Hardest Role to play?

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 1:49am

What do you guys think is the most hardest/difficult role to play in any musical/play?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 2:42am

Play: Blanche or Stella in "Streetcar Named Desire". How do you play Blanche? Are you supposed to play it as a lunatic, sick woman, or as a fragile individual, and how do you connect her incredible sexual energy to whichever take on the role you decide? Stella is a complex role because she loves Stan but she loves her sister as well, do you play her as a weak woman? do you play her as a woman who loves her husband? how do you play that last scene in which she rebels against Stan?

Musical: Obvious choice is Momma Rose, not only because the difficulty of the role itself but because people are very protective of the role as well; that is, some people will tell you that their Rose is Merman and that's it, others will condemn you if you even attempt to perform this role. However, more along the lines of a show that's on Broadway, I'd say Mrs. Lovett has got to be one of the most difficult roles to play; she is funny, sexy, evil, she loves Sweeney, she's very human and some of those wordy songs must be hard to sing as well. I've also heard that Robert from Company is one of the most difficult male roles in musical theatre.

[ShuQ]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 2:54am

Many would argue Sweeney

[iwearshoes]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 3:01am

I would say Evita. Not only because of the extended vocal range and dancing, but because of the physical transformation that she goes through. She goes from this brassy young girl to a diplomat and then slowly breaks down.

[angelic1]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 3:20am

George from 'Sunday in the Park with George'

[LostLeander]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 3:21am

Caroline, from Caroline, or Change. She may seem one noted, but she is definately not. There is a level of commitment, and intense focus on not only singing those songs, but also to make sure the character is slowly building up, to make her explosions really explode, then back down again.. to EXPLOSION.

Tonya Pinkins was Caroline, so complex, but clear at the same time. It was an awe-inspring journey that I took with her.

Sally Bowles. There is so much subtext to her flighty appearance. It's easy to play her as blithe, carefree, ignorant, but the really good actresses play her with a bithe, carefree, ignorant surface and a festering, decaying, highly aware self underneath, and it's a beautiful contrast, and a much more interesting show.

Sweeney. He's not just angry. That's like saying Hamlet is angry. Sweeney is a complex human, with SO many levels, and it takes a subtle human to show us bits and pieces of his character through words here, and words there.

Torvald/Nora, A Doll's house. To very interesting characters, that can easily fall into tropes of oppressive man, and independent caged bird, because they are both so much more than that.. Neither are so cognant of their social situation, but they are rather living in it, going through the normal motions of society, but one just figures out that there's something wrong with the system sooner than the other. So, if done well, the play can be a lot more interesting than some productions make it out to seem.

[AnnaB]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 3:28am

Play - Lear in 'King Lear'

Musical - not necissarily the roles themself but 'The Last Five Years' as a show I would imagine to be challenging for a performer

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 3:34am

Roles that dont do much are often harder than those that do.

I have a lot of respect for girls who can find a way to make Nessarose from Wicked copmpletely their own, because she is a very flat character for almost the entire show. The actress has to make the character interesting without any help from the show's book.

Elphaba, while very complex and demanding, has a LOT of great material in the book and score to work with to find a character.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 3:56am

I agree that Elphaba is a hard role to play, not the hardest like some of Sondheim's characters or some of those great and juicy Kander & Ebb roles, but in the hands of the wrong actress Elphaba can be simply a misunderstood girl and period, the girl everyone used to pick on in school and that got mad one day. But I think by listening to the score, and by reading the novel, actresses should be able to get into all the different layers of Elphaba. I loved that Ana Gasteyer's performance deferred so much from Menzel's and both actresses did a great job. But I think a role like Sally from Follies or even The Witch in Into The Woods are much harder roles.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 4:11am

i think that the absolute hardest role in all of theatre is iago. i would absolutely love to get my hands on that part. oh my god.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 4:24am

I don't think Iago is as hard as Emilia, actually. If you are talking about male Shakespearean characters, I believe Hamlet and Claudius are more difficult. I still think Iago is hard to play, it is Shakespeare after all, but not the hardest.

[JasonM12480]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 8:47am

First of all, this is another one of these ridiculous questions that I wonder why people sit around and worry themselves over - these are life-altering things we MUST know...so alas...I've fallen prey, and shall put in my two cents.

Until you have played the Woton/Gunther/Hagan track (or ANY of the characters) in the small, semi-unknown musical, "Das Barbecu", then you have not played a difficult role(s).

I am currently in rehearsals for this show, and can first-hand give you insight into it.

For those of you who don't know, Das Barbecu is based on Wagner's (if you don't know who Richard Wagner is, look him up)"Ring Cycle" - but set in Texas. The show is made up of 5 actors, playing almost 30 roles in all. I have 78 (no joke) costume changes during the evening, 10 of which take place live on stage in under 4 (just four, not 5, not 10 even - FOUR) seconds, in the dark. Each character is totally different from the other - different body postures, different accents (all deep Texas Southern, of course), different characterizations. The audience members obviously know that 5 actors are playing all these zany characters, but the trick is to make them forget that, and enjoy the silliness of what's going on.

Now, emotionally, perhaps this show is not the depth of Sweeney Todd, or the passion of Shakespeare....but it's fast paced, a lot of physical/character work, and I would have to vouch that it's one of the most difficult theatrical pieces out there that very few know about. And man, does the sweat fly onstage and off!

Oh, did I mention that I had to learn to play the guitar, and play it well, in under 2 weeks for this, too?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

So please remember - Gypsy and Wicked are wonderful shows with wonderful characters - but they're not the necessarily the shows with the hardest roles to play!

[vgd07]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 9:29am

Jekyll/Hyde...the character does have some pretty dramatic and drastic changes throughout the play, after all.

[neomystyk29]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 10:38am

Hellen Keller- The Miracle Worker

[BS]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 10:42am

I've been told by someone who played Marvin on Broadway that the role is a "bear." Yes thats what he said.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 11:02am

I just recently worked on Emilia's sililoquy for my Shakespeare class. As short as it was, it wasn't easy.

[Stage Addict]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 11:02am

ELPHABA!!!






just kidding.

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 11:05am

Helen Keller is VERY VERY hard to play.

As far as mucials go....honestly I think Charity could be. Between the dancing....the singing isn't hard but as far as character goes you could go so many different ways.

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 11:24am

George in Virginia Woolf

in terms of musicals, Harold Hill is pretty hard to pull off. Youve got to be incredibly charismatic and manipulative at the same time.

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 11:40am

Musical: George or Sweeney

Play: Hamlet

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 11:40am

From the roles I've played personally, two of the most difficult were:

Henrik in "A Little Night Music." Aside from his complex and layered personality issues (which are wonderful acting challenges), he has to sing a high B, while sitting down and playing the cello during his solo "Later." I worked my a$$ off on that one, but it was well worth the extra rehearsal time. (I feel for those "Sweeney" performers, truly. It ain't easy to pull off.)

Rutledge in "1776." It's extremely vocally demanding, because you basically have a small ensemble role until the 11th hour, and then you let go with a six minute rant of dialogue and song that goes way over the top. No matter how much I warmed up at the beginning, I wasn't prepared for that kind of "explosion." It required more pacing and care to my body and vocal chords than playing a lead that sings throughout the entire show (which I've done as well). I felt crappy about it, until I asked a lady who had replaced Betty Buckley in the original run on Broadway about it. She said they were constantly running through Rutledges and understudies in New York for that same reason. They would all burn out vocally. It doesn't sound that challenging, until you actually are doing it in a run. Then it's pretty tough-going.

[mominator]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 11:41am

You could ask this question to 100 people and get 100 different answers.

[MrBungee7]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 11:59am

I must say, I'm currently working on Mercutio and he ain't no picnic.

Especially since I'm a girl.

[Shoshana BeanieBaby]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 12:19pm

I would agree with Evita and Caroline. I'd like to add Jane Eyre. She is never off stage.

[rose&lark]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 12:28pm

I'd like to add Jean Valjean from Les Miserables, because of the emotional and vocal range that he exhibits through the course of the show.

Best12Bars, that definitely makes sense for Rutledge to be a difficult character, both vocally, and I'd imagine character/acting wise as well. Having to go from not really being paid attention to during the show to having that attention grabbing scene (which is one of the most powerful in the show, in my opinion) must be very challenging! And because it's one of the most powerful points in the show, it can't be off, can it? It's got to be dead on!