Opera singers in movies

Sure, they can sing (opera), but can they act? - Washington Post article by Anne Midgette 2/19/11

It is true that most classical singers get very little training in acting through school. Any degree program in classical voice that I have heard about is a music degree and focuses primarily on vocal technique, repertoire and musicianship and the only stage training comes (if they are lucky enough to have it) through the opera studio class. For those that enter the profession by other means acting instruction is done "on the job" and rarely extends to anything outside of opera. Both of those routes to operatic careers leaves a lot of room for the development of acting chops.

In my opinion being a good actor boils down to awareness. Awareness of your own body and emotions (portrayed) as well as how you relate to other people and objects on the stage and most importantly an awareness of your character (even if it is simply a chorister) and how it relates to the story and to the other characters. I think the place where singers get into trouble is that they are so focused on their own vocal technique and movement that they forget or fail to participate and relate to the other characters on stage with them. In a sense they fail to RE-act to the contributions of their colleagues.

It is quite amusing to see all of this play itself out on a stage. Having sung with the San Diego Opera Chorus for quite some time now you can tell in advance what certain people will do with a given staging. The most valuable thing for a chorister to keep in mind is the awareness of their place on the stage (and being true to their character). So many times we tend to clump or form lines which don't read well out in the house. The other tendency of the chorister is to drift to somewhere they don't belong, namely down center (the forward most part of the stage), a place generally reserved for principals (leads) or the whole chorus as a single character.

I am not a great actor, probably not even a good one but my awareness is always developing and as such I think I can do a good job filling space.