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Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

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#1

Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/10/09 at 4:53pm

Hello out there Broadwayworld:

Any help you can lend with the following would be greatly appreciated:

I am trying to compile a list of the greatest tour de force roles for men in the theater. Rich plays with FANTASTIC roles. Think Cyrano, RIchard III, Willy Loman, Eddie (View From The Bridge)...those kind of roles!

Any help would be much appreciated.

-The Golden One
#2

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/10/09 at 5:05pm

Salieri in Amadeus
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson
#3

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/10/09 at 5:14pm

Hickey in THE ICEMAN COMETH.
Hamlet
"It's Phantom meets Hamlet... Phamlet!"
#4

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/10/09 at 5:40pm

John Proctor in The Crucible.
Othello
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
#5

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/10/09 at 5:57pm

I would guess it's safe enough to not bother listing the Shakespearean ones; if you can't work *those* out, you're in trouble (or perhaps they're just irrelevant)! Although if you want his chattiest bitches, you've GOT to remember Henry V. Three plays, and he doesn't shut up for any of them! He even beats Falstaff, who also has a chatty triumvirate of plays but does shut up eventually.

I want to say Drummond in Inherit the Wind, but I could just be overexcited from having read the play again this afternoon. I do love it so and can't wait for it to open in the West End. :3
Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter
#6

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/10/09 at 9:34pm

Musical wise Harold Hill


"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
#8

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/10/09 at 10:42pm

Is Harold Hill really considered the musical equivalent of like Rose in "Gypsy?" Doesn't seem fair!
#9

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 3:15am

Fred Graham/ Petrucchio in Kiss Me, Kate
J. Pierrepont Finch in How to Succeed
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
#10

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 5:38am

Mr. Lockhart in THE SEAFARER. It's not the hugest role, but it's a goldmine.
#11

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 8:13am

For singing roles, I agree with Finch in H2$, and I'd add Sweeney Todd and Jean Valjean. I don't think Harold Hill is in the same league.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson
#12

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 9:53am

Archie Rice in John Osbourne's THE ENTERTAINER (originated by Laurence Olivier)

James Tyrone in MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN

Troy Maxson in FENCES (pretty much the black Willie Loman)

For musicals, how about Tevye and Don Quixote?
#13

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 10:28am

I don't think Harold Hill is in the same league.

I agree, but I think very good/excellent Harold Hills can really elevate the role.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad
#17

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 3:46pm

Valmont, LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
#18

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 3:53pm

Harold Hill is a mammoth part. Harold Hill is onstage in The Music Man as often as Mama Rose is in Gypsy. It is considered one of the ultimate male roles in musical theatre. Not to mention one of the most difficult. Not only do you have to get the audience to root for this con artist, and convincingly show his character arc, you have to do so while breaking free of Robert Preston's eternal hold on the part (which is almost impossible to do).
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#19

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 3:53pm

I'll second John Proctor.

Or really any male lead in a Arthur Miller play.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
#20

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 3:57pm

Tevye is most certainly the musical equivalent to Mama Rose, not Harold Hill. Harold Hill is probably more the equivalent to Charity.
#21

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 4:03pm

Charlotte von Mahlsdorf- I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal "I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#24

re: Tour de Force Roles for Men- HELP!

Posted: 8/11/09 at 5:50pm

Lenny Bruce in "Lenny" (Originally Cliff Gorman)
Jelly Roll Morton in "Jelly's Last Jam" (Gregory Hines)
Oscar in "On the Twentieth Century" (musical, John Cullum)
Finch in "How to Succeed...." (Bobby Morse)
George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (Arthur Hlll)
Lear
The male role (George C. Scott) in "Plaza Suite"
Murray in "A Thousand Clowns) (Jason Robards)
Dylan Thomas in "Dylan" (Alec Guinness)
Nicholas Nickleby in "The Life and Adventures of N.N." (Roger Rees)
Bill Maitland in "Inadmissible Evidence" (Nicol Williamson)

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