Leading Roles that Don’t Sing Much- Page 2

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 8/10/19 at 11:48am

Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls is an equal among a quartet of leads, yet he basically sings just the one duet near the end of the show. (I've always found it odd that they cast Frank Sinatra in the role in the movie and Marlon Brando in the "singer's part" of Sky Masterson. Anybody know how that happened?)

Gene Kelly was the original choice for Nathan but that was a no-go for MGM. Brando was chosen, well, for his charm. Plus it was a coup getting Brando in a film like this and the film could show off two Oscar winners. It has been said that Sinatra didn't know that the role of Nathan was the more substantial until shooting time neared. Can't vouch for that.

The ballad "Adelaide" was written for Sinatra, but apparently didn't placate him much. Sadly, "I've Never Been in Love Before" had to be sacrificed due to Brando's thin voice.

"Luck Be a Lady" became a Sinatra concert standard. In Live at the Sands he just introduced it as being a song from a picture he had been in once, written by Frank Loesser, and about "a pair of dice." In his later years, as he mellowed out a bit, I've heard him introduce it as being from a film that he had enjoyed making very much and muttering under his breath, "I can't believe they gave this to Brando."

Frankie wasn't really such a bad guy. He had all three children by his first wife Nancy, and they separated and finally divorced as his passion for Ava Gardner continued to heat up. But despite the divorce and all the other subsequent marriages, the first family never really broke up. Daughter Nancy, who has a three hour weekly show on the SiriusXM Sinatra channel, and her sister Tina clearly adored their father and still do. Nancy's daughter A.J., who has a monthly show on the channel:

What was perhaps less widely known was the fact of Sinatra's continuing visits; his long, confiding late-night phone calls; and the convivial family dinners on birthdays, holidays and many other occasions. "Throughout the many years after they split, my grandfather came to visit whenever his crazy life would allow it," Mrs. Sinatra's granddaughter A. J. Lambert wrote in a 2015 remembrance in Vanity Fair. "I can remember times when she would be on the phone with her ex-husband, and the next thing I knew some eggplant was coming out of the freezer to thaw so that she could make him some sandwiches when he showed up."

"I know he never stopped loving her," Ms. Lambert wrote. "And I know she never stopped loving him."


 

 

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 8/10/19 at 11:57am

lesmizsaigon said: "Julian Marsh from 42nd Street? Or is he more of a featured role?

I think that it's fair to say that Julian was a lead. He had no solos. His biggest musical moment is "Lullaby of Broadway," when he is in full coercion mode of getting Peggy to go on. 

I saw the original production and I will always remember Julian singing there. We were seated in one of the first few roles, but quite far to the right. For that number Jerry Orbach comes out all the way to the front of the stage but (it is stage left or stage right?) in the corner closest to us and from that position with the spots on him we could see the spittle flying out of his mouth with every phrase.

I guess most theatergoers wouldn't consider that a defining moment in their theater history.

 

[Speed]

Posted: 8/10/19 at 12:48pm

Savion Glover didn’t sing in Noise/Funk and I believe he was nominated for Best Actor.