Dual Roles, Dual Voices: Analyzing Vocal Function in Hamilton: An American Musical through the Estill Voice Model™

Abstract

ABSTRACT In Hamilton: An American Musical, four actors play the following dual roles: Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds, Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, Hercules Mulligan/James Madison, and John Laurens/Philip Hamilton. In addition to changes in costumes, hair, and physicality, the actor produces a distinctive vocal sound for each character. This study explores the specific configurations of anatomical structures within the vocal tract, which contribute to the signature sounds of the dual role characters in the Original Broadway Cast recording of Hamilton. Identified through the Estill Voice Model™, the conditions of significant vocal tract structures of each character’s sound are mapped and compared. Given the popularity and heavy distribution of the cast album, it may be particularly prudent for replacement actors to sound like the original Broadway cast. Rather than relying on aural mimicry, replacement-cast hopefuls may reproduce the mapped conditions of the vocal tract to approximate a signature sound. Voice teachers, vocal coaches, music directors, and vocal directors can use specific elements of vocal function to guide an actor toward the desired sound, while preserving the actor’s own indigenous sound.