A Little Lerner and Loewe with a Mozart Kicker!

I really enjoyed watching all three clips.  I completely agree that a lot of the difficulties with being clear diction as a singer is producing a full and rich tone without compromising the vowels or consonants.  It takes a lot of vocal control (the right kind of control) in order to produce a steady stream of sound, without much interruption from consonants, in addition to maintaining the proper placement of vowels.  What I noticed the most about Stephen's singing is that he produced most of his words with a round shape to his mouth, without compromising the placement of the voice.  This undoubtedly came from many years of practice and training.  However, even in the production of [i], or other highly placed vowels, he did not draw his lips back but maintained a round shape with his lips (something that I am currently working on with my teacher).  The effect is that the sound remained completely forward and clear to the listener.

Music/Words - wedded bliss

What is most noticeable about both Dawn Upshaw's and Kristen Chenoweth's commitment to their words in these particular clips is their wonderful acting.  They are so expressive with each word that they utter (Kristen almost over the top), that you are essentially pulled into what they are saying.  Also, both singers avoid any dark covering, with primarily forward placement of their words.  Kristen in particular sings almost in an American vernacular....which is most noticeable on the word "France".  She says it just an a mid-western American would say it, so that it is very understandable.  She does not cling to using tall vowels (as singers tend to do for tone) which oftentimes ends up sounding British.  This doesn't mean that she doesn't use a lot of space when creating her tone, but she has a way of doing so, while creating American sounding vowels.  In addition to good placement, and clear consonants (noticed a couple of Choral "Ts" on Dawn's Clip), but they sing the words as though they are talking.  They make it seem as though this is the first time they are singing this song because it is conversational, rather than a prepared piece.

English Diction - Marian Anderson and Elvis

Both Marian Anderson and Elvis employ the use of portamento to create a type of affect to their performances.  Marian Anderson, particularly on the words, "sometimes", "feel" and "way".  "Way" in fact has a pretty prominent glide down.  In addition, the vowel is very dark, perhaps to emphasize how far from home the singer feels.   While I like the effect, this part actually strikes me as being a bit old fashioned, however, I think it is appropriate for a negro spiritual.

Elvis uses portamento throughout "Love Me Tender," however the difference is that he seems to let the energy fizzle a bit more at the end of his phrases. It still manages to be enjoyable, as it adds a tender quality to the song.