Parts That You Desperately Want to Play That Are Inappropriate for You

[HeartandMusic]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 12:58pm

For years I have desperately want to play the Emcee in Cabaret and Fagin in Oliver! Why are these parts inappropriate for me? I'm a girl.

I was just wondering if there was anyone else out there who wants to play a certain role or two, but because of gender, their vocal range, or any other reason, there is a good chance that they most likely will never be cast as that character. Please, share your pain. : )

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:01pm

Elphaba in The Big Green Thing and Effie White in Dreamgirls.

Sadly, it would only ever possibly happen if Matthew Bourne took them on as projects...

[StageManager2]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:03pm

Eva Peron. Unfortunately, I'm male and I can't sing for s**t!

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:05pm

My ultimate role would be Billy Elliot, but I'm a bit too tall and a little too old. And the small matter of my never doing ballet. But if I could have any role, and be able to do it well of course, I'd have Billy.

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:07pm

Joe in SHOWBOAT -- I am bass, husky, have voice that goes to the balcony and Scandanavian.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:14pm

Mark - RENT
Annie - Annie (at 23, probably ain't gonna happen)
Princeton - Ave Q
Bobby - Company
Marvin - Falsettos
Kim - Miss Saigon (yea, I am so Asian looking...)
Sarah - Ragtime (similar problem as above)

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:19pm

A role that I'd love to play that's NOT a gender problem is the Arbiter in Chess...ooh, and Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar.

I am so far from a tenor it's not funny. (Although I have a MEAN Eden Espinosa-reminscent girl belt, but it's hardly useful in such circumstances, legitimately speaking, I am 100% pure lyric baritone goodness on a stick.)

Updated On: 8/21/06 at 01:19 PM

[HeartandMusic]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:22pm

Oooh, Jailyard, I'm with you on Judas. But again, I am a girl. Even though I am capable of singing the role. Wah!

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:25pm

I've always wanted to play Bo in "Bus Stop." I was the right type and age about 25 years ago....but now, a bit too long in the tooth.

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:28pm

Windy -- I played the bus driver in BS -- I dyed my hair and they all said I looked and copied Jackie Gleason.

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:32pm

Definitely Billy Elliot. Also, Britt Craig in Parade. I think...

[Marlene]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:43pm

Queenie from Lippa's Wild Party
Roger from Rent
Sally Bowles from Cabaret
Annie from Annie (because I can totally rock red hair...)
Peggy Sawyer from 42nd. (Haha. As noted from this summer and school performances, I'm not capable of singing and doing real choreography at the same time.)
Updated On: 8/21/06 at 01:43 PM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:49pm

Effie, Dreamgirls (cause I play Deena every day)
Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney
Mama Rose, Gypsy
....all the great female roles.

...and I'll admit, I'd love to have the Defying Gravity moment in Wicked too...

Oddly enough, where my voice sits, I can sing along with most female parts (an octave lower) but rarely can I hit the high notes of any male part, except the older men roles, which I am sadly approaching.

[luvliza89]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:08pm

Wow doodlenyc everything you said goes ditto for me.

And Fanny Brice.

[Matthewjames]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:18pm

Well since I am an african american male i can never play..

Emile/Cable- south pacific
Mimi- rent
The Phantom
sweeney todd. that's the one that really get's to me
it was one of the first musicals I ever discovered way before the revival came out and i always wished i would've been born when the original broadway production was out. and then the revival came..and still no me in it

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:27pm

Here's another girl who would love to play the Emcee.
And who says you can't play Sweeney, Matthewjames? I was never under the impression that it *had* to be played by a white guy.

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:36pm

Sweeney Todd is not a race specific role. In fact, Brian Stokes Mitchell played Sweeney Todd at Kennedy Center some years ago.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:40pm

also...

Dorothy in the Wiz.

luvliza, it's a curse to be a baritone

[YessicaB]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:42pm

I would LOVE to play

Celie in the Color Purple
...oh and would love to be in A Chorus Line or 42nd Street, but as I lack any kind of coordination or grace and to sum it up just any spark of talent to dance I can forget that...)

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:43pm

I would also love to play Ulla, but at 5'2" I'm way too short.

[Zyla]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:44pm

This isn't a musical, but I just read Shakespeare's Richard II and would love a chance to play Richard or York. (I know I'd have to wait a few years...more like decades...and, anyway, it's not that rare to see a woman playing a male Shakespeare role).

Here's yet another comment for Matthewjames - I don't think the Phantom should have to be race-specific, either.

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:46pm

Mama Rose
Alexandra Del Lago

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:50pm

I think, Sally Bowles would be fab and of course Mama Rose,

but actually most parts I'd like to play, I could play. Only thing hindering it a bit is that I'm a low baritone and most male parts are high baritone

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:53pm

Here goes with more Matthew James comments!:

Matthew, they have an asian boy playing Billy Elliot right now and they have a coloured kid coming in in September. I think nowadays, it's more about your talent than your skin. If you have the voice and the acting ability and all that, I don't think people will mind if you are playing Sweeney or Emile. Besides, there are lots of coloured people in France, so it wouldn't be too far fetched to have a coloured Emile. I saw a black Javert and Enjolras in les Mis recently, and it didn't bother me, they were great in the roles and that's all that mattered.

[luvliza89]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:59pm

doodlenyc, ain't it though.

I have the nose, Jewish ethnicity, and power to rock "Cornet Man". But it is that extra something that keeps me from playing Fanny Brice. Sadly, I will never be a "Funny Girl".