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What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they originated?

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#1

What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they originated?

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:37am

I am sure that someone, somewhere knows this, but I thought it would be a fun question to ask anyway. I was just thinking of how long some performers have stayed in rolls, and others...not so long, and I thought "who has stayed in their role the longest?"
#2

re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they originated?

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:39am

She didn't originate it - but Cathy Rigby has been Peter Pan for decades.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
#5

re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they ori

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:49am

Certainly not *the* longest I'm sure, but Adam Pascal's initial run with AIDA on Broadway was something like three and a half years. Then he came back to close for two months, but he'd also done the show in Chicago, before Broadway. All together, it was a nearly five year committment.
A work of art is an invitation to love.
#8

re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they ori

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:54am

From the Access Hollywood bit on the movie. They were talking about the Justin Timberlake rumours, and the guy was like "So, Roger. Your part. Justin Timberlake?! Thank God-" and Adam goes "Well, thank God for me!" I thought it read as the diva "attitude," like we should all be thanking God that we've got HIM and not Justin, but a lot of people thought he was saying it was great for him that he gets to do the movie. I like my interpretation; it's funnier. re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they ori
A work of art is an invitation to love.
#9

re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they ori

Posted: 6/18/05 at 12:56am

Carol Channing did THOUSANDS of performance of Dolly, as did Yul Brynner as The King and Richard Kiley as Don Quixote. Over the course of decades, on Broadway and on the road, I believe they all did some 3000 to 5000 performances.

And several recent reviews mentioned that Hal Halbrook has done over 2000 performances in "Mark Twain Tonight!"
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#14

re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they ori

Posted: 6/18/05 at 1:20am

Certainly not *the* longest I'm sure, but Adam Pascal's initial run with AIDA on Broadway was something like three and a half years.

I don't believe that's true; I caught AIDA in July 2001, and by that time Adam had left the show already. It may have only been temporary, but it was an absence that lasted awhile, I believe; Heather Headley wrote about working with an unfamiliar co-star in her online journal.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
#17

re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they ori

Posted: 6/18/05 at 1:26am

I think they meant Marlene Danielle, who was with the show from opening day until its closing performance 18 years later.
"Wherever you go... I'll be right there. When you get your own private kick in the ass, just remember: it's a present from me to you." Rose's dying words to Louise
#21

re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they ori

Posted: 6/18/05 at 1:39am

It seems like Colm Wilkinson was Jean Valjean for a long time on bway in Les Miz. he also did the phantom though. so I really dont know how long he did it for.

No, Colm Wilkinson would have only been in LES MIZ on Broadway for about two years; the show opened in 1987, and by 1989 he was opening for PHANTOM in Toronto, where he stayed for almost four years.

However, certainly Colm Wilkinson has honoured requests to return to to LES MIZ several times: for the 10th Anniversary concert, for the 1998 engagement in Toronto, the 1999 engagement in Dublin, and the special LES MIZ production in Shanghai.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
#23

re: What Broadway Performer has stayed the longest in a lead role, they ori

Posted: 6/18/05 at 1:44am

Then I think she (Marlene) wins!

Wow, just looked at my playbill - which is from the end of August....the show closed in September.

Wow. Damn. long time.

JUST FOUND THIS:

Employed 231 actors. (Nineteen have died; two--Marlene Danielle and Susan Powers--have been with the show since day one.)



Source
Mama Korey

The Beauty Is: Kelli O'Hara Online

Updated On: 6/18/05 at 01:44 AM

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