Smallest stage time for an actor in a show?- Page 5

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 5/16/08 at 1:11am

DefyGravity777- The actor who plays dillamond does appear in the ensemble, he is usually in the center of the bridge in the emerald city scenes. Also (random trivia) a sharp eyed audience member will notice that the performers who play boq, nessarose, and fiyero are in the ensemble for One short day. And Morrible and Nessarose appear in No One Mourns the Wicked.

[bluetuna]

Posted: 5/16/08 at 12:02pm

In "Wicked", Dr. Dillamond and the Witch's Father/Ozian Official are played by two different actors.

[keithp]

Posted: 5/16/08 at 12:43pm

Regarding Cinderella's Father -
a friend of mine directed a production of Into The Woods and another friend was Cinderella's father. I wrote to Mr.S asking why the part was so small - was he put in as a cover for the mysterious man. His reply was that no that was how the role had been conceived (ie small)

[StageFan2]

Posted: 5/16/08 at 2:03pm

Sid Bernstein in Curtains. Total I think he's on stage maybe 5 to 7 minutes. He 'hangs' around just long enough to get killed.

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 5/17/08 at 3:56pm

jonartdesigns,
I never took notice that Steven was up there. I did take notice about the performers who play Nessa ,Boq and Morrible though. The actress playing Nessa is also in March of the Witch Hunters.
As I was watching Wicked last night I took notice that The Wizard isn't in much of the show either. He only makes his first appearance around 1:15 into the first act(his voice is heard at the beginning though). He's only in Sentimental Man,Wonderful and the beginning of the Finale.

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 5/17/08 at 4:14pm

I don't know if its already been said, but the guy who has the asthma attack in Barefoot in the Park. Enters onstage wheezing, makes some gestures, exits stage wheezing.

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 5/17/08 at 5:50pm

Is the actress playing Morrible in the opening, too? Along with the cast members playing Fiyero, Nessarose, Boq and Dr. Dillamond? But not the cast member playing the Wizard, correct?

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 5/18/08 at 2:45pm

thats correct, the wizard is off stage to perform the voice of the salesman( who is usually played by fiyero)

[thejcm]

Posted: 5/18/08 at 3:01pm

The Acid Queen in Tommy.

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 5/18/08 at 5:37pm

The Moving Men in A Raisin in the Sun

[Fiyero13]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 10:49am

Because of this thread i asked the actress who plays trix in Drowsy what she does in her downtime, and she says she reads a book, most often the bible during her down time.

[SMiller]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 11:57am

Isn't Jane also played by one of the lost boys?
How about Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan?

SMiller

[Ziegfeld7]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 12:55pm

The little boy who plays Patrick's son in Mame, who is just in the last 10 seconds of the show when Mame decides to take him with her, wherever she's going.. I don't remember.

And as for the least amount of stage time, while still being front and center on all of the ads & posters? Megan in YF.

[BroadwaynSeventh2]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 1:08pm

"the wizard is off stage to perform the voice of the salesman( who is usually played by fiyero)"

The salesman is not preformed by Fiyero... That part is played by one of the ensemble members.

And unlesss it is different on tour Dillamond, Nessarose, Boq, and Fiyero only appear at the beginning during No One Mourns the Wicked. They do not appear in any of the other ensemble scenes.
Updated On: 6/4/08 at 01:08 PM

[sszabo]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 2:15pm

let's not forget the guy in The Producers who comes out to mouth "Don't Be Stupid, be a smarty come and join the Nazi Party" while a recording of Mel Brooks saying it plays over him.

I'm pretty sure that is all that guy does and apparently the original guy eventually started asking for a pay raise since he was getting such a nice applause because people actually thought it was Mel.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 2:25pm

How about Fogg in Sweeney? Says 2 sentences, then gets killed (granted, in the original, he could have had other parts in the ensemble, and in the revival, he was technically onstage the whole time...but still one of the smallest principle parts).

Re: what actors do in downtime, Sara Gettelfinger who played Jolene in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels said she loved the gig, as she used her downtime to prepare for other auditions and other side-gigs, like The Secret Garden concert.

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 2:26pm

It's probably been mentioned already (I'm too lazy to check), but Marty Thomas in "Xanadu." Unless he's covering for someone else, he's only onstage during the final number.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 2:30pm

sszabo - you ARE kidding about the guy in The Producers, right? The guy who does that line plays about 9 other roles.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 2:44pm

To clear up the Fantine/Patti LuPone issue:

One night Patti was not paying attention and missed her entrance when Valjean was dying. (I think she has about 32 bars of singing in that moment). I think that was when the producers said "In order to make sure Fantine is onstage for Valjean's death, we need to give her something else to do to make sure she's in the general vicinity of the stage and not shopping in Covent Garden."

[simon_wilkie]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 4:10pm

Depending on how the director works it - Jacob in Joseph is a very small part. Only one line in the entire show and on stage for hardly any time at all - yet they always list him quite highly in programmes etc and even got Richard Attenbourgh in for the movie production!

[SirNotAppearing]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 4:24pm

Yeah, that's kind of ridiculous. I'd have him double as Pharaoh and/or Potiphar, personally.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 4:28pm

BroadwaynSeventh2- although it could have been chanced the salesman was performed originally by Norbert, Joey McEntire did it too, I think it has only been altered when there is an ethnicity discrepancy (i.e Ben Vereen as the wizard w/ David Ayers as the salesman would have been a little odd). Also I saw the show on tour and all of the folks I mentioned are in the emerald city scenes, It was easy to spot the fiyero I saw because the particular understudy on (Nicolas Dromard) had a goatee.

[simon_wilkie]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 4:32pm

Sir Not Appearing: Good idea, I never thought of that. Potaphar would be cool, but perhaps they appear to near to one another in the show - i.e. One More Angel is right before Potaphar.

However, having him double as Pharoah would be amazing. Getting an actor to go from old doddery ancient to hip-swinging Elvis would be a great idea!

[mattrob]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 4:51pm

Currently playing Richard Henry Lee in 1776 at the NJPAC and he has a great song at almost the top of the show and thats about it. Martha and Abigale have a lot of down time too for that matter. Great material though.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/4/08 at 6:24pm

The Prince and his consort in My Fair Lady have a quick walk-on. But I think they are doubled.

Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady is one of those roles that sits around backstage for a long time.