Which sex has better roles in theatre

[BwayTday]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:01pm

In your opinion, which sex has the better roles? Just who do you think has the best overall parts in broadway theatre?

I think that women get better roles.
Updated On: 7/16/09 at 01:01 PM

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:04pm

I agree that women get better roles. If you look at the nominees from this year, it clearly shows.

Updated On: 7/16/09 at 01:04 PM

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:04pm

I find that depends on if you ask a boy or girl. The grass is always greener...

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:04pm

The other one. Ask anybody and they'll tell you that.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:07pm

Gay.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:09pm

Women get Madame Rose and men get Tevye. It's a toss up, really.

[Little-Lotte]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:18pm

I do think that men often get meatier roles. Yeah you get your occasional awesome women roles but they are few and far between which is why the biggies for women always stand out more because they're not the norm. There are more male playwrights/screenwriters in the world which is a big reason for this. Let's face it, most male playwrights can not write a convincing role for a woman, they're either the madonna or the whore and very two-dimensional. And believe me I'm not in favor of all women playwrights either, some of them aren't great. I actually tend to like more male playwrights but as an actor myself, the roles offered for women aren't that varied.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:36pm

There are better roles out there for women then men, at least in modern theatre.

[AlgonquinProd2]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:40pm

I totally agree that as a general rule...with obvious notable exceptions on both sides....(Shakespeare, anyone?) men tend to write better roles for men and women tend to write better roles for women. African Americans tend to write better roles for African Americans and homosexuals tend to write better roles for homosexuals and aliens from another planet tend to write better plays for aliens from another planet. As a writer, you tend to write what you know, build on your own personal experiences. There have been remarkable plays written by men for women, and women for men, but I think the general rule is still valid. Therefore, it depends on the season. If the season is dominated by male writers (and that includes revivals), you'll probably have better roles for men. Same is true in reverse.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 1:57pm

Women get much better roles. For me I am always more interested in the women as opposed to the men's role. I normally think the guys are boring (excluding Hair). For example in West Side Story there are two great roles, Maria, and Anita. They are both women roles and then there is Tony, an extremely boring and wimpy role if you ask me.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 2:20pm

I disagree.

If we're talking musical theatre, just making a list of some of the most famous composers will make it obvious that most tend to write shows which showcase males.

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 2:38pm

>>Women get much better roles. For me I am always more interested in the women as opposed to the men's role. I normally think the guys are boring (excluding Hair). For example in West Side Story there are two great roles, Maria, and Anita. They are both women roles and then there is Tony, an extremely boring and wimpy role if you ask me.<<

Yet, in WSS, the men have Tony, Riff, Action, Bernardo, Chino, Doc, Krupke. The women get Anita, Maria and "Anybodys". Anita may be the "better" role, but there are more roles for men - so "lesser" talents may fill those roles, while only the "best" can be Anita. Tony doesn't have to be boring/wimpy. I don't understand why he constantly is played that way - he's the former leader of the Jets - the best fighter - the one with the rep - he beats Riff in a wrestling tussle. He's turned his back on that life - which takes a lot of strength. He doesn't have to be a love sick puppy wandering around the stage.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 2:40pm

Straight Plays-Men
Musicals-Women

[philly03]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 2:52pm

"If we're talking musical theatre, just making a list of some of the most famous composers will make it obvious that most tend to write shows which showcase males."

Seems most of the composers have better roles for women, just listing some of the more recent ones who have the most works there: Lloyd Webber (Eva Peron / Grizabella (Well for Cats!) / Norma Desmond / Christine) and Wildhorn's (Lucy / Marguerite / Even Mina in DRACULA, the musical) best roles tend to be women, but then again people like Sondheim tend to have an equal male & female role (Sweeney / Lovett; George / Dot/Marie) which could be debated which is better...but I'd put the same that Scarywarhol did:

Straight Plays-Men
Musicals-Women

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 2:55pm

^^^^
I agree!

Women get the better roles in musical theatre.

There is a downside though for women. You have a shorter "shelf life" in the entertainment industry unfortunately.

A fairly unknown man could probably get cast as Tevye...but you have to just about be Patti LuPone to play Dolly Levi.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 2:56pm

Uhh, you do know that the shows are written to showcase the males when the male role IS the title?

[philly03]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 3:04pm

"Uhh, you do know that the shows are written to showcase the males when the male role IS the title? "

Haha Well clearly Wildhorn doesn't know that! Any songs people remember from his shows are usually the female ones ... "Bring on the Men," "Someone Like You," "A New Life," "In His Eyes," with .. ONE male song people generally remember "This is the Moment," maybe "I Need to Know" if it's even inthe production you see... Pimpernel, was a Marguerite-o show. DRACULA was a horrible example, my bad! With Phantom though, I guess it could go either way: I always like the Christine more, maybe that's something to do with WHO the character actualyl is ...

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 3:39pm

in regards to musical theater... i always thought that men had better roles but women had better songs to sing

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 6:43pm

Men FTW. But... Updated On: 7/16/09 at 06:43 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 6:43pm

I think the real questions here shouldn't be "Which sex has better roles in theater..." it should be either:

"Which theater role has the best sex?"

Or:

"Take roll: Have YOU ever had sex in a theater?"

I'm nominating Stacee Jaxx and Donna McKechnie's Company character for the first question, and No, but i'll bet most of you have for the second one.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 6:47pm

Women, duh. At least in musical theater. Name me a male equivalent of a Mamma Rose, or an Evita? Nothing.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 6:55pm

Tevye, Sweeney, Jekyll/Hyde, Bobby, Che, Higgins...

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 7:04pm

Jesus, Judas, Nathan, Sky, Billy, Emcee, Harold, King of Siam, George, Seymour, Guido, Phantom, Quixote, Max, Albin, Valjean...

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 7:14pm

All good as well. I didn't include Phantom though because he's only on stage for about 30 minutes and half of that is pre-recorded anyway so... I dunno.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/16/09 at 7:37pm

Still, the dude takes that final bow, he's the star.