Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
#0Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:26pm...written for a play? written for a musical? Leading, supporting, etc. - doesn't matter. The greatest.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#1re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:28pmJean Valjean and Javert
Corine2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/14/03
#2re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:28pm
1- Mame
2- Kate Monster
3- Ned Weeks
Updated On: 3/12/05 at 11:28 PM
#3re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:32pmAgnes Gooch! Sheridan Whiteside!
It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story...
AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956
#4re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:33pm
Mama Rose
Sheridan Whiteside
Sally Bowles
I'll think of more.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
Updated On: 3/12/05 at 11:33 PM
Corine2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/14/03
#5re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:33pm
Elphaba-
I wanted to play Mame but got cast as Gooch. 
And i sure LIVED.
Updated On: 3/12/05 at 11:33 PM
Joshua488
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/29/04
#6re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:33pm
Kate Monster?! Are you kidding??
^ That's a legitimate question.
Updated On: 3/12/05 at 11:33 PM
Corine2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/14/03
#7re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:35pmKate is my favorite character.
#8re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:35pmElphaba?! Are you kidding?? ^ That's a legitimate question.
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#9re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:35pm
Just so none of the Wicked fans get bItched at...
Elphaba...I mean the book version of Elphaba....
I agree josh!
EDIT: HAHA CATS - she never said Elphaba...
Updated On: 3/12/05 at 11:35 PM
GypsyRoseLee
Broadway Star Joined: 7/5/04
#10re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:38pmAll of Tennessee William's characters are truly amazing. They're fleshed out so well, with discernable pasts and conflicts. I would like to play Blanche in Streetcar someday. As for Musical Theatre I think Mama Rose and Mame are two other such well developed characters.
"This is what I trained to do, and this is what I love about theater. What I love about being an actress is being able to really look into myself and understand another human being. And out my own self, to shape and form and fashion a real human being--and to present that in such a way that people see something of themselves or their own understanding in that human being."
--Phylicia Rashad
Joshua488
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/29/04
#12re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/12/05 at 11:41pm
Kate Monster is a funny character and all, but one of the greatest characters EVER written?? I beg to differ. No hard feelings, though! You're entitled to your opinion. 
#13re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 12:02am
A few more:
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=507171#543214
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=654428#683053
"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"
Updated On: 3/13/05 at 12:02 AM
#14re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 12:04amMama Rose
"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."
jim coleman
Stand-by Joined: 1/10/05
#15re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 12:10am
Sweeney in Sweeney Todd
Mama Rose in Gypsy
Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha
Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof
Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd
Mame in Mame
Guido Contini in Nine
BatonMan
billygoatgirl300
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/8/04
#16re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 12:12amWithout a doubt Mama Rose
The towel waving reminded me of a Per?nist rally. I kept chanting "Evita!" whenever they'd pan to the crowds. - SM2
#17re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 12:23am
Anything by Shakespeare...
I'd love to play Puck.
"Y'all have a GRAND day now"
#18re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 12:35am
Peggy Sawyer
Eponine (supporting female)
Javert (supporting male)
awkward.
"I think it was the Korean tour or something. They were all frickin' asian!" -Zoran912
TonyaFanatic
Broadway Star Joined: 12/29/04
#19re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 12:56am
Maggie the Cat from "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Lincoln from "Topdog/Underdog"
Effie from "Dreamgirls"
Sammy from "A Chorus Line"
Amanda from "The Glass Menagerie"
Blanche from "Streetcar"
Anita from "West Side Story"
Othello
Desdemona
Brutus from Caesar
Billy Bigelow from "Carousel"
"Girl, this cupcake is the jumpoff"- Adriane Lenox
maybethistime
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/3/04
#20re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 12:59am
Too many AMAZING roles to count... but some highlights:
Julie LaVerne (Show Boat)
Rose Hovick (Gypsy)
Sally Bowles (Cabaret)
Mame Dennis (Mame)
Eponine Thenardier (Les Miserables)
Harold Hill (Music Man)
Tevye (Fiddler on the Roof)
Maria (West Side Story)
Fiorello LaGuardia (Fiorello!)
Baker's Wife (Into the Woods)
Jean Valjean (Les Miserables)
Dot/Marie (Sunday in the Park w/ George)
Eva Peron (Evita)
and there are WAY more...
Sant
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/12/04
#21re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 2:02pm
Norma Desmond - SUNSET BOULEVARD
Martha - WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Hamlet - HAMLET
Blanche - A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
The Phantom - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
#22re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 2:24pmCan you count Mama Rose even though she's a real person though? I mean, she really wasn't the creation of the writer or anything.
HROK?
Mattio98
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/10/03
#23re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 2:28pmWell Puck, Mercutio, and Richard by Shakespeare are 3 of the greatest ever.
#24re: Greatest Character Written For The Stage...
Posted: 3/13/05 at 2:50pm
Play: King Lear.
Musical: Hedwig.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
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