Smallest stage time for an actor in a show?- Page 2

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:27pm

Jolene Oakes in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels comes to mind...

[Jon]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:32pm

Supposedly, Fantine now doubles as a boy at the barricade BECAUSE LuPone used to leave the theatre and go to a pub in London.

FDR in ANNIE only has one scene. In the original production, the actor had special permission through Equity to show up right at curtain time, rather than a half hour before. It still gave him 45 minutes to get ready. I think in later productions (tours, revivals) the actor playing FDR doubled in the ensemble.

[Remote33]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:33pm

Marty Thomas in Xanadu. He comes on, does his split, and leaves.

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:37pm

Marty is on stage nearly the entire time singing back-up with Annie Golden.
Updated On: 5/11/08 at 01:37 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:40pm

Grizabella in CATS.

The actress basically spends the entire show in her dressing room.

One quick appearance to end Act 1, then again for a few minutes at the end of Act 2 to end the show.

She actually has a bit more onstage time than that : She's in Grizabella, The Glamour Cat in the middle of Act I and if I'm not wrong she's seen after The Moments of Happiness when they all sing Memory (at least at one point, the track had her in the background in that scene).

[vinnylin]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:45pm

"Supposedly, Fantine now doubles as a boy at the barricade BECAUSE LuPone used to leave the theatre and go to a pub in London."

Actually, I believe that LuPone asked that she be given something else to do because she had so much time off-stage, and so they worked her into the barricade scene, and this has been followed by the subsequent Fantines in the various productions. The pub part is something she has stated in interviews (how habitual it was I don't know, but I'd be surprised if she did it more than a couple of times). But you'd have to ask her that.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:48pm

bobbys mother in crazy for you she appears in the first scene in act one and dosen't come out till the very end of act 2 agian.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:54pm

Trix in The Drowsy Chaperone. She's there for the very beginning and very end.

[misto625]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:56pm

Many straight plays have roles that require little stage time:
Barefoot in the Park has the Telephone Man and the Delivery Man.
Arms and the Man has a random soldier only appearing at the beginning.

For musicals, in addition to the ones mentioned above, there is Linda in Wedding Singer, Charlie Cowell in The Music Man, and currently Chef Louis in Little Mermaid.

Grizabella is on stage more then mentioned, she appears in the opening Prologue, Grizabella the Glamour Cat and its reprise, the three performances of Memory, and Journey to the Heaviside Layer. I think she is there for Moments of Happiness but I can't remember.

I don't think FDR doubles in the ensemble of Annie, at least he didn't in the last two Equity tours, as I asked Allan Baker and Raymond Thorne that question. Cool thread!

[emo_geek]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 1:59pm

Interesting thread!!!

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 2:10pm

The Girl in The Pillowman and the cut dancers in A Chorus Line. Great jobs, I have to say - spend five minutes onstage and then just kick back for the rest of the show.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 2:14pm

Snow White and Sleeping Beauty in Into the Woods. Blink and you'll miss them.

[misto625]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 2:16pm

Well the cut dancers in A Chorus Line sing along in the group numbers throughout the show from a singing booth, so they can't just kick back and relax.

I always thought Mufasa in Lion King doesn't have a lot of stage time, he has to make a good impression on the audience during They Live in You as that is his only solo song, and the stampede is coming soon after.

[i*heart*fame]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 2:23pm

I know it has been said but Little Coalhouse literally runs out at the end when they yell "Coalhouse" then Tateh sums up The Little Rascals and the show is done.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 2:26pm

The first thought that came to mind was Trix from Drowsy. She sings a few lines in the opening number and then comes back out at the end of the show.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 5:00pm

Brooke in Legally Blonde.


People who should be on more is Robin in ITH, he has plenty of things but not enough, he's the highlight of the show.

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 5:06pm

The Lady of the Lake in Spamalot!
Although I wish she was in it more just so I could've heard Sara Ramirez sing more songs when I saw it.

Also, the actress playing Emily/The Angel in Angels In America isn't on stage very much in Millennium Approaches.

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 5:19pm

Tartuffe. The whole play is about him yet he is only in a few scenes.

[scaryclowns223]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 5:51pm

In the current GREASE, Stephen Buntrock comes out in an ice cream cone, sings one song, and then leaves (again in the ice cream cone.)

He is on stage for five minutes and makes a pretty damn good living. He doesn't even have to walk out on stage to earn his cash either, he is carried there.

Think about this: he works roughly forty minutes a week. (Of course, that doesn't include being at the theatre for the rest of the show, but I wouldn't exactly call that work.)

[musicalmaster703]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 5:55pm

Having to sit though that show? Thats a whole lotta boring work.

[timesquare01]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 5:59pm

"Brooke in Legally Blonde."

She's in the opening number as well. She (at least Nikki was) is in a long brunette wig and is in the bottom right or bottom second from the right window. she does the whole opening number, opens the door for Warner, and is then rolled off the stage on the set piece where she spend the rest of Act I preparing and warming up for the Act II opening. In act two shes on stage for roughly 25 minues of the second act.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 6:05pm

Megan Mullaly in YF. Barely there, and gets second-to-last bow.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 6:05pm

I was just in a production of City of Angels. That show is filled with bit parts with nothing else in between for the ensemble since there are no ensemble numbers. I don't know how we could have done it in a long run!

~Steven

[singtopher]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 6:09pm

Let me reiterate the roles of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White in INTO THE WOODS. They run in at the end of act 2, sigh, then run off.

[broadwayboy522]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 6:09pm

Dr Dillamond in Wicked is onstage in 2 short scenes in Act 1 and then a minute in Act 2. Although he's in the opening number I don't think he's in any other part of the show