What Do You Think Is The MOST DEMANDING Role in Musical Theater? — Page 2

BRAVO, gherbert!

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You have to be talented, but I do not think Elphaba and Tracy Turnblad are the most demanding roles.

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Jean Valjean? Just a thought...

Mama Rose definately. Harold Hill is another. Elphaba vocally.

lol, basically, I agree with what everyone has said! lol

The thing that makes Caroline such a difficult character to play is that the audience will most likely find the character unlikable, and the actress playing her has to make her seem like she's still a good person beneath the bitter frustrated exterior, but she can't show that too much in the first act. She has to nail Lot's Wife, because it's what the whole show is building up to, and it reveals Caroline's true feelings and emotions. It certainly can be an acting tour-de-force (as Tonya showed us), and it's difficult voice-wise because she sings soft, loud, high, low, and every other way, and it changes in an instant. Just shows how much Tonya deserved that Tony.

Ones that haven't been mentioned:

George Seurat~SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
Sweeney Todd~SWEENEY TODD

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I definetly agree with Mama Rose and Harold Hill. I've been involved with both those shows and man are those roles extremely demanding.

To the person who mentioned Lili/Kate in KISS ME KATE - are you aware that in the second act, she does not sing a single note until the last scene?

Two physically exhausting male roles are Bobby in CRAZY FOR YOU and Quixote in MAN OF LA MANCHA.

Aldonza is a killer role too. It was one of the first Broadway roles to use a matinee alternate. Besides the vocal demands, there's a lot of physical stuff - the fight scene, the rape scene...

I'm not sure of THE most demanding, but:

cliche, I know... Mama Rose
Don Quixote - MOLM
the Emcee in Cabaret... even though I'm just a tad partial

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I'm not sure how valid of an example Aida is. I *know* that I have biases about that show and about stunt casting and I don't want this thread to become another battle about that issue, but before you use that as an example, I think you need to look at those two things in cotext with one another. The only people who did not do all eight performances a week were the "pop stars" who played the role. Up until Toni was cast, that sort of scheduling wasn't the case. Yes, it's a demanding role, but there *were* plenty of people who could handle it.

*steps off soapbox*

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Max Bialystock, The Producers. Ignoring all the acting and singing and everything (at least he doesn't dance too much), every night he has to go up there and sing "Betrayed". I've sung it before, and I can tell you that song is KILLER on your vocal chords.

Great choices everyone!


I'd say:

-- Rose in GYPSY (the only role so difficult that the legendarily indefatigable Ethel Merman actually missed a few performances -- she burst a blood vessel in her throat and missed a week of performances.... the only time she EVER missed performances in her entire career; Lansbury, Daley, and Peters also missed performances and struggled mightily to complete their runs)

-- Effie White in DREAMGIRLS (Jennifer Holliday missed dozens of performances, as did nearly all of her replacements on Broadway and on the road; as written, perhaps impossible to do eight times a week for months on end)

-- Evita Peron in EVITA (there's a reason that from the get-go, Lupone had Terri Klausner, then Nancy Opel cover the matinees; too rangy and belty for anyone to even try doing more than six performances a week)

-- Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL (there's a reason Streisand left Broadway 40 years ago, never to return; Styne purposely made Fanny's music extremely difficult because the producers wanted Anne Bancroft for the role and Styne wanted Streisand -- he wrote the score so that only Streisand, and a handful of other ridiculously gifted singers could even try to sing it)

-- George M Cohan in GEORGE M (from all accounts -- I never saw it -- the role is an absolute killer)

-- Charity in SWEET CHARITY (Fosse pulled out all the stops to showcase Gwen Verdon; although she was a dancer's dancer and an athelete's athelete, the role damn near killed her; it's the only show I've ever heard of that had two versions during the original run -- on the nights when Gwen simply wasn't feeling up to it, there was a shorter version of the show which cut out two of the production numbers that featured Charity; I'd also include Verdon's role in REDHEAD, which I've heard was even more demanding than Charity)

-- The three lead female roles in THE APPLE TREE (Barbara Harris won the Tony for Best Actress for it and was apparently brilliant, but Tony winner Phyllis Newman was brought in to cover the matinees)

-- The four leads in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF (there was a matinee cast that included Elaine Stritch as Martha -- can you imagine?)

-- Peter Allen in BOY FROM OZ (how the hell did Hugh Jackman do that show for a year without missing a performance?)

-- Guido in NINE

-- Harold Hill in THE MUSIC MAN

-- Fosca in PASSION (without dredging up the drama again, how did Murphy sing this role eight times a week for months and only miss one performance, while having such problems playing Ruth Sherwood?)

-- Caroline in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE (Pinkins was robbed)

-- Liza Minnelli's lead role in THE ACT (she lip-syched one of the dance numbers because it was so strenuous; she sang everything else in the show, though)

-- Joe Wellington in GOLDEN BOY (was taxing even for the great Sammy Davis Jr.)

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Updated On: 10/10/04 at 02:15 AM