Singing with a foreign accent to play a part?
I saw some pretty bad french accents performed this past weekend in a musical. The odd thing was, some of the characters were trying to do it, and others weren’t. Then there were those who did it when they remembered or when they sang but not when they spoke. hmmm….
I must say I found the experience quite jarring to my ear and rarely could loose myself to the fantasy of the story they were trying to convey. The one woman who did the best at it, unfortunately stood out oddly since no one else matched up to her.
First ,I must recommend, if your going to attempt an accent for a character commit 100% to it. Keep it consistent throughout the show, through song and through speak. A great way to try and achieve this is to find someone who actually has the accent you need and have them record all of your lines for you, including the lines to be sung. Play that constantly in you ear to develop a natural sound. This will also help you to memorize your lines as well.
Another possibility would be to find a DVD or CD of professional quality with singers that are doing a good job with the accents, this is ideal for you to hear the accent performed in song. Just make sure to memorize the accent separately from the read. We are not looking to mimic other actors, just to learn from their accent. You want to deliver your own fresh rendition of a character.
Some people are more naturally skilled at performing with accents then others. Hopefully your director will keep that in mind when deciding whether you should go for it or not.
