Your Favorite Musical Villains

#1

Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 1:47pm

I am helping put together a musical revue for a high school next year. Among the ideas we've tossed around is a cavalcade of musical villains. I have started to list some, but I'm finding that there are fewer traditional "villains" in musicals than I initially thought, particularly female villains. Perhaps most importantly, each character needs to have a good villainy song.

Who's your favorite?

#2

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 1:49pm

Javert in Les Mis. When well-performed, he's a multi-dimensional character who is constantly aware that his hunt for Valjean has gone too far, and will prove self-destructive...but he can't resist his compulsion for absolute justice.

#3

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 1:51pm

If you need a "villainess" song, there's a particularly bizarre one in the Kopit/Yeston Phantom called "This Place Is Mine," sung by Carlotta. It manages to work in the phrase "toilet bowl."

Updated On: 3/27/06 at 01:51 PM

#4

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 1:54pm

Great ideas! Keep 'em coming!

#5

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 1:54pm

damn it MYB! javert is mine too!

scar is good. I love his sogn in the lion King musical: Madness of Scar

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<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.

-Dre- You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree.
~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
There's a special kind of people known as show people. We live in a world full of dreams. Sometimes we're not too certain what's false and what's real. But we're seldom in doubt about what we feel.
~Curtains~
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known.
~A Tale of Two Cities ~

#6

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 1:55pm

Count Fosco - The Woman in White
Javert - Les Mis
Carlotta - POTO

#7

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 1:55pm

Audrey II from Little Shop Of Horrors

#8

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 1:55pm

also, Terrence Mann's character in Scarlet Pimpernel. can't remember his name.

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<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.

-Dre- You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree.
~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
There's a special kind of people known as show people. We live in a world full of dreams. Sometimes we're not too certain what's false and what's real. But we're seldom in doubt about what we feel.
~Curtains~
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known.
~A Tale of Two Cities ~

#9

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:02pm

And you could do Letitia Primrose's "Repent" from On the Twentieth Century.

I'm also one of the few who likes Elsa's songs from The Sound of Music. She's not really a villainess per se, but "No Way To Stop It" would work in your context.

And I'm surprised no one's mentioned "Miss Baltimore Crabs."

Updated On: 3/27/06 at 02:02 PM

#10

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:13pm

"also, Terrence Mann's character in Scarlet Pimpernel. can't remember his name."

It was Chauvelin. I love this character too.


Also for a female...
Adela from 'The IT Girl' She has a really great song.

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"It's like children's theatre for 40-year old gay people!" - XANADU THE MUSICAL

#11

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:24pm

Madame Morrible, Javert, Lucy the Slut, to name a few.

#12

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:26pm

And, of course, Mrs. Lovett.

#13

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:31pm

oooooo Mrs. Meers from Millie

#14

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:34pm

What about Lucy from J and H....Good N' Evil

#15

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:41pm

Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. Also the Wizard from Wicked

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"Are you sorry for civilization? I am sorry for it too." ~Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck

#16

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:43pm

Jud Fry is seen by some as a villain I actually think that Curlie is the villain of Oklahoma. I mean look at "Por Jud is Dead" and really see what Curlie is doing here. He tried to manipulate a simple man into committing suicide. That is certainly not heroic!

You may want to consider The Witch from Into the Woods...Last Midnight?

Or Zoser from AIDA even if his songs are crap! Still very much a classic villain. Mr Appleby from Damn Yankees.. Those Were the Good Old Days. Oh and Evilene from The Wiz.. Dont Nobody Bring Me No Bad News

Plus Edward Hyde... Alive and Dangerous Game spring to mind.

#17

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:54pm

I have this image in my mind of a little sequence like The Dating Game. Bachelor #1: Jud singing Lonely Room; Bachelor #2: The Wolf singing Hello Little Girl. I'd need a third bachelor. Any ideas?

#18

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 2:57pm

Oh yes! The Witch from into the Woods is great!

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"Are you sorry for civilization? I am sorry for it too." ~Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck

#19

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 3:01pm

I don't think Javert is the villain, if anything it's Thenardier.

Javert is just obeying the law and doing his job, he's not Wicked at all.

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"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird

#20

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 3:15pm

"I don't think Javert is the villain, if anything it's Thenardier.
Javert is just obeying the law and doing his job, he's not Wicked at all."

I guess it's all up to interpretation. Is Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret a villain?? He's just doing his job too. I love villains in everything, and having played several I like to think that they're just people like you and me who are misunderstood. They're only doing what they think is right.

WickedGeek28 you make a good point.

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"It's like children's theatre for 40-year old gay people!" - XANADU THE MUSICAL

#21

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 3:17pm

The Child Catcher in Chitty

#22

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 3:26pm

Mordred from Camelot and Rooster from Annie since I've played both heh

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Jack Mitchell Jack's Retail
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#23

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 3:28pm

I love the child catcher!

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"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird

#24

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 3:35pm

Fagin (although a lovable villain) and Bill Sykes from Oliver!. Both have solo numbers...especially Fagin who has two great ones.

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"You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering." --Harold Hill from The Music Man

#25

re: Your Favorite Musical Villains

Posted: 3/27/06 at 3:37pm

Sweeney is not a villain. He's an anti-hero.

Plus Mrs. Lovett is just stupid. In other words, her "head's a lil' vague."

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"Ev'ry-buddy wants ta get into de act!" - Jimmy Durante "Breathe from your hoo-hoo." -Kristin Chenoweth