Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#1Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 5:17pm
What do you think are some of the best performances of writers appearing in their own plays or musicals?
My picks:
Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen in [title of show]
Lin-Manuel Miranda
#2Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 5:51pm
Harvey Fierstein replaced in the last La Cage revival.
TheGingerBreadMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/7/12
#3Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 5:51pm
Christopher Durang appeared in a production of his play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.
#4Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 5:51pm
Also Sting stepped into The Last Ship in an effort to boost sales.
#5Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 5:57pm
gleek4114 said: "Also Sting stepped into The Last Ship in an effort to boost sales."
Along the same lines, Billie Joe Armstrong did a couple of stints in American Idiot.
Also, Noël Coward starred in the original productions of some of his plays, including Private Lives and Present Laughter.
TheGingerBreadMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/7/12
#6Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 6:07pm
Rumor has it that Harvey Fierstein also ghostwrote parts of Hairspray, which he performed in.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#7Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 6:10pm
Noel Coward, Anna Deveare Smith, Claudia Shear, Mae West and Harold Pinter in several of their own works.
David Hare in Via Dolorosa.
Lynn Redgrave in Shakespeare for My Father.
Anne Meara in After-Play.
Stew in Passing Strange.
Elaine Stritch in At Liberty
Betty Comden and Adolph Green in On the Town and A Party with Comden and Green.
George M. Cohan was often the star of his own shows.
As, it is widely believed, was William Shakespeare.
#8Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 6:23pm
Also, one more: John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
I'm sure there are zillions, as henrikegerman's post already makes clear.
#9Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 6:42pm
All those mentions of Harvey Fierstein and no-one nodded to his greatest performance as writer/ star: TORCH SONG TRILOGY of course.
#10Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 11:45pm
Anthony Newley in STOP THE WORLD... and ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT... (and the film DOCTOR DOOLITTLE).
beilis32
Understudy Joined: 7/12/14
#11Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 11:48pm
Dave Malloy, the composer of Great Comet, is Pierre on the original recording.
willep
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/08
#12Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 11:49pm
Dave Malloy will always be my Pierre.
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#13Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/15/17 at 11:59pm
^THIS
I love Groban, but he is #notmyPierre
#14Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/16/17 at 12:14am
Thornton Wilder played the role of the Stage Manager in Our Town.
#15Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/16/17 at 12:16am
TheGingerBreadMan said: "Rumor has it that Harvey Fierstein also ghostwrote parts of Hairspray, which he performed in.
"
I always assumed he did write the book to Hairspray.
#16Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/16/17 at 2:40am
For what it's worth...
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1078869#4611607
TheGingerBreadMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/7/12
#17Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/16/17 at 7:30am
Gorlois said: "TheGingerBreadMan said: "Rumor has it that Harvey Fierstein also ghostwrote parts of Hairspray, which he performed in.
I always assumed he did write the book to Hairspray.
Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan are credited with writing the book, but it has often been said that Harvey helped out and did not take credit for it.
#18Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/16/17 at 8:53am
As someone who saw Chris Durang attempt to play Vanya, it deserves no place on a list praising the best of anything.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#19Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/16/17 at 10:39am
Gerry Ragni & Jim Rado played Berger and Claude in the original Broadway production of Hair.
Formerly gvendo2005
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
#20Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/17/17 at 5:06am
W.S. Gilbert played the non-singing role of The Usher in several charity benefit performances of Trial by Jury.
#21Authors of Plays/Musicals performing in their own work
Posted: 1/17/17 at 8:27am
"Everyday Rapture" with Sherie Rene Scott?
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
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