Male Evita?- Page 2

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 6:46pm

I'll probably get blasted for this but I don't care.

If you're a guy there are roles that you can't play. If you're a girl there are roles that YOU can't play. Because that's not who the author wrote them for. We live in this weird age when everyone is told they have the absolute right to be able to do anything they want and to tell them that they can't do something is the absolute height of disrespect and you are never allowed to question anyones newfound entitlement to anything.

My father was in a wheelchair and there were quite a few times when he would get so angry that these little shops in this close by city that he wanted to go into weren't wheelchair accessible. And it sucked. He wanted to go in there and look around but he just couldn't because these were tiny little shops that even if they wanted to wouldn't have had the room to be accessible to chairs. And I would let him vent and then tell him that while he couldn't go in that particular shop, he got to park at the entrance to wherever we were and we didn't have to circle around the parking lot for an hour. Or at Disney when the same thing happened, I would tell him that while he couldn't go in that particular place, we waited in ZERO lines that day, had been on every ride 3 times and it was only 3 o'clock.

So yeah, it sucks you won't get to play Rose. But you have all these other roles you can play. Because you're dude. So let the women play the women's roles and enjoy the ones you are right for.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 6:51pm

Amen, Jordan.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 6:57pm

Patti LuPone proved it could.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 7:02pm

LuPone proved what could what?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 7:29pm

Be played by a male.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 7:30pm

You could have a male playing Evita. But he would have to play her as a woman. To that extent, no, it can't be a non-drag role. Of course, "drag role" has additional connotations that need not apply. But Evita is not a role that can be played by a man or, for that matter, even a woman, as anyone other than Eva Peron who was, in life as well as on the stage, categorically a woman.





Updated On: 4/29/14 at 07:30 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 7:44pm

"But Evita is not a role that can be played by either a man or, for that matter, even a woman, as anyone other than Eva Peron who was, in life as well as on the stage, categorically a woman."

Thank you, what a ridiculous and strange idea. And the bullying he would endure? Jesus Christ.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 8:54pm

Thank you everyone who has commented. I will be sure to show him this thread. I particularly want to thank Jordan for stating so eloquently what I tried to tell him. I don't think it would work for a high school production. In fact - I don't think it could EVER work for EVITA. And as Sutton Ross said, there would probably be some form of negative reaction from peers. My friend asked me to pose this question to people who would be honest and made me promise not to shoot it down in the initial post. Thank you all and hopefully this whole mess will be over with - and they can do another musical (My initial suggestion was PROMISES, PROMISES, but he didn't like it that much).

PS I DO believe in gender-blind casting, but only because I saw a wonderful Performance of PASSION with a male Fosca. It really was first class, and this performer really brought nuance and new meaning to the role and story. It remains the only (successful) gender-blind performance I have ever seen. I'm not saying EVITA could never be successful with a man. I just don't think it could today. And especially not on a high school level.

[Steve721]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 9:06pm

A while ago, someone tried to do an all male version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", and Albee put a stop to it, and rightly so in my opinion. Having Martha played by a man would make a hash of his great play.

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 11:24pm

Just to clarify, I never meant I would ever seriously persue it or thought it would ever, EVER be reality. I know there is no way on God's green Earth I'd ever get to play Rose, I was merely commenting it was a dream I had that fit with the original topic of this thread. Believe me, as a fat actor I have WAY more than learned my lesson in life to know what I can be cast as and what I can't. I've seen WAY less talented people get roles over and over because they were thin and (allegedly) pretty. So believe me I understand. And I feel just as vehemently as you do about this gender thing about skinny actors getting roles and then put in fat suits. To me (and other actors of size I've talked to) it is no different than putting people in black face. It is that offensive to me!!!

[darreyl102]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 1:11am

Some female roles I could certainly see being played by a man:
Miss Hannigan in Annie
Madame Morrible in Wicked
Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray
and the like, however Evita is something I just don't see a man being able to pull off (especially without lowering the keys considerably- It's a big task even for the women who play the part.)- It's also a role that I can't see even drag queen doing seriously. I could not see roles like Elle in Legally Blonde, Tracy in Hairspray, or Maria in the Sound of Music played by men. I CAN see Mama Rose being played by a Man though.
- I am for gender blind casting as long as they are the best for the part and can convincingly pull it off. I saw Jinx Monsoon play Velma Von Tussle in Seattle, and though she was good, I didn't buy that she was a woman for one second. I feel that if ever a man were going to play a women- he should play a women- no camp, be authentic. It's okay if the keys are lowered as long as it DOSE NOT ruin the song Like it did with Carly Rae Jepsen in Cinderella

[darreyl102]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 1:23am

Just to clarify- the roles that I listed as roles I could see being played by a man, I mean in drag, not changing the character from female to male.

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 9:57am

I could see a male version of Mrs. Lovett (not a man in drag an actual male version of the character working extremely well. I think it could create an interesting dynamic to the relationship between Sweeney and Lovett. Also, I would totally be up for playing that part.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 11:47am

"I think it could create an interesting dynamic to the relationship between Sweeney and Lovett."

What would that dynamic be? The oh so stereotypical gay guy lusting after the straight man he can never have?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 1:16pm

This is like asking whether an actor, male or female, could play Peter Pan as a girl. The answer in each case is "no."

[candydog2]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 4:05pm

I agree with the majority here. Eva Peron was an actual historical figure and to have her gender changed wouldn't work, and audiences would probably think it a little silly.

Unless a play or musical is rewritten to suit a change of gender in one or more characters, it's just going to fall flat. There are exceptions, but if a man wants to play a role like Evita in an actual production I'm afraid drag is the only way to go, and even then I don't think that the audience would swallow it.

Experimenting in the arts is great, and we should push boundaries in terms of gender, race etc, but I think that you can lose the story that you're trying to tell if you take it too far.

What would I do if there was a role of the opposite gender that I wanted to play? I would look at what it is about the role that makes me want to play it and look for characters of my own gender with similar attributes in other works. The character of the opposite gender could even serve as inspiration for my portrayal. Or I could write my own work with a similar character, much harder, but not impossible.

[SweeneyLovett]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 4:51pm

I don't see Evita working with a man or even a man in drag. I'm not sure why, but I just can't see it. I CAN definitely see Gypsy working with a man in drag as Rose. That might actually be really interesting. Same for The Witch in Into the Woods. Mame, too, and certainly Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. I think that'd be a hoot.

A legit, non-drag male as Mrs. Lovett would be an interesting interpretation as well. After all the revivals we've had of that show, they might as well do something like that the next time they decide to revive it. Didn't Betty Buckley says she'd like to play Sweeney? Why not? haha. It'd at least be fun for a staged concert.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 5:09pm

I don't really view drag as fitting the definition of gender blind casting. In a pure academic sense, I would say gender blind casting is when a role is played by a male or female actor as the sex they are, regardless of the sex of the character they are playing.

And at this point it's an exploration pretty much confined to academic situations and to public domain productions. As mentioned already, most licensing contracts specifically prohibit gender blind casting in full productions.

But as an exercise, I certainly can see how new insights into the characters and text can be gleamed from it. But it's doubtful we will be seeing a fully realized gender blind EVITA anytime soon.

"Drag" has a more legit connotation in Europe (where it's usually called a panto role) and there have been successful major west end revivals that have features men in drag as Dolly Levi, Miss Hannigan, among others.

The only example of gender blind casting I can recall in a major revival of a show was in that very avant grade staging of A Chorus Line in Europe a number of years ago that cast a male actor as Cassie (playing the role of Cassie as a man).

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 5:29pm

"The only example of gender blind casting I can recall in a major revival of a show was in that very avant grade staging of A Chorus Line in Europe a number of years ago that cast a male actor as Cassie (playing the role of Cassie as a man)."

There are others Michael, including Mary Tyler Moore's Claire Harrison (previously Ken Harrison) in Who's Life is it Anyway? Rita Moreno as Olive Madison and Sally Struthers as Florence Ungar in The Odd Couple, and Whoopi Goldberg as Pseudolus In Forum.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 5:30pm

"The only example of gender blind casting I can recall in a major revival of a show was in that very avant grade staging of A Chorus Line in Europe a number of years ago that cast a male actor as Cassie (playing the role of Cassie as a man)."

There are others Michael, including Mary Tyler Moore's Claire Harrison (previously Ken Harrison) in Whose Life is it Anyway? Rita Moreno as Olive Madison and Sally Struthers as Florence Ungar in The Odd Couple, and Whoopi Goldberg as Pseudolus In Forum.

Updated On: 4/29/14 at 05:30 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 6:03pm

Whoopi counts for sure-the others technically may not count, as the roles (and script) were changed to the opposite genders to accomodate.

Lea Delaria has done some gender bending stuff in both Little Abner and Rocky Horror.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 6:03pm

It wouldn't work for Evita, but it would probably be perfect for Norma in Sunset Boulevard.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 6:08pm

No. To all of it. Dumb. Why?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 6:22pm

Point well taken, MB. Though I didn't realize that the Whose Life script was changed.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 7:57pm

Sure a man could play Evita...it probably wouldn't be a GOOD Evita, but he could do it.