The 'The Trickiest Roles in Musical Theatre' Thread — Page 2

I'd say that one of the hardest roles is Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof". An actor has to learn to have a distinct accent, be funny and serious in the same show, play paternal well, be able to have a domineering presence onstage, and be able to lead the show -- he has to be a balanced "human". If you don't have a good Tevye, the production is terrible.

Terry Connor in "Side Show" is also a relatively difficult role to tackle. The problem with that show is there isn't any sort of backstory for any of the characters (unless you do the revival which has a backstory to the twins), but Terry has to be played as the character you root for and then end up hating - he's bad without supposing to be bad. He has a huge emotional breakthrough in the second act, but since it's an operetta, lots of the show requires more of an acting challenge than singing, even though his notes (as personal experience from playing the character) are the hardest in the show to sing. He's a complex character.

The kids in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" pose challenging as well. In the script, it even says that they have to be "played with realism". You have to find the right balance of making sure the kids aren't cartoonish and make them real. Coneybear is probably the hardest because I see most actors try to portray him as having a mental deficiency, but the character is more just supposed to have ADD. Barfée is also challenging because even though he is the oldest member of the group and has oldish mannerisms, he is still a child.

I definitely agree with Baker's Wife. I also think Lily Garland in OTTC is pretty up there in terms of being a demanding role vocally & physically (and the actress needs to have spot-on comic timing and the ability to play off of Oscar Jaffee well.)

The Narrator from Joseph is also right up there. It's so easy to get the casting wrong and have someone screech those high notes for 2 hours, or something that the audience doesn't identify with. Already the material (literal biblical story with camels on an acid trip) is difficult to relate, so the Narrator has the thankless task of modernizing the whole thing and infusing it with some warmth and making you care for the characters.

Plus, memorizing all those colors is a total b. And Joseph steals the entire show anyway... It truly is pretty thankless.

Hedwig in Hedwig in the angry inch seems to be one of the Trickiest Roles out there

I think that Glinda in Wicked is a very, very difficult role to get right. No matter how bad the actress playing her is, she'll always get heaps of applause, but I feel that very few of the actresses who've played her have done her justice.

The twins in side show. I would not want to have my arm connected to someone else's for 2 straight hours. And I think elphaba is pretty tough.

Sally Bowles is difficult because everything she does has to be a master class in subtext. it is one of the roles where the dialogue isn't against you per say but it isn't helping either. One of the benefits of musical theatre is that you get to stop, turn full out to the audience and say "this is what I'm feeling right now." However the closest Sally gets is "Maybe This Time" if it's included in the production. Sally has the difficult job of playing all those scene and songs while letting what is going on under the surface of the text carry them.

Also, on another note, and role character that makes questionable decisions is always difficult because you have to be able to play the role without passing judgment on the character. Once you label Sally as "Crazy" or Sweeney as "Evil" or Rose as "Selfish" you've all of a sudden lost a dimension in your performance.

How difficult is Mamma Rose

Tsao, I agree with you regarding both the Phantom and Javert. However, Jean Valjean isn't exactly a cakewalk, with the required vocal range ("Bring Him Home" is too high for some amateur sopranos I know), and the difficulty in reading his motivations. Is he a saint? A sinner trying to atone? An ordinary guy who has learned to make lemonade from lemons? It's very hard to read Valjean.

Another extremely difficult role in my mind is Carlotta Giudicelli, in POTO, because she can easily descend into caricature if not played right. I see her as a good singer who is past her prime in looks (not necessarily voice) and finds her roles usurped by a young upstart. It's very hard to play the role sympathetically, and the vocals are demanding -- they're operatic, even though written by ALW instead of Rossini.

boeing boeing???

Having played Jud Fry, I know that it is hard to do. To make your character 3-dimensional in the right way is very complicated, and quite often, overdone. Shuler Hensley did an AMAZING job portraying him. I will testify to the fact that Lonely Room is the hardest song to sing in the show. It's atonal and dissonant, and also very complicated to act. Also, the belt at the end is only a C-sharp, but it's harder to sing than it sounds.You have to dig into your deepest sorrow to play the character. At the same time of being a hostile, depressed drunk in a situation of unrequited love, you also have to make the audience feel sorry for you when you die.

Another very demanding role for musical theatre, although not much singing is involved, is Man in Chair from The Drowsy Chaperone. If the show is performed without an intermission, the character doesn't leave the stage but for one small song, and comes back on quickly after. You must memorize monologue after monologue, have impeccable comic timing, explore both despression and joy, and be good at connecting with the audience, because quite honestly, no one else interacts with him onstage.

For females, I'd say Elle Woods. Like Man in Chair, Elle rarely leaves the stage. When she comes on, she hardly leaves. Also, half the score is written for her and it spans almost two octaves. It's all higher belting as well.

Tracy Turnblad could be considered another one.

Updated On: 5/26/16 at 11:36 AM

Not a musical, but I don't think it gets much tougher than Nicholas in 'Nicholas Nickleby' - eight hours worth of show, and Nicholas is in just about every scene. TONS of dialogue to memorize and stage stuff to do. Smike is also tough because the actor playing him usually has to contort himself in some way, and also keep that contortion for long periods of time.

And I'll agree that the Phantom is tough, not dramatically but because he has to wear a facial prosthetic covering most of his face and lips for the entire show, AND a mask. Michael Crawford remarked once it was very difficult to sing around, especially if the prosthetic came loose during the course of the show.

I'd certainly go with most roles made for children. Most notably Billy Elliot...especially during the Angry Dance. Also, I imagine that the ensemble in Matilda could be very difficult to coordinate/choreograph. And while not usually played by a child, I think that Tobias from Sweeney Todd is a very tricky role! Acting like a child/teenager sounds like it would be very difficult, most notably during the Final Sequence.