Joan Lader keeps Broadway in line

Fortunately, science fascinated her. She could sing, but she never understood it How she sang, the precise mechanics of breath, mouth and vocal folds. That might have been the end, as she was soon hired by the Light Opera of Manhattan as a mezzo-soprano. But even as she pursued a career as a performing artist, Lader couldn't let go of voice therapy. Knowing she was a singer, she said Mount Sinai Hospital, where she had completed an internship, began referring injured singers to her and trusted her with their rehabilitation. A few years later, she rented the Union Square studio and gave up the gig. Since then she has been booked solidly.

A large part of her work is still about rehabilitation. She helps singers deal with polyps, nodules, hemorrhages, cysts, acid reflux and swelling of the vocal folds. (She showed me a terrifying slideshow depicting these various ailments and disorders.)

LuPone first met Lader in the mid-1990s, after vocal cord surgery.

“I couldn't talk, I had nothing,” LuPone said. Lader started with Lupone's speaking voice and then restored her singing voice. “She saved my career,” LuPone said. “She gave me a technique that allowed me to continue singing with the power and clarity I have ever since.”

Billy Porter contacted Lader in the early 2000s after losing his voice to acid reflux. Porter's voice had always had a gospel sound, a rock sound, which was atypical for Broadway performers at the time. During their sessions, Lader never tried to change that. “She was one of the first teachers I met who wasn't out to suppress that,” Porter said.

The other side of her practice involves healthy singers who are new to a role, who are struggling with a role, or who want to expand and improve their voice. Performers often come to her in a kind of existential panic, because they no longer understand how they do what they do. She encourages singers to relax and open their entire throat, which isn't always comfortable.