The Most Thankless Roles in Musical Theatre

Billy Crocker in Anything Goes - similar kind of situation to Cliff and Pippin; the generic male protagonist who gets overshadowed by the more effervescent co-lead (Reno, Sally/Emcee, Leading Player). Joe Gillis probably also belongs in that category.

Pegeen in Mame

Ambrose Kemper in Dolly

The Whitmans in Follies

Frid in A Little Night Music

Anastasia in Anastasia

Peggy in Hamilton

The Baker from Into the Woods. He’s the real emotional center of the show, yet is almost always overshadowed by the Witch and his Wife. Seeing how poorly the role is usually played makes me appreciate the criminally underrated performance of Chip Zien all the more.

Another obvious one is Cosette in Les Mis, which may be the largest female role in the show, but gets very little to do and doesn’t get a signature song the way the other two women do.

Updated On: 2/9/18 at 06:31 AM

Jeff in Bells Are Ringing

Nick in Funny Girl; Everyone I have met who has done the show agrees Nick Arnstein is the most thankless role in musical theatre.

In some sort of coincidence, both of these roles were originated by Sydney Chaplin.

adamgreer said: "The Baker from Into the Woods. He’s the real emotional center of the show, yet is almost always overshadowed by the Witch and his Wife. Seeing how poorly the role is usually played makes me appreciate the criminally underrated performance of Chip Zien all the more."

I second The Baker. He has the most stage time of any of the leads.

I used to believe that Irene Molloy was one of the most thankless roles, until I saw Kate Baldwin work her magic.

Lucy/Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd. She's central to the plot but perpetually overshadowed or ignored.

I don't know if it's "thankless" per se since the role itself isn't all that demanding, but Madame Morrible in Wicked is physically on stage a lot more than I think people realize. Especially in contrast to The Wizard, who has about a millisecond worth of material.

Dollypop said: "The rear end of the horse in HELLO, DOLLY!"

I have to tell you that i laughed out loud when I read this.

I would haver gotten serious and agreed with those who proposed Cliff, Bobby, Christine Daae, Cosette, the two Sidney Chaplin roles, and Lorelle. To those, I would have added EVERYONE in the cast of The Apple Tree other than the female lead (especially when she was played by Barbara Harris), Priam Farll in Darling of the Day, Anthony and Joanne in Sweeney Todd (no matter how good they are, the audience doesn't seem to care), and Mack and Mable (I still remember that Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters worked their asses off, gave excellent performances, and were probably embarrassed by the unenthusiastic applause throughout the show and especially at the curtain call).

The Distinctive Baritone wrote: "Cliff in Cabaret though...yeah, that is totally thankless. ... in each of the three version of the show available for licensing, he either hardly sings at all or gets either "Why Should I Wake Up?" or "Don't Go" - both completely generic and forgettable love songs."



I don't find Why Should I Wake Up? either generic or forgettable. I've always loved it, and I most certainly haven't forgotten it. And what about Perfectly Marvelous, also sung by Cliff? Those two songs are my favorites in the show.