How Do YOU Make Small Roles Your Own?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 6:30pm

I'm currently in a production of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH in which I'm playing a roadie. The role is basically nothing more than stage crew because Hedwig never really goes off-stage. So I and the other roadies come on to dress Hedwig and give him props and whatnot during songs.

So to elevate the role above "stage crew", I have decided to play the roadie as a Jewish Goth or a Gothy Jew. Dressed all in black with a shirt that says "SUPER JEW" on it (The word "Jew" is replaced with a Star of David) and a black yarmulkah.

What do you guys do when you're cast as Townperson #27?
Updated On: 3/28/07 at 06:30 PM

[CastAlbumFan]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 6:36pm

Well, I was Snug the Joiner in A MIDSUMMERS NIGHT DREAM. The part had basically three lines. I talked wih a stutter. I stopped the show with a round of applause after all three of my lines!

[AudreyTwoTwo]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 7:25pm

in our school we did The Wizard of Oz and I was the Munchkin Coroner. They wanted us to do the little munchkin voices but instead I just belted. It was more fun that way.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 7:25pm

CastAlbumFan - good for you! I have seen some of the best characterization in the rude mechanicals parts in DREAM - if you have to have a small part, that's the place to find them!

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 7:31pm

I was Franz in The Sound of Music and made him the biggest asshole in the world (it totally worked!). One of the most fulfilling roles I've ever played.

At dress rehearsal, during my first scene, I could hear the conductor talking to the orchestra, and he said after I said a line, "Butler's a bitch..."

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 7:33pm

I paraphrase all my lines... kidding.

[Julian2]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 7:34pm

When I played Verges in Much Ado About Nothing, I was a deaf simpleton who yelled everything (I got the deaf from my director). But my favorite moment was when Dogberry said "Though it not be written down, forget not that I am an a$$" and I nodded yes like a bobble head.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 7:38pm

I'm currently playing Townsperson #2 in The Pied Piper as a raving redneck prone to violent outbursts. I carry a pitchfork with a bell pepper and a crow (both fake) stuck on the tines. I'm also playing the Overlady of Overdressing in The Emperor's New Clothes (same show, it's two one-acts put together) as a big drunk slut.

Basically, during the first read-through I throw a bunch of different characters at the wall - usually one per scene - and just see what sticks.

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 7:42pm

Priest in Twelfth Night: I gave him a lilty, quirky, homosexual voice. Which got a huge laugh since I was wearing this dreary, black monk's outfit.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 8:09pm

When I did "Inherit the Wind" I was Dunlap (then two weeks before I also was u/s for Rev. Brown) but its a small part but on a lot of the show...trust me my "Cates you sinner." line was the best in the show.

[Kelizascop]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 9:11pm

"When I played Verges in Much Ado About Nothing, I was a deaf simpleton who yelled everything (I got the deaf from my director)."

You make "the deaf" sound like herpes.

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 9:15pm

Just try being really big in rehearsals, and then the director with notice you and work with you to make the part your own. Don’t be afraid to take risks!

[singinsilly]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 9:18pm

The best actors come from small roles =]

I did a play where I had only 1 line, consisting of all of 3 words. (wooo! =P ) The rest of the time I was supposed to be asleep. It's all about presence though, you know that whole confidence theory? Where if someone is confidant you notice them more than the person trying to fade into the tapestry? Same thing. During the silence. And when you speak, if you speak, you up that 20 times. I bet you'll be the most memorable of all characters, I know I was =]

[dramaqueen2]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 9:20pm

sometimes the smallest parts are the most memorable ones. i always try to add a little something extra. most times i am cast in the character roles. don't get me wrong i love them. voices are my specialty also, so i tend to add a little something to my bit parts.

for example, i was cast in an original production of a play called DAKOTA and my character didn't talk the whole show and just made gestures until the end when i finally said something, and i made my gestures absolutely ridiculous and then when i finally talked i sounded sort of like audrey from little shop. haha, it was a lot of fun and the audience gave me a standing O. =)

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 11:04pm

When I played Pritschisch in The Merry Widow, I added special reactions and went totally (but appropriately) over the top sometimes. My three lines seemed like much more! It also helps that I was by far the shortest guy.

[beyondblessed]

Posted: 3/28/07 at 11:20pm

I was Peter Cratchit in my school's production of "A Christmas Carol" I found it weird that so few people knew that Bob Cratchit had another son besides Tiny Tim. So I only had a couple of lines and they all seemed to revolve around food.

So I made Christmas dinner my biggest concern in the world. If the dinner didn't go exactly as planned then it was all my fault. Peter prepares the potatoes and I had this one line "...While Master Peter Cratchit mased the potatoes with incredible vigor" (Which sounds hilarous when spoken in a Cockny accent) I just made myself care about thoes potatoes like I'd never have potatoes again. It got a laugh every night, and I got so many comments about how people had a new found respect for Peter.

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 12:04am

my most recent role was "John" in Nuncrackers : the Nunsense Christmas musical (one of the catholic school kids, who was made a 17 year old for me since they needed people). i made him a complete NERD with geeky glasses, a john tartaglia-esque (a la Rod from Ave Q) voice and lots of hamming it up. I got laughs. I got more laughs than a couple of the nuns. they loved me. I was so freakin cute. and I snorted and ad-libbed a lot and it worked because the director thought it all worked for the character.

[CastAlbumFan]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 12:17am

Keen on Kean- Thank you! :~) I always felt it's never the size of the part, it's what you do with it!

I just remembered: When I was Glad Hand in WEST SIDE STORY I stole the show by talking like Steve Urkel! One of the leads went up to me backstage after the show and said "I HATE YOU!!!" One of my favorite stage moments!

Updated On: 3/29/07 at 12:17 AM

[mattonstage]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 7:40am

I did a production of LETTICE AND LOVAGE with Michael Learned, as one of the visitors to the house she was tour guide for. In the original Broadway production, the visitors only faced upstage so all the focus was on Dame Maggie Smith. For our production, Ms. Learned and the director decided to give us characters. My first (of four including quick changes) was an Arab who was looking to buy the house in question. We knew someone who knew Arabic, so we got the Arabic for the word 'No' and when I tried to go to a restricted (roped off) area of the house, Ms. Learned gave me a stern warning in Arabic. It would have been quite funny, but we opened the day after the first WTC bombing in New York (not 9/11). Unfortunately no one found it as funny as it could have been.

[Joelbeans]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 8:20am

When I did Little SHop of Horrors I was the voice of Audrey II, but in the first scene I was a bum. After Skid row everyone would leave scene except me. I fell asleep on stage. Each night before the show I would preset food in the trashcan, you know half eaten apple, half eaten sandwich, and I would pull it out of the trash can and start eating it, and this would happen each night while the first scene in the flower shope was going on. I sort of stole focus a little bit but it was fun. I got a little bit bigger, and bigger each night. First night just the apple, second night just the apple and sandwich, and then I added frenchfries one night, and the last night one of the mothers put in there a piece of cheese cake with a fork in it. There was also a stoop and on the last night I pulled out a table cloth, and set up the stoop like it was a table, and ate my dinner. No lines, but stole the scene!

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 8:35am

When I did The Music Man in high school, I was just one of the Pick-A-Little ladies. It was decided that we all could have different personalities. Apart from having two lines in the beginning and a solo in "Wells Fargo Wagon", I really didn't have all too much to do. So, I decided to make my character very eccentric. I did a funny little shuffle walk whenever I had to come onstage. I kept tumbling and falling over during the Grecian Urns practice scene (the last night of the run I fell over, struggled to get back up, then fell down again) and just for the heck of it, when I had to cross over the bridge, I balanced the basket of fruit on my head and proceeded to skip. Even when I had my solo in "Wells Fargo Wagon", I found a way to over pronounciate "double boiler" (I managed to stay on key).

The fact that I had given my character a distinct personality made the role very memorable to a lot of people who saw the show, and even though the Pick-A-Littles are somewhat an ensemble all to themselves, I was clearly able to stand out. Months after the show closed people couldn't stop telling my mom how funny I was.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:45am

I want to share a recent example of development of a small part, although this was clearly part of the director's design. Has anyone else seen the new production of Barbiere di Siviglia at the MET? There is a minor non-singing role for Ambrogio, Dr. Bartolo's servant. Bartlett Sher, the direcor, has given this role to Rob Besserer, a modern dancer with the most extraordinary physical comedy skills. Dare I say that in the presence of an unparalleled cast of singers, Besserer stole this opera for me? I was laughing uncontrollably at the end of the first act. His posture, his timing, his reactions to other performers around him, wonderful.