Could Mrs. Lovett work as a man?

This is a thought I have always wondered about since last year, but I haven't posted it on here, in defense of being bashed. lol.

But, does anyone else think that Mrs. Lovett could work with a man in the role? I saw a production of Once Upon A Mattress where Winnifred was played by a man to show how a gay relationship could work in a case like that. I know they are two completely different musicals, but it made me think.

I'm not saying get a drag queen to play Mrs. Lovett. I'm saying change the gender completely.

It's just a thought. Please don't chew me out. lol.

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Really? Any pictures or anything?

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Harvey Fierstein (someone was bound to do it)!

I think it was just a woman who looked like a man.

Actually the woman's name is MANN. Karen Mann.

According to the booklet with the new cast album, the only gender change was having a woman play Pirelli and Fogg in London, though she played them as men, not as female characters. There's no mention of a male Lovett, nor do I recall having seen anything about one.

It would be interesting (strange), but the biggest question I have is "Why?" I can understand stripping a show down to its bare essentials to create a certain effect with a production, but unless it's for the sake of ensemble parts in the vocalscore, I don't get why you would change the gender of a major character (which is NOT what was done with Pirelli/Fogg. That was a female playing a male character as a man, not changing the gender of the character completely, to balance out the vocals during ensemble parts).

To me, it's the same thing as making Tracy Turnblad a fat gay guy. Sure you can stir up some interesting points with it, but why do it? Please don't get me wrong. I'm all for the reinterpretation of material, but there's a point where reinterpretation becomes rewriting, and then you're not serving the authors of the play as they would have wanted you to because you are not getting THEIR message across in the performance, but YOURS, and most audiences don't give a damn about what you have to say.

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I think that if people are ever curious about changing the gender of a character, then it should be attempted. Theater is the place for that kind of risk-taking.

Of course, I might be a little biased

I, for one, wish that there were a theater company here in NYC that cross-cast everything. OR cast plays as they were cast in Elizabethan times. It would be interesting. No camp, no comedy inspired by the cross-gender casting, but real committed acting of the opposite gender.

Just men playing women's roles or women also playing men's roles?

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double post.

Updated On: 5/25/07 at 02:33 AM

Well if that's true (is it or just rumour) the Witch is a diffewrent character--her gender doesn't change the sexuality of other characters. He prob wouldn't have gone for Cinderella falling for a royal princess.

That production of Company was in Seattle--I do agree that it's almost as big a change as those productions I've heard of that tried to do Merrily in forward time structure...

As for Lovett I also have to echo the question "why"--and then add "Why Lovett">? Is it because she's a slightly comic character and portrayed (usually) as a bit of a grotesque? I mean why not turn Joanna into Joe?

E

Quote: "It's been done. It worked in London."

Margaret Thatcher can sing?

Updated On: 5/25/07 at 02:52 AM

I've always thought that the people in charge of Broadway Backwards should actually mount stage concerts of popular shows and have male actors play female roles and vise-versa or just go for gender-blind casting. It'd be interesting to see how these options actually affect a show instead of speculating whether it would work or not, and it would give actors who would never be able to play certain roles the chance to show what they could do in roles that go beyond their genders.
I'd love to see Donna Murphy play Bobby from COMPANY, or see how Norm Lewis would play Caroline in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, etc.

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I personally don't think it could work/should work. You guys jsut want a crack at one of the better female roles in musical history. Why don't you just make Bobby a woman while you are at it? It's just not right.

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