Robot characters on Broadway
Robot characters on Broadway
#1Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 10:49am
I know the term, "robot" comes from the 1920 play, R.U.R. or Rossum's Universal Robots, which played on Broadway at the Garrick Theatre in 1922. It was even the Broadway debuts for Spencer Tracy and Pat O'Brien.
However, have there been any robot characters of prominence since?
kaykordeath
Stand-by Joined: 4/14/17
#4Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 2:18pm
The tin man is a cyborg; STARSHIP has a robot character; long-gestating rock opera THE PROTOMEN has a mix of humans, cyborgs and robots as its cast.
leighmiserables
Broadway Star Joined: 4/26/17
#5Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 2:59pm
There's a robot character in Spongebob, isn't there?
#6Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 3:00pm
^there is, but it's played by a real person who drags a prop along.
#7Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 3:04pm
Technically speaking, Hal Prince was a robot. 11 hours across in Japan, but it's something.
#8Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 3:22pm
@NoName - LOL. I have to agree!!
#9Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 3:37pm
Return to the Forbidden Planet
I'm still bitter Broadway hasn't gotten a proper production of this. I saw the 2001 UK tour and it was GENIUS. In the US, it's been relegated to awful amateur and school productions that suck all the creativity out of the show.
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#10Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 4:00pm
Nancy Hess in Chicago.
Dead. This is... genius! 
Footnote: she was the Velma Kelly/Roxie Hart standby in the original 1996 Broadway revival cast of CHICAGO.
cardamon
Stand-by Joined: 12/19/04
Cesare2
Stand-by Joined: 2/13/15
#12Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 6:13pm
Janie Dee played a robot in Alan Ayckbourn's COMIC POTENTIAL a few years ago at MTC.
kaykordeath
Stand-by Joined: 4/14/17
#13Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 9:09pm
Mister Matt said: "Return to the Forbidden Planet
I'm still bitter Broadway hasn't gotten a proper production of this. I saw the 2001 UK tour and it was GENIUS. In the US, it's been relegated to awful amateur and school productions that suck all the creativity out of the show.
"
The hidden producer in me thinks we're about 3-5 years too late for this and/or a Starmites revival. At the PEAK of the Marvel/Game of Thrones/Comic/Nerd focus of pop culture (let's NOT go into Turn Off The Dark), I think the timing could have been prime to tap into the zeitgeist.
Fan123
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/30/08
#14Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/11/17 at 9:43pm
Brent Spiner was in '1776' (lolz). More seriously, I don't know the play but from what I've heard, 'Marjorie Prime' had robot characters. That was Off-Broadway though.
Technically, I think 'The Tales Of Hoffmann' opera, featuring robot/automaton character Olympia, might have been on Broadway at some point in the distant past.
TrChSpHa
Understudy Joined: 7/15/09
DSamuels90
Swing Joined: 8/26/13
#16Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/12/17 at 1:24am
The show didn't play on Broadway, so it might not count, but there's a VERY prominent robot in the musical version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The character spends most of the show in the form of Maria, but if the album is any indication, "Futura" should have had at least two scenes in the first act: the reveal of the Futura robot in the laboratory, and the Act I finale when Maria's likeness is transposed onto the machine.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#17Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/12/17 at 6:53am
DSamuels90 said: "The show didn't play on Broadway, so it might not count, but there's a VERY prominent robot in the musical version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The character spends most of the show in the form of Maria, but if the album is any indication, "Futura" should have had at least two scenes in the first act: the reveal of the Futura robot in the laboratory, and the Act I finale when Maria's likeness is transposed onto the machine."
Indeed, and Maria/Futura was played by none other than Judy Kuhn in London.
"
temms
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/04
#18Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/12/17 at 11:57am
It was off-Broadway, but HEDDATRON directed by Alex Timbers and produced by his company (that French-named thing) was a version of HEDDA GABLER using robots. I know it's been done elsewhere and I believe you can rent the robots they originally built for it.
#19Robot characters on Broadway
Posted: 8/15/17 at 10:02pm
I'm shocked no one has mentioned the Christine sex-bot yet, but I'm also happy that we're really trying to not acknowledge that show's existence...
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