Too Buff for the Role?
Too Buff for the Role?
#1Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 2:08am
In a similar vein to the "Too Cute for the Role" thread, does the perfectly shaped body of someone in a show set in a different time period ever distract you?
I look at the bodies of the male dancers in the current revival of "West Side Story" and the recent revival of "A Chorus Line" and the gym buffed perfection of them keeps me being able to suspend my disbelief needed for theater.
I think "No street punk in the 1950's ever had abs like that." Or "Not that many dancers in the 1970's had arms and shoulders like that."
Does this bother anyone else out there, or is it just me?
From the pictures I've seen of the revival of "Hair" the casting director got it right and cast people whose bodies looked like you could have seen them back in the late '60's.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#2re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 6:31amThe problem is that the dancers bodies have changed. Instead of simply thin and lithe, they are all muscular. Dance is much more demanding than it was then as well as the need to look good. It didn't bother me at all in either show. Maybe because both shows had so many other problems to keep my picky mind occupied.
#2re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 8:10am
As they say on another site, this thread is completely useless without pictures. ;-}
#3re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 8:28amMichael Jeter in Grand Hotel
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#4re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 8:35amLOL, PalJoey. I'll second that!
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#5re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 11:44amWasn't so much the "buffness" of the actors in WSS but rather the bland acting choices, horrible set, and disappointing direction that left me confused.
#6re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 11:49am
PalJoey: At least we have sondheimboy2's avatar to ogle at.
And if I may offer another question: who WAS NOT buff enought for the role? My candidate: John C Riley in Street Car (but damn, wasn't Natasha great?).
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#7re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 11:53am
I have not seen all the boys of WEST SIDE STORY naked (yet) but no one, except Tony (at least he's good to look at if not listen to)and Action (who should be buff because he is the fighter of the group),are that muscular. There have always been guys who lifted weights before Gyms became so popular. And to the comment that dancers bodies are different today, go to a dance class in Manhattan, there is every body type there.
Think LIL' ABNER, THE BODY BEAUTIFUL, Buff bods are nothing new.
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#8re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 12:11pmThis isn't a Broadway example, but I remember seeing SWEET AND LOWDOWN and thinking that Sean Penn was just too buff. There's just no way that character, the hard-drinking jazz guitarist who never sets foot in anything as health conscious as a gym, would be as muscular as Penn was/is.
Princeton2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/08
#9re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 4:33pmtazber's profile pic is a pretty hot guy, no idea if thats tazber or someone famous I should know, either way.. great pic lol
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#10re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 4:57pm
As they say on another site, this thread is completely useless without pictures. ;-}
MARIO LOPEZ 
NICK ADAMS 
SPENCER LIFF 
MATT CAVENAUGH 
CHEYENNE JACKSON 
SEBASTIAN LACAUSE 
MOST CHICAGO MEN 
HUGH JACKMAN 
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#11re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:18pmThey all look fine to me.
KingKong
Broadway Star Joined: 2/28/09
#12re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:20pmNick Adams has a face that makes the baby jesus weep.
#13re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:23pmSharon Brown as Lucy in the Jekyll & Hyde tour.
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#14re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:27pmElizabeth Stanley in Xanadu.
#15re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:31pmLet me get this straight - in WSS you are able to suspend disbelief that gang members break into song and dance, A LOT of dance, but not they might have buff bodies?
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. - Randy Pausch
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
KingKong
Broadway Star Joined: 2/28/09
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#18re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:39pm
Elizabeth Stanley in Xanadu.
Shut up!
No way, sister, I want her delts and biceps!
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#19re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:42pmWell, are you saying that muses have to be skinny and have pointy chins?
KingKong
Broadway Star Joined: 2/28/09
#20re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:43pmMuses are either Wood Nymphs or Jabba the Hutt
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#21re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:44pmCareful what you say about Mary Testa. You'll piss some mofos off!
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#22re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:45pm
Well, are you saying that muses have to be skinny and have pointy chins?
No, but compared to Kerry butler she does look like she could tackle a whole football team. 
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#23re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:48pmLol. She is a solid gal. I think she's beautiful. (Stanley, not Butler)
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#24re: Too Buff for the Role?
Posted: 4/2/09 at 5:54pmVery much so.
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