Josh Groban dives into deep pool of show tunes on his latest album
On his current release, “Stages,” Josh Groban covers some of the most timeless show tunes in musical theater. The material seems custom-built for the pop singer with the strikingly dramatic voice.
“These songs are meant to be sung over and over again by many different interpreters,” he says. “It’s great to keep carrying that torch a little bit.”
The 13 tracks on “Stages” feature such emotional classics as “What I Did For Love” from “A Chorus Line” and “Try to Remember” from “The Fantasticks.” Also included is material by composers Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Groban is the right singer to revisit such material. His smooth, sweeping and classically trained voice puts him in the lineage of pop crooners Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams.
Groban called recently from New York to discuss his love of acting and offer advice on how to be a better singer. This is an edited transcript.
Q: When you were young, your first dream was to be an actor. When did you realize you had a gift for singing?
A: I wanted to be an actor because it was way easier for me to have a mask than to not have a mask. I was a shy kid. I was awkward. I was picked on. When I fell into a character, I got to not be me. I got to pretend to have a certain confidence that I normally didn’t have. Ironically enough, singing was the more vulnerable thing. That was showing off the nakedness. Singing was always in me, but the acting felt safer for a good long time. The fact that the singing wound up coming to the forefront was a direct result of having an arts foundation and having great teachers who pulled me out of my shell.
Q: When you were deciding what to include on “Stages,” how big was your wish list of potential covers?
A: It was huge. In many ways, tackling an album like this was more difficult than doing an original music album because suddenly you’re diving into an endless canon of music. You think about what your favorites are. People working on the project put in their favorites. Before you know it, you have 100 songs to demo.
Q: What criteria did you use to narrow it down?
A. A couple of things had to come into play. For me, personal experience had a lot to do with it. Songs and shows that were an influential part of my artistic development. Shows I grew up with. Shows I was in when I was in high school. Songs that were full circle for me.
Q: I’ve seen a lot of discussion about your voice. How do you describe your vocal range?
A: Well, I would describe it differently at 7 in the morning than I would at 10 at night (laughs). But I’m a lyric baritone. That’s probably the most accurate description of my vocal range. That said, I can pop out higher tenor notes when I feel it’s right for the song. I have those up my sleeve as well. Throughout the course of my career, people have put my voice in one category or another. I’ve felt very lucky that to my fans, people are thinking, “Oh, that’s Josh.”