cross-gendering roles

[children&art]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 3:53pm

How come there isnt more of this on Broadway?

Yes, I know Harvey in "Hairspray" is a big example but cross-gendering is a technique we used quite often in college (not because we didnt have enough of one sex or the other, but because it stretched us as actors).

For example, for my senior directing thesis I produced a version of "Gypsy" where my best friend (a man) played Rose. He played it as a woman, but it was interesting to see his process on getting into character. It definitely made for a stunning performance and an A+ thesis paper.

What are some of your favorite cross-gendered roles (roles that say are typically female played by men and vice versa)?

What are some roles you think would be fun to cross-gender?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 3:56pm

Would be fun to see:

Ms Lynch in Grease
Ms Hannigan in Annie
Mame

[rowers unite]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:23pm

in my last year of highschool, the grads (or seniors in the states) did Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew completely cross-gender...it was fun (i was Tranio as Lucentio (if you've never read taming don't bother understanding that))

i dont know if that counts, but again it was loads of fun...especailly in Shakespearian costumes

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:24pm

Miss Sunshine in Chicago

[fiatlux]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:26pm

I've seen Miss Hannigan played by a man and it worked very well. As did Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism.

Coral Browne was once offered Mme Armfeldt and said that it was about time that a woman played the part...I know men have played it so I'd be interested in seeing that.

I saw Frances De La Tour as Hamlet which was quite extraordinary and Rupert Everett was mesmerising as Flora Goforth in The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.

Rupert as Flora Updated On: 12/16/05 at 04:26 PM

[children&art]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:30pm

Mary Sunshine doesnt count - it's written to be a man in drag playing a woman.

Like "Virgina Woolf" what if George and Martha were cross-gendered? It would give an interesting dynamic to the show. Or have a man play Eliza in "My Fair Lady" but play it as a woman would.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:30pm

c&a - I was hoping no one would realize that.

[children&art]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:34pm

I realized!

But notice how most of the cross-gendering incidents are men playing women, is it tougher for a woman to play a male part?

I'm not talking about like what they do in British panto or Shakespeare, what about a female in male drag as Willy Loman?

I still think a man as Blanche DuBois with everyone else in correct gender would be fascinating.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 5:18pm

George and Martha will NEVER be played by a same-sex couple. Albee has stated flat-out that he will block any and all productions that wish to present the pair as a gay/lesbian partnership. Several years ago, Lea DeLaria and Mary Testa expressed interest in doing a same-sex production of Virginia Woolf and Albee refused.

I would love to see Charles Busch play Mame.

[fiatlux]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 5:24pm

"But notice how most of the cross-gendering incidents are men playing women, is it tougher for a woman to play a male part?"

Two other roles I can think of are, perhaps oddly, in movies with Mary Pickford playing the part of Little Lord Fauntleroy and Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously.

Duse,Bernhardt and Nielsen obviously played male roles and other actresses such as Charlotte Charke, famously played Macheath in The Beggar's Opera and Charlotte Cushman, played Romeo. Fiona Shaw was an outstanding Richard II - there is an excellent BBC version of the play which should be seen.

I wonder if in American theatre the shadow of Stanislavsky's school of "realism" - which is not prevalent in the UK - has had the effect of stifling that leap of imagination.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 6:08pm

This is a great thread too bad it isn't getting more resposes. I can't think of any really good ones. Maybe Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street.

Updated On: 12/16/05 at 06:08 PM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 6:09pm

Yes, mef, but once he dies...

[morosco]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 7:14pm

peter pan

[morosco]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 7:18pm

In the early 90s Pat Carroll portrayed Falstaff in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in Washington, DC.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 7:19pm

after the other thread i would love to see a man play the witch in into the woods (let alone i would love to play it)


i have done cross-gendered.. it's kind of fun

[OOTI2004]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 7:24pm

I'm a man and I would love to play Miss. Hannigan.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 7:26pm

Dolly Levi was played by a man in a well-received production of HD on the West End.

I know girls have played Dodger in countless productions of "Oliver!"

When will Peter Pan be played on stage by a man... boy? ...boy-man?

[fiatlux]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 7:34pm

"Dolly Levi was played by a man in a well-received production of HD on the West End."

The actor was the well-known drag artiste Danny La Rue - it frankly wasn't much of a surprise for his, mostly, blue-rinse audience, given that he wears a frock most of the time - nonetheless it was fun.

Peter Pan is often played by a male actor in the UK, in the original play.

Daniel Evans at the National as Peter Pan

[apdarcey]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 7:37pm

well that's strange since jm barrie wanted it played by a female.

[fiatlux]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:08pm

"well that's strange since jm barrie wanted it played by a female."

Barrie never ruled out the possibility that Peter could be played by a boy. Whilst Peter Pan is not a traditional pantomime, the principal boy (actress) was very much the norm and Maude Adams was Barrie's first choice as he finalised writing the play, and he found Nina Bouccicault and Pauline Chase excellent, however he was not against casting a male, he considered one young man for the 1920/21 Peter Pan production and earlier in 1910 Herbert Hollom became the first male Peter Pan, in the equivalent of an understudies' matinee. But I suppose he thought that a young boy would not have enough experience to play the part and a post-pubescent actor would not sound or look right.

One of the effects of having a female play Peter Pan was that the Lost Boys all had to be played by actresses of roughly the same age - all bar Slightly Soiled who was played by an actor however he could not be seen sharing a bed with the other "boys" in th Underground scene. The Darling Boys, however, were played by actors......

In an early draft of the play Mrs Darling doubled as Capt Hook (or The Pirate King), rather than Mr Darling - which is intriguing.....

Updated On: 12/17/05 at 08:08 PM

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:19pm

lea delaria played eddie and doctor scott in the recent rocky horror revival.

i think a male madame morrible would be a scream, and give one hell of a "wiiiiiiicked witch" speech

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:27pm

Hedwig from HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH can and has been played by either a male or female actor.

I would kill to see Sir Ian McKellen as Widow Twankey in the ALADDIN pantomime in London's West End.

[Jon]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:40pm

There was a production of MAME in las Vegas in the 1970's in which mame, Vera, and Gooch were played by female impersonators.

And Charles Busch recently starred in the non-musical AUNTIE MAME.

I've seen Miss Lynch in GREASE played by a man.

[justpeachy]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:47pm

Pirelli in the new Sweeney Todd revival is played by a woman, though it was originally a male role. The whole "concept"(mental institution) makes this okay, but I'd still consider it cross-gendering to some extent.

[musicman117]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:51pm

Lea Delaria also played Marryin' Sam in Li'l Abner