true.

[2:36] Lara Scott: Well, you have an incredible body of work behind you. I was looking at some of the reviews on you, and I think this is my favorite. They said that you are a fearless actress with floods of glorious sound.

[2:50] Shana Blake Hill: I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe that way.

[2:52] Lara Scott: Isn't that cool?

[2:53] Shana Blake Hill: That's you.

[2:53] Shana Blake Hill: It is very cool. It's very cool, and it's a privilege to be described such in such beautiful prose. I love acting. I actually came from a music theater background, so I'm so happy to talk to music theater people because they are my idols a hundred percent. I'm a super music theater nerd that just happened to get kicked along until I got to the operatic stage, which you know is just as much showbiz. And we gotta put over a song just as hard as anybody else. We just gotta do it with like a little more coloratura here and there. But I just have such tremendous respect for show people and show people in the sense of people who really dedicate their lives to bringing joy to others. And so yeah, my background is a hundred percent since I was a little girl, you know, singing along to my Julie Andrews records and just dreaming the big dream. So to be with you today is that little girl's dream. So thanks for helping me out with that.

[3:58] Lara Scott: Oh my goodness. Well, it's our pleasure to be speaking with you. And let's talk a little bit about what you're going to be performing at the Verdi Chorus Fall 2019 concert, which is coming up November 16th and 17th in Santa Monica.

[4:10] Shana Blake Hill: Yes, yes. And this is such a wonderful group. I've returned to them again and again because every time I perform with them, I feel like I find a new part of myself as a performer. They're such a loving and hardworking organization. They really strive to bring such excellence to the stage and you get to sort of look into all of the corners of the opera that you don't always get to look into when you're not in a full production. Some of these operas, the ones that we're doing on this program get done lots, but every now and then they will explore a work that you don't get to hear every day, like Vespri Siciliani or something like that. So this program is full of hard hitters, some Verdi, some Puccini, and a lovely dessert with The Merry Widow at the end by Lehár. We're doing Otello, Trovatore, and Puccini's Turandot and Tosca, and The Merry Widow is just bringing up the finish with lots of waltzes and yummy stuff.

The wonderful thing about opera is that if we're any good at it at all, you don't really need to know the granular details because the emotions in the opera are so big. I liken it a lot to silent film. You know how silent film actors give you so much that you don't almost even really need the flickering subtitles in between to tell you the story? Opera is very similar, except all of the things that you get cinematically are in the score itself. What you need to know about opera is that you bring your heart and you let it be touched by the combination of elements of both the glory of the score and of the human voice. Lots of people don't always know that opera singers are never amplified, unless we're of course in a huge outdoor arena, but generally it's just us and the chorus, in this case the chorus and the piano, really making this amazing dish of vibrations that are just gonna surround you and lift you up to wonderful places.

[6:20] Lara Scott: I have goosebumps just hearing you talk about that. It sounds awesome. And we're gonna give some ticket info in just a minute. But what you were saying, Shana, I didn't realize the singers are not being amplified. That's them belting it out. How do you protect your voice? Obviously, you have years of training behind you and a ton of talent. But is there anything special you do that maybe could be something that could help other performers just when it comes to taking care of your voice and your instrument?

[6:46] Shana Blake Hill: Well, I have found in my career that fitness has been an extraordinary ally to my technique. Having good technique to start with is an extraordinary gift and one that you guard as your primary product. Technique is something that you meet with every new work that you put into your voice. It's kind of like being a seamstress, you know, you apply all of your couturier skills to each one of your new garments so that is what the technique is. But then on top of that, you need the stamina, you need the personal forces, and the really fine kind of blue flame level energy to put across this extraordinary passionate art form. So for me, one of my best allies besides just great technique has been great fitness, and so I'm quite dedicated to that in my life and to remaining physically fit and well myself.

[7:48] Lara Scott: Yes please keep taking great care of yourself because I hear you have some really cool things coming up. Are you doing an opera meets Broadway concert?

[7:56] Shana Blake Hill: I am yes actually in my 2020 season which I'm so excited about. I'm doing it with yet another one of my great leading men, I call them my opera husbands, one of my other favorite opera husbands, Roberto Gomez. He and I have worked together once again myriad times. In fact, we just finished premiering a flamenco opera together in Tucson this year. So next year we get to play again with the Folsom Lake Symphony doing some opera meets Broadway, and it will really be just about everything from Verdi all the way through to My Fair Lady and some Phantom and kind of everything in between. And the funny little story that comes in between those two gigs, we were on the gig in Tucson and we had an afternoon rehearsal that we went to.

To relax afterwards, we went to an establishment with some adult beverages, and there was a wonderful pianist that I just you both could tell was one of those pianists that could play anything. She was definitely show people. And I edged over and said, you know, did she want to maybe collaborate a little bit because the bar was pretty empty. It was one of these old school hotel bars, kind of like Casablanca. And we ended up just doing show tunes with her all night long. And there were about like four or five, maybe at the end ten people who kind of filtered in, and they ended up having this just impromptu Broadway show with like everything we could think of because this lady could literally sing everything and she was wonderful.

But we got to talking about that and this gig came up, and Roberto said, "Oh, you have to get Shana because we just did all of these show tunes together." So I'm grateful to him for reminding them that I'm around and I can do this stuff. But it's always been my love literally since I was a little girl.

[9:55] Lara Scott: What a wonderful story. I wish I had somehow wandered into that.

[9:58] Shana Blake Hill: Yeah, that sounds incredible. What a treat for everybody that was there that night.

[10:03] Shana Blake Hill: It was so unexpected and we were having such a good time too, you know, and that is the kernel of the best part of any performance is when the performers themselves are really enjoying themselves. So it was a special time I think I'll really will never forget it. It was a good night.

[10:23] Lara Scott: I hope you'll do more of those shows too because I think that's such a great way to introduce people to opera. I mean honestly I think people are so intimidated that if you throw a little Broadway in there too, it makes it a little more less scary to come in and check it out. Many of the opera singers, you know, Anzio Pinza, who was the original in South Pacific and all of these really beautiful opera singers that crossed over and did some of what they call legit, which I think is a terrible term, but what they called the more operatic or operetta-like roles. And then just like with the Verdi Chorus concert, we have The Merry Widow, which was the music theater of the time. So music theater naturally evolved out of this art form, and it's just so great to connect the dots again and realize that the technique is all in there and that this bringing across of these wonderful stories in song is a long tradition that goes way, way back in human history.

[11:24] Lara Scott: Well, it's definitely gonna be a wonderful evening with you and the Verdi Chorus. It's happening at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica Saturday, November 16th and Sunday, November 17th. You can buy tickets by phone at 800-838-3006. That's 800-838-3006, or online at VerdiChorus.org.

[11:45] Lara Scott: Shana Blake Hill, it's been a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you for talking with us and for sharing your gift with all of us. I hope everybody listening here in SoCal comes to see you.

[11:56] Shana Blake Hill: Well, thank you so much. And just one parting shot. Remember that the Verdi Chorus is led by one of our great female conductors, Anne-Marie Ketchum. And so come out and also support a great female conductor in this business.

[12:11] Will Armstrong: Well, that was great. We love the work our friend Anne-Marie Ketchum and the rest of the Verdi Chorus make available here in Santa Monica. And I hope you all get a chance to see this exciting performance on November 16th or 17th.

[12:22] Will Armstrong: And that's it for today's episode. Thank you so much for joining us. You can check us out online and catch up with previous episodes at WestofBroadwayPodcast.com. And you can also subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get podcasts. And don't forget, you can reach out to us on social media. I'm Will Armstrong PR, and you can find Lara at Lara Scott Media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thank you so much for joining us here on the podcast. And remember, if you're looking for us, you can find us just west of Broadway.