Most insignificant title role?

#1

Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 9:49pm

For a variety of reasons, a composer will often name a show after a character, but sometimes not the main one.
Fiddler is an example that may be hard to top, and Oliver is far from the lead, but what other examples can this esteemed group come up with?

#2

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 9:51pm

Well, I don't know about insignificant in this case, but the Drowsy Chaperone is definitely NOT the main character in Drowsy.

#3

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 9:53pm

The Mikado doesn't even make his entrance until halfway through the second act.

#4

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 9:53pm

But the DC makes the show.

#5

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:01pm

Gadot, Joe Egg, Virginia Woolf...

---

PEACE.

#6

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:01pm

Oh, totally Yankeefan. She's my favorite. I thought of another one. The Woman in White is not really about the woman dressed in white.

#7

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:03pm

There's no one even named Gypsy in "Gypsy" until halfway through the second act!

#8

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:08pm

Well, yes Pippin does have a bit to do in "Pippin", but the show belongs to The Leading Player.

#9

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:11pm

In Edward Albee's "The Goat," the title character appears only at the end of the play...already dead.

#10

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:12pm

Updated On: 1/26/08 at 10:12 PM

#11

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:32pm

A friend of mine argues that RENT's name is rather pointless, since they only talk about owing rent in the title song and it's not mentioned in such detail for the rest of the show.

*shrug*

---

"A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing." - Thomas Jefferson

#12

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:35pm

Titanic, it isn't about the ship it is about the people on board.

*sarcasum*

#13

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:36pm

You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Wicked, Aida...

Wait 7:-/ Something seems off about that...

Updated On: 6/18/06 at 10:36 PM

#14

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:37pm

"A friend of mine argues that RENT's name is rather pointless, since they only talk about owing rent in the title song and it's not mentioned in such detail for the rest of the show."

It's a METAPHOR!

...Ehem. Sorry.

#15

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:40pm

A friend of mine argues that RENT's name is rather pointless, since they only talk about owing rent in the title song and it's not mentioned in such detail for the rest of the show.

*shrug*
--
rent2
n.
*An opening made by rending; a rip.
*A breach of relations between persons or groups; a rift.

#16

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:46pm

Well...technically Gigi is crowned Miss Saigon. She certainly isn't the main character.

---

"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli

#17

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:47pm

Bye Bye Birdie

#18

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:55pm

Sugar.

#19

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:04pm

Me and Juliet
Goldilocks

#20

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:08pm

I always thought Aida is more about Amneris than Aida. Not to say the role is small.

I also think JCS is more about Judas than Jesus.

---

Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#21

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:13pm

Wow, this subject is really misleading. You're all naming people who aren't in the show frequently, but not the most insignificant roles. The Fiddler in 'Fiddler on the roof' is the most important character, representing tradition. Not insignificant at all. Perhaps it should be title characters with little stage time.

Just a thought. Because if a show is named after a character, I think you would be hard pressed to say that character is insignificant. There must be a reason the show is named for them.

---

"It's like children's theatre for 40-year old gay people!" - XANADU THE MUSICAL

Updated On: 6/18/06 at 11:13 PM

#22

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:13pm

Martin Guerre.

It's a flip up as to who the main character is: Betrende, Martin or Arnaud. The vast majority of the story is based around the love story between Betrendre and Arnaud, who is posing as Martin. Although since the story is about which man truly is Martin Guerre, the title fits.

#23

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:19pm

Julius Ceasar

---

And the other thing about the Phantom Lady was, Bert, she realized, in the city that never sleeps... What did she realize, Kitten? That all the songs she'd listened to, all the love songs, that they were only songs. What's wrong with that? Nothing, if you don't believe in them. But she did, you see. She believed in enchanted evenings, and she believed that a small cloud passed overhead and cried down on a flower bed, and she even believed there was breakfast to be had... Where? On Pluto. The mysterious, icy wastes of Pluto.

#24

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:20pm

I think Anne, the "woman in white" in "The Woman in White" is the most significant character in the show. None of the show's action would take place if it weren't for her and her secret.

---

A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.

#25

re: Most insignificant title role?

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:21pm

Tevia says the Fiddler is a metaphor for the life of the Jews in Anantevka. Tradition is how the Fiddler keeps his balance.
In any event, some clarification might be in order for an actor who was cast as the Fiddler claiming a title role...

Updated On: 6/18/06 at 11:21 PM