Stars reviving their iconic roles.

With the Glenn Close Sunset Boulevard closing today, I got thinking about other revivals that worked in this way, with the stars who made the roles iconic returning to revive them, and how often they used to happen a lot back a couple decades.

Some examples:

Merman in Annie Get Your Gun (1966)

Channing in Dolly (1996)

Lansbury in Mame (198

Mostel in Fiddler (1976)

Just for fun, what are some revivals of this caliber that could happen today?

Updated On: 6/25/17 at 04:37 PM

It's tough to think of many off hand, as it's a surprisingly strict set of criteria. First, the show has to be old enough to be revived today, but recent enough that the original star is still alive, and young enough to play the role. That also means that the starring role probably has to be older (like Dolly, Tevye, etc.) or "ageless" (like the Emcee). So that 10 or 20-some years doesn't make as much of a difference. OR, the original star has to have aged very well. I agree that Nathan Lane in The Producers could definitely work, as well as Ebersole in Grey Gardens. I also think Donna Murphy in Passion would be excellent, and MAYBE Ben Vereen in Pippin (it would be a different take on the role, for sure, but it could work).

In Urinetown which SERIOUSLY needs to be revived ASAP — Jeff McCarthy as Lockstock and Spencer Kayden as Little Sally. At 87, John Cullum is too old for Cladwell, so it's Old Man Strong for him. Hunter Foster is too old for Bobby, so Barrel for him.

I think some of the examples are not what I would consider as iconic roles, e.g., the Urinetown cast, all of whom were wonderful, but iconic???? I also don't consider the Fun Home roles / performers as iconic, but I accept that that will be controversial.

Definitely Nathan Lane in The Producers.

Cherry Jones is too old to play The Heiress, which would constitute an iconic performance...maybe Doubt, which is arguably an iconic performance.

Maybe Hugh Jackman -- who I think gave an iconic performance in Boy From Oz -- but I doubt that he'd want to do that and, let's face it, it is not exactly much of a show. You would like to think that the show justifies revival itself.

Wicked is probably not going to close in my lifetime (I am 67), but I imagine Chenoweth and Menzel -- who represent an iconic team of sorts) could pull it off for a while yet, (the green cosmetics would help with Menzel; Chenoweth is unique and, aided by the right make-up artist, could pull it off.

I suspect that Miranda and Odom could come back in 15 years and get away with it. (The revivals identified were 10 - 20 years after the original opening...even Channing did her first Broadway return 15 years after the original opening).

Harvey Fierstein could definitely do Hairspray for some time to come, with all the makeup to cover his aging.

I think Cynthia Irivo's performance in The Color Purple will be considered iconic; given her current age, she could probably still get away with playing Celie again in 15 years.



Then there is the unusual and probably unique case of Bebe Neuwirth, who came back to Chicago, but not in her iconic role. Make it a footnote.

Sutton Foster in Millie, Little Woman or Chaperone. Victoria Clarke in Light in the Piazza.

Surprised no one mentioned Joel Grey reprising his Emcee for the 1987 revival of CABARET - 21 years after he originated the role in the original 1966 Broadway production. I'm sure this fact crossed Alan Cumming's brain when he was approached for the recent revival of the 1998 Broadway revival.

John Cameron Mitchell just did Hedwig again in 2015.

Ted Neeley has never left Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar. Carl Anderson was much the same story with Judas during his lifetime.

This question reminds me of an interview I saw with Robert Preston in the late 70's. He was asked, with all the stars reviving roles, if he was going to do Harold Hill again in "The Music Man". He answered with a definitive "Absolutely NO". He said he was too old for the part. To play the part at his age would be a disservice to both the character and the show and he loved them both way too much to do that. The man was a true class act and an amazing actor.

It's too bad other stars don't have his style and common sense.

Jessica Lange did Mary Tyrone in London in 2000 IIRC

Surprised nobody has brought up Ellen Greene! She proved in 2015 that she can come back to Audrey almost 40 years later and sell it to us at the same price.

I don't think many would call these her "iconic roles," but I see no reason Streep couldn't take another go at Arkadina or Mother Courage.

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "Some that I could see being possible are:

Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple
Sutton Foster in Anything Goes
James Monroe Iglehart in Aladdin
Nathan Lane in The Producers
Patti LuPone in Gypsy
Patina Miller in Pippin
Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton
Jessie Mueller in Beautiful
Donna Murphy in Passion
Bernadette Peters in Into the Woods
Billy Porter in Kinky Boots
Sara Ramirez in Spamalot
Alice Ripley in Next to Normal
Paulo Szot in South Pacific



I think the term Iconic has a significance you are trivialiizing here. Iconic to me is about an alchemy of performer and role to the point where the first thing you think of at the mention of, say Pippin, is Patina's performance which is in its way to becoming Broadway legend...which is absolutely NOT the case. I think a lot of these are excellent performances, but not iconic. Sara Ramirez did not give an iconic perfromance. When I think of Anything Goes, I immediately think of Patti Lupone, not Sutton Foster. (Ironically, I enjoy seeing Foster more than Lupone, but Lupone WAS Reno Sweeney, whereas Foster gave a terrific performance). Ezio Pinza may have given an iconic perfromance, but Szot gave an excellent performance...not an iconic one. I think a number on your list were excellent, but not iconic, in the way Joel Grey or Alan Cumming were as the emcee, to cite an example.

Probably sounding like an old fart, but overuse of certain words trivializes them. A standing ovation used to mean something...now it is mostly an annoyance, when someone in front of you pops up to start a SO for the person who had a really good number in Act 1.

Updated On: 6/29/17 at 11:47 AM

Not exactly what the OP is referring to, but Jonathan Freeman reviving his film role of Jafar was kind of cool. Iconic? Maybe he's not widely known when you mention his name, but to Disneophiles it is probably iconic given the number of times he has played Jafar on film and stage, TV shows, and video games.