why is Max Bialystock considered the male Mama rose?- Page 2

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 7:57am

There are no silly questions. Just silly people.

"Silly People."




George Lee Andrews sings Sondheim's 'Silly People'

Updated On: 8/16/12 at 07:57 AM

[JeanGudio]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 8:03am

He isn't but it is a very difficult role and got Nathan a tony and an oliver award. But why could not the question be why is it so difficult ?

[JeanGudio]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 8:14am

I do not think it is its just a physical and demanding but its satire rose is actually real emotion I think the closest is Melacore

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 8:39am

"it never even really occured to me that max was a challenging role."

Really?

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 9:39am

What is Melacore?

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 11:13am

'"it never even really occured to me that max was a challenging role."

Really?'

Right??? Especially when countered with Che and Javert. I mean...yes...they can be a tough sing if you don't have the voice. But otherwise...

As an actor (and only for myself), I can say it's much easier to do a long run of an emotionally challenging role than a physically challenging one. Even a vocally challenging role is easier than one in which you hurl your entire body through three hours pretty much non-stop. And that's exactly what the role of Max is.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 11:42am

I guess it can be considered Physically demanding but than again so is playing Tarzan.what's the difference? Does max really sing more than the male voice should have too?

I guess he does sing alot? He sings roughly 13 songs including reprises,he does have to run around the stage and be highly energetic so i guess you cant deny that its not a challenging role,but I still dont know how it ranks up with other characters.

[NoName3]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 11:51am

It's a shame Ethel didn't live long enough to play Maxine, with Mary as Leonie.

But then again -- were Ethel and Mary ever "real" stars?

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 12:06pm

I did a rather silly (but utterly fun) show called THE BIG BANG a couple of years ago. It's a relatively easy sing. But it was NON-STOP and brutal. It's a two-hander musical in the same vein as THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED), and I thought I wasn't going to make it through the entire run. And it was only a month and a half.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 12:28pm

lol i know what thats like.When i played cat in the hat i had just got out of physical therapy for an achilles tendon rupture and my doctor cleared me but the character was soo physically demanding,ecspecially the first 20 minutes of it.Running around being crazy really is harder than it looks.When i wasnt onstage i was backstage on the ground catching my breathe till i had to go back on.I was so afraid i was doing to much on my foot that each performance i prayed and prayed nothing would go wrong and that i didnt re injure it. we did 10 shows and each one i was terrified but i didnt show it.the show must go on! thankfully nothing went wrong but it was a hell of an experience.Very rewarding

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 3:10pm

Max Bialystock is his own man and can not be compared to any other man... or woman.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 5:33pm

How did Nathan Lane feel about the role? did he miss alot of performances? Did he do matinees?

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 8/17/12 at 1:39am

Energy wise, I'd say Max and Rose have a lot in common, but the roles themselves are quite different. Max is pretty much a buffoon throughout the whole show. Rose is a driven, determined, silly, sexy (sometimes), semi-buffoon in the first act, but transforms into a hardened, bitter, sad, and scary woman by the end of the show.

Rose has a much bigger character arc. Well, come to think of it, the reason people respect the role of Rose so much is that she probably has a bigger arc than any other musical theatre role ever written. I mean, I can't think of many musicals where the lead character begins in one place and ends in a completely different place.

She doesn't really change that much over the course of the evening (but what human really does?), but she does seem to have some sort of epiphany at the end.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/17/12 at 1:53am

"I can't think of many musicals where the lead character begins in one place and ends in a completely different place"

Eva Peron
Jean VelJean
Diana Goodman

But yeah i get your point.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 8/17/12 at 2:12pm

I've always heard her referred to as Mama Rose AND Madame Rose. I didn't know only one was correct.

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 8/17/12 at 2:43pm

Those are all good examples, broadway guy! Roles like this are rare as can be. Those are the roles that win people Tonys and become classics. There's a reason we keep reviving certain shows.

ChiChi, I don't really understand why people freak out when she's called Mama Rose. After all, Louise calls her Mama throughout the entire show, even though Rose like to refer to herself as Madame. I don't really think of it as a big deal.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/17/12 at 2:47pm

And I think people have said on here that Ethel Merman called her "Mama Rose"

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 8/17/12 at 3:28pm

Nathan did all 8 shows a week, but he DID take a doctor-ordered "vocal rest" and Brad Oscar stepped in.

He said it was a very physical and fun role.