I'm drawing a blank.
You know how there are the lead female roles such as(just to name a few) Roxie in Chicago, Charity in Sweet Charity, Ruth in Wonderful Town, Sally in Cabaret. These roles don't call for the best singer with a great range - but they were created by great actresses with amazing stage personality.
I was wondering are there lead roles like this for males?
Can you guys name some for me?
nathan detroit, guys and dolls
benjamin franklin, 1776
Would Sweeney Todd count?
Billy Flynn and almost any other role Jerry Orbach created.
Fiyero, Boq, and the Wizard in Wicked.
Charlemaigne and Lewis in Pippin
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady.
Sweeney? Are you kidding?
Updated On: 5/19/05 at 10:34 PM
all the one's justice mentioned fall under the "depends on who's singing it" category, i.e. brent barrett does more with billy flynn than orbach does
Sweeney requires a fantastic singer/actor.
Ben and Buddy from Follies; The Reciter from Pacific Overtures.
Updated On: 5/19/05 at 10:39 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/29/04
Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
J. Pierpont Finch - 'Succeed'
Thomas Jefferson - 1776
Albert - Bye Bye Birdie
edna in hairspray lol if that counts
finch requires more of a range than one would think
Tevye in Fiddler
Lawrence Jameson - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Wow BroadwayGirl, I couldn't disagree more. I hate it that people regard subtle, natural, classy and great acting as easy. It's Lithgow's job to make it look easy...so he would be glad that you liked him
.
i was thinking the same thing shuq, also the part can easily cater to a bigger range (stokes played it in workshops and one could venture that at least some of the songs were written with him in mind)
Mr. Applegate- Damn Yankees
Leading Actor Joined: 10/17/04
This really depends on what you consider range, because most people think of range as just being able to belt, and if that's the case then their are tons of roles where the males don't belt out high notes. However, alot of these roles do have range as in switching from a low note to a high note, but it's done in subtle parts of the song so nobody really pays attention.
I would say that Billy Flynn, The Emcee, Nathan Detroit, and a slew of others could easily be played without a huge range. As, I have seen a number of actors pull this off. Actually, I saw somebody play The Emcee and he oversang the songs and it kinda wrecked the character.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/10/04
how about the epitome of a speak-singing role. no range needed. harold hill.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/12/04
Henry Higgins in MY FAIR LADY.
Cliff in Cabaret. You could have a cardboard box play the role, and it still would lack any range.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
What about these?
Bob Baker in WONDERFUL TOWN
Nick Arnstein in FUNNY GIRL
Herbie in GYPSY
Bill in APPLAUSE
The male lead (?)in WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Horace in HELLO DOLLY
What do they have i common? They are the male leads in show where the female is the STAR - therefore, the male lead shouldn't outshine her. Therefore, the men are given less impressive music to sing.
Great point Jon!
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/05
I saw a fantastic community theater production of Cabaret last year, and they did have a cardboard cut out play Cliff...God he was awful... just saw the same guy play John in a wonderful version of Jesus Christ Superstar, and he was awful again.
Stand-by Joined: 8/17/04
A decent Fiyero will go up to a full voiced A in "As Long As You're Mine", and higher in a falsetto...that A is certainly not a note that someone with "not much range" would hit on a regular basis..
Broadway Star Joined: 9/29/04
nathan lane and Matthew Broderick roles, like The Producers
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