Sing the Story, Not Just the Notes: The Power of Acting Through Song

Excerpt

Discover the transformative power of acting through song in musical theatre. This blog post explores how emotion and storytelling elevate performances, making them unforgettable. Learn techniques to connect with your audience and bring characters to life through your voice.

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Jun 1, 2025

More Than a Pretty Voice

Think about the last time a performance gave you goosebumps. Chances are, it wasn’t just because the singer hit a high note perfectly – it was because you believed every word they sang. In musical theatre, a character typically breaks into song only when words alone are no longer enough to express their feelings. In other words, the time to sing is when the emotion is too strong to speak. (There’s even an old Broadway saying: “When the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing; when it becomes too strong for song, you dance.”) What does this tell us? It means songs are built for big emotions and important moments in the story. If you, as a performer, treat a song just like a pleasant melody to show off your voice, you’re missing the point. The audience needs to see why your character is singing. They should feel the love, fear, hope, or despair driving each lyric. Your beautiful tone and perfect pitch are the icing on the cake – the story and emotion are the cake itself.

To truly act through a song, you must embrace the character’s situation and intentions. Ask yourself: What does my character want in this moment? Are they confessing love, standing up for themselves, grieving a loss? Your vocals should reflect that intent. For instance, a shaky, soft tone might convey vulnerability, whereas a bold, belted note can express defiance or joy. Using techniques like dynamic contrast, phrasing, and facial expression will help marry your vocal technique with genuine feeling. When you achieve this blend of vocal and emotional expression, you turn music into a powerful storytelling tool that captivates audiences and leaves a lasting impression.

Why Just Singing Isn’t Enough

Imagine you’re at a recital and one singer steps up to perform a famous musical theatre ballad. They hit every note flawlessly, like a recording – but their face is blank, their body stiff, and you don’t sense any connection to the lyrics. Now imagine another singer with a voice that’s maybe not as polished. They deliver the same song with heart: their eyes well up with tears on the sad lines, or they smile and light up with real giddy energy on the happy parts. Which performance would move you more? For most of us, emotion and honesty win over technical perfection. The first singer might impress your ears, but the second touches your heart. Simply put, singing without acting is like speaking in a monotone – the words are there, but there’s no life in them. Musical theatre songs are essentially monologues set to music. If you wouldn’t deliver a monologue in a dull, mechanical way, you shouldn’t sing that way either. An expressive voice with storytelling behind it will always be more compelling than a pretty sound with no feeling.

Here’s another way to look at it: a song in a musical is a conversation – sometimes a plea, sometimes an argument, sometimes a declaration – set to melody. If you only focus on making the melody pretty, it’s like focusing on how you’re speaking rather than what you’re saying. The audience might note, “Oh, what a nice voice,” but they won’t be drawn into the story. We want the audience to forget that you’re singing and instead think, “Wow, I understand what that character is going through.” When you achieve that, you’ve got them in the palm of your hand.

Would Hamilton be the same with no expression? Would Les Misérables be truly miserable to watch without emotion?

Let’s bring this to life with a couple of famous examples. First, imagine Hamilton without the passionate storytelling that we know. Hamilton is a musical full of rapid-fire lyrics and powerful tunes, but its real impact comes from the cast pouring heart and intention into every rhyme and rhythm. If the performers in Hamilton just stood there and recited the clever lyrics on pitch without any emotion – like history teachers reading from a textbook – the show would fall flat on its face. The reason we sit at the edge of our seat during songs like “My Shot” or “Burn” is because the actors commit to the emotions: Alexander Hamilton’s determination, Eliza’s heartbreak, Aaron Burr’s envy. We see characters fighting for something, not singers showing off. The expressive storytelling in the songs is what makes Hamilton a rollercoaster of excitement and emotion. Without it, all those brilliant lyrics and melodies would be impressive, sure, but they wouldn’t make us feel much. It’d be like a firework with no sparkle.

Now consider Les Misérables, a show literally named “The Miserable Ones” – a story overflowing with emotion. Les Misérables without emotional connection would indeed be truly miserable. Think of Fantine’s famous song “I Dreamed a Dream.” Sung with raw emotion, that song can break every heart in the room – we witness Fantine’s crushed hopes and sorrow, and many of us end up in tears. Now imagine if someone sang that song perfectly in a technical sense – every note clear – but treated it like a pleasant tune with a smile pasted on. It would ring completely false. The audience wouldn’t cry; they might even feel uncomfortable or bored because the truth of the song is missing. The same goes for Jean Valjean’s “Who Am I?” or “Bring Him Home,” or Éponine’s “On My Own.” These songs only soar when the performers lay their soul bare. Without genuine emotion, Les Mis would just be a long concert of pretty songs and none of the gut-punch drama that makes it so beloved.

In both of these landmark musicals, it’s the fusion of storytelling and singing that hooks us. We love Hamilton and Les Misérables not just for their music, but for how that music delivers the story and the characters’ deepest feelings. Story is the key. As an audience, we want to care about the people onstage – their dreams, struggles, and triumphs. Acting through song invites the audience into the story; it says, “Listen to what I’m feeling, not just how I’m singing.” That is what makes a musical performance unforgettable.

Lessons From West End Pros

If you think I’m overstating the case for Acting Through Song, listen to the artists who live it eight shows a week. In her Five Minute Call interview, Alexia Khadime - Grammy-nominated for The Prince of Egypt and a veteran of Wicked, Les Mis and The Lion King - admits she now finds it “hard to sing a lyric without knowing why I’m singing that lyric.” For her, just “sounding nice” is meaningless; she wants the audience talking about “what I’m evoking in that moment,” even if that means letting a little raw imperfection show because “it’s that imperfection that makes it perfect.” Alexia goes on to say that spectators will tune out if all they hear is prettiness - because a gorgeous note without genuine intention is an empty picture frame - polished, but holding nothing.

Similarly, Zachary James, previously Hades in the West End’s Hadestown and an acclaimed opera bass-baritone, in his Five Minute Call interview, drives the same idea from a different angle. “It’s all the same thing,” he says, “story-telling music,” and he even jokes that declaring “acting is important in opera” is still considered controversial in some circles. He offers that “the goal is not to think about singing when you’re on stage - just ride the wave.” Perfect legato means nothing if the audience can’t feel the heat behind the words.

Both performers - one rooted in blockbuster musicals, the other straddling opera and Broadway - arrive at the same verdict: technique supports emotion; it never replaces it.

Bringing Heart into Every Note

By now, I hope you feel inspired to put as much thought into why you’re singing each song as how you’re singing it. The next time you tackle a musical theatre number, approach it like an actor and a singer. Do your vocal warm-ups and practice your technique, yes – but also ask yourself the questions an actor would: What is my character feeling right now? Why do they need to sing these words? Who are they singing to? What do they hope will happen by the end of the song? When you have those answers, let them influence every choice you make – your tone, your volume, your expressions, even your pauses.

Remember, a musical theatre performer’s job is to make the audience feel something. We do that by living the story in our songs. Your voice is an amazing instrument, but you are the storyteller. If you commit to the emotional truth of the song, the audience will connect with you whether or not you hit every note perfectly. In fact, they’ll likely forgive a cracked note or a breathy moment if it came from a place of honesty in the performance. They won’t forgive being bored by a song sung with no life.

So, sing with joy, sing with pain, sing with love – whatever the story calls for. Pour your heart into your music. Trust me, the payoff is immense: you’ll transport your audience into the world of the show. They’ll laugh, cry, and dream along with you. That’s the magic of musical theatre. In the end, acting through song is what makes a performance truly soar. It turns a simple tune into an emotional journey. And as your friendly (and passionate!) musical theatre instructor, I can’t stress enough: if you sing the story, not just the notes, you’ll create moments on stage that neither you nor your audience will ever forget.

Ready to Put This Into Practice?

Reading about Acting Through Song is a great start - but nothing beats stepping into the studio and feeling it in your own voice. If you’re itching to turn the ideas above into goose-bump-inducing performances, I’d love to guide you. I’m an Award Winning Vocal Coach and have worked with some of the West Ends most respected performers. During our sessions we will

Diagnose the story behind each lyric so you never feel “stuck on pretty” again.

Marry technique with truth - belt, mix, head voice, whatever the score demands - while keeping your vocal health front-and-centre.

Build your actor’s toolbox of physicality, subtext, and intention, so every note lands like dialogue the audience can’t ignore.

Think of it as installing a high-definition filter on your voice: the colours get richer, the details sharper, and suddenly the whole picture pops.

If that sounds like the upgrade your performances deserve, head to rayvox.co.uk/lessons to book your first session, and let’s transform “nice singing” into storytelling that leaves the room breathless.

Break a leg - I’ll see you in the studio!