Too Cute For The Role?

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 2:31pm

Have you ever seen a production where you felt an actor was miscast because he or she was actually too good-looking or 'cute' for the role that he or she was playing?

I saw a high school production of Sweeney Todd with a very sexy judge, which inspired this discussion... but he's hardly the only example that comes to mind.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 2:35pm

Stephanie J. Block as Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL.

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 2:57pm

LaChanze in The Color Purple. Far too pretty for Miss Celie.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:14pm

Hugh Jackman in BOY FROM OZ. The most incredible piece of Up Casting imaginable.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:20pm

Even though she acted and sang it beautifully, Audra Mcdonald in the 110 in the Shade revival. Every time she said she was ugly or plain I just laughed.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:25pm

Natasha Richardson in Cabaret. If you're that beautiful, why are you performing in a dive like the Kit Kat Club?

[Weez]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:29pm

Donna Murphy in Passion must surely count.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:34pm

"Natasha Richardson in Cabaret. If you're that beautiful, why are you performing in a dive like the Kit Kat Club?"

Because your life is simply a series of bad choices. Lots of "beautiful" people end up in places like that because they did it to themselves. I didn't get to see Richardson's revival but I have seen the show and I always felt that she could have been "bigger" but she just didn't have the drive to work at it and just made mistake after mistake with her personal life.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:36pm

Edit: Thought of a better one. Carolee Carmello as Lucille Frank--she's supposed to be mousy?

Updated On: 3/30/09 at 03:36 PM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:40pm

Although I never saw her in the role, Carol Burnett seemed too attractive for Fade Out/Fade In. Having recently seen a production the book has everyone acting like she is the ugliest person they've ever seen. I know Carol may not have had typical Marilyn Monroe beauty, but I would never look at her and think "wow, she's hideous." I guess it will supposed to be a Fanny Brice, "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" thing.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:49pm

I'll second Audra McDonald in 110 IN THE SHADE. The scene where her brother tells her not to get her hopes up because she's not a beauty got laughs the night I saw it.

[philly03]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:51pm

Didn't MARLA SCHAFFEL get some interesting notices for her being "too pretty" to play a simple, plain Jane like Jane Eyre? Regardless...that's my two cents.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 4:08pm

Oh! James Barbour was FAR too handsome for Mr. Rochester.

[Amaranth9]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 4:37pm

BrodyFosse123, I don't see Stephanie J. Block as too pretty to play Fanny Brice. The real Fanny Brice seems to have been quite pretty to me. Look at those eyes! And then there's Barbra, who in the film looked gorgeous. The only thing I can imagine would turn people off would be her nose, but she still looks beautiful and regal. Actually, I see certain similarities between all three of them.

I think that rather than actually being unattractive, Fanny Brice had low self esteem, and back in the day being Jewish was enough to make you undesirable as opposed to how you looked, which would certainly contribute to that.

[Amaranth9]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 4:40pm

(I couldn't figure out how to post more than one image in a message, how do you do that?)

And here's Barbra as Fanny, and as I said, she looks gorgeous!

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 5:31pm

Philly and Spork, I agree entirely!

"Am I hideous, Jane?"

"You always were, you know."

I mean, come on. James Barbour is not exactly handsome, but he's not at all 'hideous' either.

Anyway, I feel like Rob Hunt is just too cute to be Javert. I mean, sure there have been many attractive Javerts (Norm Lewis, yum yum!), but Rob Hunt just has this very boyish face that looks altogether too adorable to be The Lawr. His "Stars" is still my favorite, though.



Come to that, he's also too cute to be Jud Fry!

[Salene]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 5:41pm

Tamsin Egerton Dick as Mary Lennox in the RSC Secret Garden. The line "pity she's so plain" certainly didn't fit (but she was wonderful).

[Sondheim_Geek]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 5:47pm

Laura Benanti as Act I Louise.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 5:54pm

Benanti looked "plain" to me in the first act of Gypsy. Especially when standing next to June, so it worked for me.

And Donna Murphy looked ugly in "Passion." It's all about make-up and character work.

[Weez]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 5:59pm

Oh, I saw the make-up, and it did work but still: what kind of wacky out-of-the-box thinker thinks "I need an ugly chick; hey, wonder what Donna Murphy's up to right now?"?

[BrianS]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 6:17pm

"Natasha Richardson in Cabaret. If you're that beautiful, why are you performing in a dive like the Kit Kat Club?"

Because your life is simply a series of bad choices. Lots of "beautiful" people end up in places like that because they did it to themselves. I didn't get to see Richardson's revival but I have seen the show and I always felt that she could have been "bigger" but she just didn't have the drive to work at it and just made mistake after mistake with her personal life.

Also, Natasha's mediocre singing voice actually led credence to the fact that Sally was stuck singing in this dingy club. To me, it made Sally seem even more delusional than most productions and not just someone who maybe was talented and caught some bad breaks.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 6:32pm

This goes back many years, but the young Barbara Cook was not only too pretty to play Fanny Brice in a Music Fair tour, but she was too WASPy for the role as well. (In the show, Fanny is supposed to be an ugly duckling. There's the song, "If A Girl Isn't Pretty.)

Her Nicky Arnstein was George Hamilton.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 6:40pm

It's a little irritating that so few female characters who are supposed to be unattractive are played by unattractive actresses. It's almost like they don't want to offend an actress by calling her unattractive unless she's obviously lovely.

As a non-beautiful actress, I say leave the beautiful characters for the beautiful actresses!

[teka21]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 6:41pm

Natasha Richardson was far too lovely as Blanche in Roundabout's Streetcar in 2005. Dim lighting was not needed to enhance her supposedly faded charms. When I closed my eyes, she WAS Blanche, but when I looked at her, she was a beauty in her prime.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 6:49pm

Oh, what a cheer-up to see Robert Hunt again.

Matthew Teague Miller was almost too cute to be Marius. Not that he's supposed to be not-cute.