Greatest Character Written For The Stage...- Page 2

[Therese]

Posted: 3/13/05 at 2:53pm

Lots of good answers so far, but am I the first to say Professor Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle?

[mirandajrs]

Posted: 3/13/05 at 4:05pm

Dolly Levi

[GirlforTartaglia]

Posted: 3/13/05 at 4:09pm

Roger (rent)

Sally (cabaret)

Eponine (les mis)

[mattvcrewse]

Posted: 3/13/05 at 5:53pm

Henry Higgins
Eliza Doolittle
Mama Rose
Harold Hill
Jean Valjean (more developed than most pop-opera characters)
Javert (ditto JV)
I like Mordred
Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde should've been a better written part
Don Quixote
Nellie Lovette

Sheridan Whiteside
Felix Unger
Hamlet
MacBeth (Lord and Lady)
The "Therapist" from The Three-Step Method

and many more...

*WARNING - TANGENT AHEAD*

I don't think the Phantom is one of the greatest. None of the characters from POTO were very well developed. That's what you usually get from any type of opera. Grant it, you can put a lot of subtext into the performance and from gleaning from the novel, but the musical as a work by itself, no. Despite the gorgeous score, it's always been my opinion that the show was written too brightly. ALW didn't necessarily have to write it much lower, just darker. Phantom as a tenor sounds whiny and completely non-threatening. I do agree with writing the part to one extreme (i.e. NOT for baritone). I just think he would have sounded more powerful as a bass. In fact, in the old "rules" of opera, people in positions of power (kings, judges, gods, etc.) were basses and altos. Christine could've been a dark mezzo, but for the character, yes divas were usually sopranos. I think with Phantom as a bass, Christine as a dark mezzo, and Raoul as a lyric Baritone, the show would've been darker and more true to the tone of the original novel.
Updated On: 3/13/05 at 05:53 PM

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 3/13/05 at 7:03pm

Coalhouse Walker (Ragtime)
Effie Melody White (Dreamgirls)
Dolly (Hello,Dolly!)
Harold Hill (The Music Man)
Sarah(Ragtime)
Elphaba(Wicked)
Jean Valjean(Les Mis)
Fantine(Les Mis)
Deena Jones(Dreamgirls)
King Arthur(Camelot)
Annie (Annie Get Your Gun)
Jo March (Little Women)
Glinda(Wicked)
Seymour( Little Shop of Horrors)
Aida(Aida)
The Whole Cast of RENT (RENT)
The Phantom (The Phantom of The Opera)

[paradox_error]

Posted: 3/13/05 at 7:35pm

Some that haven't been mentioned, and probably wouldn't be mentioned:

Bottom from A Midsummer Nights Dream

Sabina from The Skin of Our Teeth

Dolly Levi from The Matchmaker

I'm really too tired to keep thinking of more...