It was far from odd that Emmy Award winner Tony Randall, famous for his performance as Felix Unger on “The Odd Couple,” came to Northwestern this week to help show voice students how to act their parts.
Randall, a School of Speech alumnus, spoke Wednesday for the third and final time this week to a crowd of about 100 mostly students and faculty at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon headquarters. He also oversaw a class on Monday and a master’s lecture Tuesday at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.
Randall, 81, listened and instructed voice and opera students on their performances but declined to answer questions involving his career. He said he was at NU to teach the students about the close relationship between opera and acting.
Although the class was mandatory for all students in the program, some said they would have attended anyway in order to learn from Randall.
“Tony Randall is so famous and knowledgeable in the way he is thinking that he was able to teach us a lot,” said Abby Venman, a Music sophomore.
Karen Brunssen, coordinator of the voice and opera program, said Randall was invited because of his expertise in opera and acting, as well as being a friend of Music professor Sherrill Milnes.
“(Randall’s) impressed with our singers, their preparation, their ability to change on the spot and, of course, with their voices,” Brunssen said.
In addition to his six-decade career in film and theater, Randall has several ties to the opera world. He has appeared on “Texaco’s Opera Quiz” and as the intermission commentator on “Live at Lincoln Center.”
During the classes, the former Broadway and radio actor listened to students perform and gave pointers on how they could improve in acting out their parts. He questioned students to explore the motivations behind the actions of their characters.
“I talk about their parts the way an actor talks about them, and not the way a singer talks about them,” Randall said. “I think that’s new to them.”
Randall said he considers an opera singer to be a kind of singing actor, and added that all opera students should take acting classes. He also helped students to better understand their roles by drawing on his personal experiences.
He instructed each student to work to understand the role he or she is playing. “Now the main thing to ask yourself is, ‘Why the hell am I doing all of this?'” he said.
He said the singer has to begin with an open mind when learning a new role.
“The first thing you do is read the script, and you have to do it without any preconception,” he said.
He advised the audience to be open to instruction from directors in order to better understand their roles and improve their performances.
“It’s your job as an actor to find reasons to do what the director tells you to do,” Randall said. “Everything has to have reason. It’s up to you to find that reason.”
Brunssen said she wants to have an actor or singer like Randall come every year to teach performance seminars for students. This year, the voice and opera program will conduct four similar instruction programs, some taught by NU faculty, but students especially took to instruction from Randall, she said.
Venman said she left the class with advice to aid her musical performances.
“Even if there isn’t a life behind a character, you have to make one up,” she said. “Everyone on stage has to have an entire life history.”
