Roles played by both genders in major productions- Page 2
Roles played by both genders in major productions
#25Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:08pm
Didn't like Pirelli as a woman.
Really, the Witch in Into the Woods? How did that work?
And Annie is a joke, right?
#26Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:14pmWhoopi Goldberg played Pseudolus after Nathan Lane left.
#27Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:16pm^ Did you fail to read the original post?
#28Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:16pmSondheim himself has said that The Witch is a gender-neutral role, and suggests Billy Porter as The Witch.
#29Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:17pmYeah, but didn't he ultimately get cold feet with the idea and decided to go with Vanessa?
#30Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:35pm
A Stepsister in Cinderella, if a BHMS production counts as major.
I mean, we packed more than 700 folks into the cafetorium for that one.
Pirelli in Sweeny Todd
#31Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/2/10 at 11:34pm
Billy Porter changed Marta to Marty in COMPANY in 2002 at CMU. And apparently, Sondheim and Lapine signed off on him playing the Witch. Then, the 9/11 attacks occurred, and it became a question of selling tickets to INTO THE WOODS.
You want citations? I'll give you citations.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06129/688637-346.stm (Company)
And here's the story of INTO THE WOODS
#32Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/2/10 at 11:49pm
I've heard a few productions of Company changed Marta to Marty. Also, changing Larry to Linda in A Chorus Line.
And Pirelli in Sweeney Todd.
#33Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 12:07amSo my dream of playing Marta could come true!
#34Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 12:10amThanks for the link Theaterkid. I am so glad that didn't work out. Porter as the Witch would have been one of the most self-indulgent performances of all-time, rivaling Douglas Hodge in La Cage.
MusicAngel
Stand-by Joined: 9/26/08
#35Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 1:17amEven though it was only a smaller production, I actually watched The Rocky Horror Show in Hollywood not too long ago. It was quite interesting seeing the whole cast being played by females. The only males were Brad, Frank N. Furter, Rocky, and the Narrator.
musicaltheater1
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/05
#36Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 1:25amTam in Miss Saigon
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley
#37Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 2:19amLove Porter, but his Witch would have made that show even more of a mess.
#38Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 3:22am
Speaking of Marta to Marty, we had a production in Seattle (in the mid 90's) that also changed April to A'pril (don't ask). He was a man though, not a drag queen.
This was put on by our now defunct gay and lesbian theater company. I heard that they didn't officially tell anyone of the changes though until the run was almost over. I kinda remember that Sondheim or his people did get mighty upset over the changes. But it was an excellent production done on a very small stage with only a piano, guitar, and drums as the orchestra (off to the side of the stage area). I enjoyed this version much better than the full fledged version done by a local big theater company around here a few years ago.
#39Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 5:40am
Vanessa Redgrave and Blair Brown have both played Prospero in The Tempest, though when Brown did it, the role was renamed Prospera.
Lee Breuer directed an interesting if kind of crazy Lear in the early '90s with the sexes of all the characters reversed. It was set in the American south in the '50s or '60s and evoked a Robert Aldrich movie. Ruth Maleczech was Lear.
There was Mary Tyler Moore in Whose Life Is It Anyway?
Of course, there's Shakespeare, not only back in his day, but also plenty of modern productions that have been all-male, such as a famous RSC As You Like It in the 1960s, with Ronald Pickup as Rosalind.
And there have been many others, including a Globe Twelfth Night a few years ago with Mark Rylance as Olivia. And some of those Cheeky by Jowl productions.
Of course, in the opposite direction, a bunch of women have played Hamlet.
And there's Pirelli.
Updated On: 8/3/10 at 05:40 AM
#40Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 6:15am
Eva Péron in EVITA
Madame Rose in GYPSY
#41Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 8:01am
The Odd Couple with gender switches as well (Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno).
And, I believe, Pirelli in Sweeney Todd.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
tommigyrl5
Stand-by Joined: 5/13/03
#42Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 8:40amI have seen a woman play Polonious in Hamlet.
#43Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 8:58amThere is the all-male FORUM going on right now. I believe it's at Williamstown?
#44Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:10am
There had been some precedent to a male playing the Witch in INTO THE WOODS prior to Billy Porter's audition; a major UK revival a few years prior had used a man in the role, who perhaps not coincidentally was also black - that may have given Lapine the impetus to ask Porter to read for the role.
That production followed the panto tradition and utilized a female playing the boy role of 'Jack.'
I don't think there has every been a MAJOR production of A CHORUS LINE that has used a female Larry, though lots of high school productions routinely switch genders.
But speaking of ACL, there was a major revival a few years ago in Europe that changed the gender of Cassie and played the role as a man. The production looked incredibly bizarre and was talked about at length on here - I wish I could find the thread - the pictures were fascinating.
Updated On: 8/3/10 at 09:10 AM
#45Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:21am
Are you sure it wasn't this, MB?
LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbOKMN6hZMQ&feature=related
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#46Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:28amHa ha - no -- the production shots were so bizarre we were all trying to figure out how they possibly fit into ACL. There was one shot with a car on stage! It must have been German lol
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#48Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:34am
"Danse for Oma! Danse for Oma!"
LOL
That's great, Phyl. Now if only they'd had a car ...
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#49Roles played by both genders in major productions
Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:41am
I really hope somebody else posts who remembers the pics of that production -- I couldn't find it in the archived threads.
Videos