Biggest shoes to fill- Page 2

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 10:21am

In addition to those already said, I think Zero Mostel in Fiddler, Joel Grey in Cabaret, Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon, Judy Garland in Wizard of Oz, Ellen Greene in Little Shop of Horrors, and maybe Joanna Gleason in Into the Woods.

[ShineOn]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:17am

"Interestingly, I saw a regional theater production of STREETCAR a couple of years ago, and their Blanche was riveting. Too often Blanche becomes a caricature with too many histrionics, but this woman's performance was in perfect balance. Deborah Wiley was her name, I think. Her descent into madness was quietly heart wrenching.

lc "


Was that at Seacoast Repertory Theatre?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 3:31am

Norbert Leo Butz- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

John Lloyd Young- Jersey Boys

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 4:00am

I'm wondering if doublequestionmark's question is which actor will be hardest to replace because we closely identify their performance with the character or which role is so challenging that only actors at the top of their game can rise up to the occasion and play the roles?

If you view Jesus as a mythic figure, he's a martyr and a saint and not really all that interesting. I don't think the role is especially hard to play. Singing it on the other hand...

As for the role of Hamlet, at this point there has been so much written about Hamlet and so many examples of how to play the character that most actors who approach the role probably have their work cut out for them.

The challenge is less to fulfill expectations as it is to find new ways to break the mold (Bernadette Peters in Gypsy and Patti LuPone in Sweeney). So a role like Elphaba or Frankie Vallie don't really fit because they are specifically designed parts that have to be played a certain way, much the same as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. While a few years may give perspective on some of these roles (although probably not Frankie Vallie) while we are speaking right now, audiences go to see Elphaba played the way Idina Menzel did it. Wickedians can fuss over who does the melisma differently but Shoshana Vs. Idina is DEFINITELY not Angie vs. Patti.

It's such a loaded question anyway. Are you saying shoes to fill in terms of the demands of the part? The excellence of the previous actor? Who will sell more tickets? etc.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 4:02am

Heh. I had another thought. I think a lot of the concept of a character comes from the director too, so of course in any run of the same production all the actors are going to resemble one another. So are we talking in the same production or comparing productions?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 10:22pm

Grace Kelly was a beautiful woman but a terrible actress. Her Tracy Lord was whiny and irritating. She won an Oscar for THE COUNTRY GIRL for taking off her make up. As I stated earlier NO ONE can touch Miss Hepburn as Miss Lord.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 1:35am

Definitely Harold Hill from The Music Man (Seventy-six Trombones is playing on my iPod).
I agree that Elphaba is hardly a role with hard shoes to fill.
I also believe Donna Murphy's Fosca is one of the hardest shoes to fill, I mean, I have seen Passion and I have acted in two productions of the show and never seen a Fosca that didn't imitate Murphy somehow, those who tried not to never found a way to make the character work.

[Copeman63]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 3:30am

Michael Crawford in POTO

[Ladyofthe Lake]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 6:59am

Tim Curry in Rocky Horror (both literal and figurative )

[Ladyofthe Lake]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 7:00am

Tim Curry in Rocky Horror (both literal and figurative )