Best Role/Songs for Non-Singers

I'm totally tone deaf but used to think I could maybe pull off Pilate in "Jesus Christ Superstar." His songs seem almost in the same vein as the Rex Harrison speak/sing stuff, but maybe a tad more challenging. Curious what others out here think on the topic.

With regard to female characters, I think that Desiree Armfeldt in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC is one role that can be done by non-singers. Glynis Johns, who was in the original Broadway production, primarily "acted" her version of SEND IN THE CLOWNS and put it across beautifully. Jean Simmons, who was in the touring company, basically gave it a similiar treatment. Elizabeth Taylor, who did the 1977 film version, was another non-singer who performed the part. I know the film was not well-received. However, I would have loved to see Julie Andrews do the film instead of Miss Taylor.

Updated On: 5/4/23 at 12:14 PM

CopleyScott17 said: "I'm totally tone deaf but used to think I could maybe pull off Pilate in "Jesus Christ Superstar." His songs seem almost in the same vein as the Rex Harrison speak/sing stuff, but maybe a tad more challenging. Curious what others out here think on the topic."

Pilate is often played by an "actor who sings" rather than a "singer" per se. "Pilate's Dream" and really the entire role could be done with Rex Harrison-style speak-singing. That said, the last few bars that he sings ("Don't let me stop your great self-destruction..." ) go really high - up to a B4 or something. It could be "screamed" rather than sung, but an untrained singer would definitely need a bit of coaching to do it without killing their voice.

To address another part of your question however, there aren't a lot of roles in the Broadway musical canon that can be performed by someone who is completely tone deaf. There's a whole thread from a few years back on non-singing roles in musicals, but even the typical examples of "actor who sings" roles like Pilate, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Harold Hill in The Music Man, etc., as well as a couple of the roles mentioned by others so far (Captain von Trapp and the two leads of A Little Night Music) do require one to be able to generally sing on pitch, even if they don't sound "pretty."

Updated On: 8/29/22 at 04:35 PM