How old is too old...

[Katecab99]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:38pm

to begin training for a possible career in musical theatre? do you think people reach a point where it will just take too long to prepare or might it depend on how much raw talent he/she already has?

i'm not sure what i think about this (i don't have much information or experience to go on) and am really interested in everyone's input, especially those who are currently working actors.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:39pm

If you love what you do, it doesn't matter when you start.

[Katecab99]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:41pm

see...that's like best advice ever

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:41pm

Sounds sexist, but I think a big factor in that is if you're male or female.
Males have it easier because there is less of them going into musical theatre.
So I guess they could start later.

But raw talent is the main intangible.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:42pm

Ha! I thought this topic was going to be about something COMPLETELY different!

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:44pm

Mmmmmmmmm. Dirtiness.

[Katecab99]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:45pm

hahaha...

i thought about that AFTER i posted it. it's a curious subject line!

[Kevo711]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:45pm

i totally agree with priest

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:48pm

It also depends on what you wanna do. It really is never too old to be a singing actor. Even women have started pretty late and been ok. But if you want to dance, there is a time element working against you. You have to have YEARS of dance trainging and then you have to try to get work and build your career. A dancer on broadway has probably about 20 good years where they are "castable". Fosse did a lot to extend this. He likes older dancers but he's an exception.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:55pm

Angela Lansbury was almost 40 when she started.....I think....with Anyone Can Whistle.....although she might have done stuff before this......Go for it....I am!!!!!!

[Amneris]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:58pm

Louise Pitre didn't get her first Broadway show until she was 45 years old in MAMMA MIA!...

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:02pm

Wasn't the man who won the Tony for the original Man of La Mancha a 43 year old who had never done professional theater before? Or something to that extent.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:03pm

Pitre (unless there's another) was Fantine on the 91 Paris Revival...

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:05pm

"Wasn't the man who won the Tony for the original Man of La Mancha a 43 year old who had never done professional theater before? Or something to that extent."

Richard Kiley had already won a TONY before Man of La Mancha came around...


http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=48051

Updated On: 4/3/05 at 11:05 PM

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:08pm

I think Man of La Macha is what made him outright famous...I could be wrong...

I do remember hearing someone say that though.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:11pm

Ummmmm Angela Lansbury started acting when she did her first film at 17.

[Mamie]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:34pm

I believe Angela also performed in English music halls before coming to the US. She also sang on stage in one of her very early films.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:36pm

Jazzy...I was refering to her Musical Theater....I knew that she had been acting since Gaslight in 1943!!!!!!!

[wildcat]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 3:48am

Richard Kiley was a star for several years before LA MANCHA.

It is never too late to learn new skills. You might not have a career as a dancer, but you can learn to dance well enough to have a career in musicals. I didn't learn to tap until I was 31, but now I can do pretty much any choreography that is thrown at me.

[Jon]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 7:45am

Kiley had already played the romantic lead in KISMET in the mid-1950's, and starred in NO STRINGS just a couple of years before LaMancha.

[wildcat]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 8:04am

Don't forget REDHEAD and I HAD A BALL.