The single greatest character to walk the stage of Broadway — Page 3

Albin, La Cage aux Folles. He counts as male and female.

add another vote to the Emcee
maybe christine for phantom
so many roles so little time

You say you can't judge a character from a movie - but you can only judge that character on stage? First off, that makes no sense. Second, if you were referring to me, among others, as "elders" bashing you guys, they you are entirely incorrect - I'm 19 years old, dearie.

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Good.

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I love when things get feisty....
Anyway...........................

The Witch- Into the Woods
The Baker- Into the Woods
Archie- Secret Garden
Neville- Secret Garden
Mary Lennox- Secret Garden
Seymour- LSOH
Tito- Lend Me a Tenor
Nurse- Romeo & Juliet
Elphaba- Wicked
Lucille- Parade

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If you mess with Margo you mess with me. We travel in posses on this board.

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I'm going with the emcee too...obviously :)

"If you mess with Margo you mess with me. We travel in posses on this board."

What an absolutely ridiculous statement. I actually gave a little laugh-snort when i read that. It evokes images of some kind of Broadway gang warfare. Tell me you meant it as a joke....

"It's people like you [in reference to a previous post made by a different board user] that make younger people such as myself feel un-welcome in this community."

I totally agree. People seem to lament today's Broadway. Surely one way of improving the theatre scene would be to encourage young people to become more involved in this community - fresh outlook and ideas etc... That's not going to happen if new or younger board members are constantly berated for expressing opinions that the more wizened members of the board find unappealing. Of course you needn't withhold your opinions but express them with a modicum of grace and civility, rather than resorting to offensively toned comments like "have you all completely lost your minds?"

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Margo:
I do not think it rude or unreasonable to expect people to know who Hamlet or Willy Loman are. Rather, I meant that it is rude and unreasonable to post messages that make out other board users are totally ignorant and "pathetic" if they haven't named a character you agree with. I see your point and appreciate the chastisement to educate ourselves, however, generally speaking, people who don't enjoy the 'classics' have no incentive to seek out the works of literature you mention. Most people encounter enough classic drama to decide for themselves whether or not it is something they enjoy. If someone doesn't enjoy works like King Lear or Antigone, then they're surely not going to label them as the greatest characters?

Obviously as an intelligent man/woman (I never know which noun is more appropriate - can you clear this up?), you were eager to discover drama. Some people simply have no desire to read (or see) material that they know won't interest them. I would be very wary in negatively labelling people like that.

I'd be surprised if people hadn't heard of Hamlet or Don Quixote, but less surprised if they hadn't read of them. And if one hasn't read of them, then how can someone announce them as their greatest ever character?

I'm not personally insulted. I enjoy the vigour of these debates. Nobody need feel insulted, and nobody need insult. We are, after all, talking about something as deliciously subjective as 'the single greatest character'.

I know that there's more to theatre than Wicked, Brooklyn or Rent. I come from a background where I'm fortunate enough to have had the chance to appreciate classic drama (and I agree that there isn't anything stopping anyone from using their local library to research theatre - lack of exposure is no excuse for ignorance) but, all things considered, I still enjoy the characters of modern theatre more. I'm not ignorant, yet I hold a view that many would love to denounce as ignorant.

For the record, I'm 21. How old are you? I'm curious.

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Updated On: 11/5/04 at 08:41 AM

You guys are getting ridiculous...
This should be about sharing ideas and information....
Theater is a community, a family...
A concept that you all might want to think about if you intend to head into it as a profession.
I find some of your attitudes a bit disturbing.
If you all have this much energy, and feel like fighting for something...there are about 1.5 million people in Sudan that could use some help....

Male- Emcee or Valjean or Chris from Miss Saigon (on a good day)
Female- Elphaba, Mimi, Kim from Miss Saigon

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Margo - Brava

Meagan - Cute pic. Is that you?

My thoughts on the greatests characters

Alexandra del Lago - Sweet Bird of Youth (Actually almost all of Willims characters are great.
Lady Bracknell - Importance of Being Earnest
Sally and Matt - Talleys Folly
Gwen - Fifth of July
George and Martha - Virginia Woolf
Dr. Dysart and Alan - Equus
Salieri - Amadeus

These are some of my faves.

For the record, I'm sixteen and love literature, especially Shakespeare and Sophocles, and Poe as well. (If he only wrote plays...)I agree that lately teens and young adults don't know about the great works of yesteryear, and that's a shame. I blame that largely on the education system. There are few English teachers who are willing to go above and beyond the basic curiculum. I've been lucky and have had a sleu of teachers that ARE wiling to do that. Also, sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the modern shows of today that we forget or overlook the classics. This doesn't mean we didn't read them and don't like, or even love them. In my previous post, I mentioned fairly recent characters. I, as you will soon see by my amended list, have read many classics. That's an example of getting caught up. I don't think it is necessary to criticize those who don't know the classics. Some people simply may not like them, others may not have had the chance to read them. Just because some people have doesn't make them better and it doesn't give them a right to belittle those who haven't read or enjoyed the classics.

That being said, in addition to my previous list:
Romeo, Juliet, and Mercutio, who is a great character but is often overlooked.

Oedipus, Creon, Antigone and Ismene as well.

Julius Caesar was a great play as well, so I'll include him. "Et tu Brute?...then fall Caesar"

Kate and Petruchio from Taming of the Shrew.

Cesario from Twelfth Night, and the guy whose name was Orsino, or something similar. ( He opened the play with, "If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it... Was that Orsino?"

Jurors 3 and 8 from Twelve Angry Men

Kate Hardcastle and Charles Marlowe in She Stoops to Conquer

Everyone from Rasin in the Sun

Quentin from After the Fall

I know he's not in a play, but Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye. He is so much fun to analyze and such a complex person.

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If you don't have the knowledge or exposure to answer the question, but venture an opinion anyway, why would you be surprised that people take issue?

Margo voiced what many people thought. It has nothing to do with age, it's about having the sense to know what one does and doesn't know. I'm old and I've seen a lot of theater, but *I* didn't feel well-versed enough to offer an opinion about the initial topic, as stated. Picking the appropriate threads to jump into is a fine skill to hone.

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