Belter (noun)- Theatrical gold. A person, usually female, who specializes in producing fierce, skilled vocals in the highest part of their chest voice. When given the choice to belt or mix, a belter will always choose the former. Female belters can also be referred to as beltresses. —The Musical Theatre Dictionary
OK, now that the background info is out of the way, let’s proceed. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge YouTube enthusiast. Give me a Saturday afternoon, with or without unfinished homework, and I’ll give you a browser history of Broadway/movie/music video YouTube clips that could span miles and miles. Tonight was no exception. I came across this gem of a clip from Lestat: the musical, a show that came to Broadway in 2006 and has a score written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
This song is “I Want More,” and if you’re a theater nerd like myself, you might classify this song as the perfect example of a young beltress (refer to definition at top of post) shining in an otherwise lackluster musical. Allison was about 18 years old in this recording. It’s always nice to revisit the past, don’t you think?
