Into The Woods- Witch played by a male???- Page 2

[jimmirae]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:44am

I can see it easily done. I don't see any lines suggesting that "Witch" is either male or female. The Rapunzel connection is a Parent/Child Archetype - and to be hones there is really no such thing as a "Warlock", We are all "Witches" in Pagan Traditions. (Oh yes, I have "nectarines" too, but mine are lower on the tree, lol!) He should start out looking like a creepy Max Shrek type then, After the transformation be a Handsome Dandy! No Problem.

[Urban]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 6:38am

musicalsaregreat - I would love to see a female devil in "Damn Yankees"!

[Jon]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 7:45am

There have been several prominent productions of ITW that cast a man as the witch. But the role was played AS A WOMAN. The play says some very definite things about mothers and fathers. Making it a "warlock" screws thsat up. Besides that. it's a severe copywright violation.

There was a famous production in Philadelphia that was cast using the conventions of English Pantomime - all the "hag" roles are played by men in drag, and the "young boy" roles are played by girls. In this production, the Witch, Jack's Mother and Cinderella's Stepmother were played by men, and Jack was played by a girl.

[Mimi Imfurst]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:17am

I think that if a production were to cast a witch, a director would be unjustified in changing the lyrics from witch to warlock. The world witch is universal and could be easily applied to a male character. "Not all witches are warlocks, but all warlocks are witches" sorta thing.

We're talkinga bout 2 different things here.
1) Casting a male to play the witch and maintaining the character as a female.
2) Casting a male to play the witch and changing the character to be male.

Without saying, Sondheim/Lapine have final say with the property as the authors of the piece and could easily pull a productions rights for changing gender of the character. Sondheim has been known for pulling rights and preventing productions where the gender of characters have been changed. (ie: 2 male production of "Marry Me a Little") Not too different from the Beckett estate preventing gender different productions of his works.

SIDE NOTE: It would be interesting to see a production cast a male as the witch and keeping the character female and having the rights pulled for casting- and seeing if a law suit followed because it would be simular to casting a person of a different race in a traditional white role ie- a non jew in Fiddler on the roof.

Personally, I think without a doubt, a male could play the witch. The director would have to justify the choice, whethere it be he was the best person for ther role or a conscious choice to cast a male to paint a picture or make a statent or to express an idea.

I think that if he put the male in full out drag- flat out it might come across as cheapening or distracting to the meaning of the show- but at the same time, if done with the right design support, could be quite effective.

The witch is- a very androgenous character to begin with. Mystical- not real. Witches obviously don't really exist so why should the play to our wordly or even cultured views on gender of what a witch is. In many societies, the mystical "witch" roles are often men who trangress their gender- both mentally and in some extremes physically through surgury. In many other cultures, transgendered individuals are considdered very magical and mysterious. Under these circumstances, a male could easily be cast a witch.

The hardest part of casting the part this way is obviously the transformation. Done correctly, the transformation would not have to be gendered in regards to dress- but could come across beautifully adrongenous.

That is all- now back to my tranny cave of an appartment. The wigs are taking over. And I think the hairspray fumes are getting to my brain.

Updated On: 12/16/05 at 08:17 AM

[Mimi Imfurst]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:18am

OOOPS. First Double Post.

Updated On: 12/16/05 at 08:18 AM

[fiatlux]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:27am

A glamorous transformation like Sir Ian McKellen's as Widow Twanky in Aladdin....

All right maybe not that glamorous....
Widow Twanky

[Mimi Imfurst]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:31am

now thats a bit much. unless you're peter allen.

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:39am

I agree with you theatrediva... in shows there are rarely enough female parts to accomadate all the talent whereas with guys parts and the lack of guys who tend to audition (for community theare and school theatre, I mean) that boys tend to be casted much easier. The witch is a female part and it should stay that way.

[Mimi Imfurst]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:56am

I'm glad to you agree that things should stay the way they are dramadork. After all, black men should continue to play porters, maids, and slaves only on the stage. There are soo many white people who want parts, and if black people are given roles for white people, then there wont be enough parts for the white folk. I mean in shows there are rarely enough white parts to accomadate all the talent whereas there is lack of blacks who tend to audition, so why give them the white people's parts? So lets go back to way things were. I mean really, come on, things were beter that way.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 10:09am

"I have NO idea.... No one should mess with this.. This just infuriates me. He could easily be the baker, but noooo he wants to take away a perfectly good female role. Selfish bas****."

and what about all the shows being done lately with completely female casts playing all the male roles? if you're going to get upset about a man taking away a "perfectly good female role", you'd better look at all the women taking away perfectly good male roles.

[fiatlux]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 10:27am

""I have NO idea.... No one should mess with this.. This just infuriates me. He could easily be the baker, but noooo he wants to take away a perfectly good female role. Selfish bas****."

and what about all the shows being done lately with completely female casts playing all the male roles? if you're going to get upset about a man taking away a "perfectly good female role", you'd better look at all the women taking away perfectly good male roles. "

And all those Shakespearean roles originally written to be played by men and boys and that are now played by women...how dare they?

"In this production, the Witch, Jack's Mother and Cinderella's Stepmother were played by men, and Jack was played by a girl."

As a piece of theatre history (all right, trivia) - the role of Jack in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk (which was first performed 1773) marked the appearance of the first Principal Boy (i.e. an actress role)in a pantomime in 1819.




Jack and the Beanstalk Updated On: 12/16/05 at 10:27 AM

[children&art]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 11:07am

I dont think this is a stretch at all. In college, for my senior directing project I did "Gypsy" with a man in drag as Mama Rose and it was sensational!

[zelda]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 11:20am

great just what we need some freaky drag queen trying to sing a bernadette peters role. how absolutely stupid. maybe your friend should try to play mame. i play vera. it should a regular bonified FLOP.
the witch is not a male role nor written for a male. If the director is insisting upon casting it this way...they havent read the book or listened to the score closely. the witch as a man has completely different implications.
BOOM SPLAT

[TheatreDiva612]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 11:58am

okay... well thanks for all of the replys.

[zelda]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 2:51pm

you played mama rose in drag. how absolutely horrifying

[jimmirae]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 3:03pm

yeah, well I'll bet you sit around playing Zelda too, at ease soldier at ease!

[fiatlux]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 3:17pm

"you played mama rose in drag. how absolutely horrifying"

Oh I don't know....Ethel did a fairly good impersonation

[Isabella2]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 3:37pm

hmmm the only reason why i wouldn't want a male to play the witch is because i think "stay with me" would sound bad. I guess i would have to hear it to judge it.


Wouldn't it be funny if rapunzel were played by a boy?

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 3:50pm

Mimi Imfurst- Did I mention race AT ALL? I believe in color blind casting but not gender blind. Community theatre is VERY competitive for girls (especially children's theatre where I work most often) whereas for boys, it really isn't. And there tend to be more male parts anyway. You completely twisted my words and very rudely.

[Mimi Imfurst]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:51pm

I never said you mentioned race. I was make a tongue in cheek metephor about non-traditional casting, drawing comparrisons between race and gender. The two are very linked, both policitally and in oppression concepts. This is what it all boils down to: not one of us here can say OH NO that wouldnt work until you see it done. Even thereafter, you can't rule out the idea. People can be so closeminded. There are lots of cookie ideas out there. Open your mind- be creative and inovative. Otherwise stick to c-rated conceptual knock-off of broadway community theatre.

[children&art]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 4:52pm

i love this topic, check out my other thread on here "cross-gendered casting"....

[zelda]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 6:09pm

jimmirae..what did you say? i sit around playing zelda?
please clarify your ..cryptic message.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 8:17pm

I know Billy Porter was talked about for the revival, but I always thought that was a horrendous, horrible idea. I'm glad it never happened.

I just cannot fathom a male witch. Now, a man playing the witch (but playing it as a woman) would be ok, I suppose. However, changing the gender of the character would not work, IMO.

[astonishing1985]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 6:35am

There are so many awesome male roles out there, much better than female roles. Jack for instance is an excellent role and so is the Baker.
The Witch is a really great part and it would be very mean of him to audition for that part

[Urban]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 7:05am

Mimi Imfurst - I loved everything you said! Bravo! I couldn't of said it better myself (seriously I doubt I could), but I agree wholeheartedly! I would love to see alot of gender-blind in certain roles.

Somestimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I remember some colour-blind casting of "The Miracle Worker" in DC a few years ago and it didn't work, so it isn't like everything can work, but I seriously think roles like The Witch, Mama Rose, Lady Bracknell would work because the characters have such a larger then life personality, in fact that is where gender-blind casting (gender blind in that the characers are still women, just played by male actors instead of female actors) would work best - with larger then life personality characters.

PS... Your avatar really draws my attention to it. Updated On: 12/17/05 at 07:05 AM