My roommate asked me tonight if there are any musicals where the lead (or one of the leads) either does not sing or rarely sings. The only one I could muster up was "The Magic Show" but something keeps telling me there's at least one more that I'm blanking on. Does anyone else know of any?
"Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"
I was kicking around ALNM, but Desiree still gets a whole song, part of "Glamorous Life," responses in "You Must Meet My Wife" and probably the best-known song in the show, so I counted her out.
But the Man in the Chair... I didn't think of that. Thanks!
"Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"
Doesn't Fiorello LaGuardia only sing two songs in Fiorello! ?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
It's an older show, but Thomas Mitchell won Best Actor in a Musical for his role in "Hazel Flagg," and it's a non-singing role.
I would say this, plus Man In Chair in Drowsy and Jeff in Brigadoon are the largest non-singing roles I know of.
EDIT: One more -- Natalia Makarova won Best Actress in a Musical for the 1983 revival of "On Your Toes." (She was terrific, too!) It's a ballet (leading) role with a lot of comedy, but she has no songs. Doesn't sing a note.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
best12bars-the Thomas Mitchell one is the best, always wondered how he won an award but never sang. One more, although it's a supporting role: Carrie Nye (the late Mrs. Dick Cavett) got a Tony nom in HALF A SIXPENCE, but never sang or danced.
I was under the impression with regards to Man In Chair in Drowsy, that there was a minimum amount of singing that one had to do to be considered for best actor or actress in a musical. And, Bob Martin did that minimum amount which was what got him his nomination for the Tony. Could I be totally off base here, or was that a rule that was changed between now and when the other people mentioned were nominated for their Tony despite doing little to no singing?
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Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll