Meatiest/Most Daunting Roles in Musical Theatre History

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 11/5/16 at 12:15pm

What are the most daunting, herculean, meaty, juicy roles in American musical theatre history? I mean this in terms of either acting, singing, or both (and obviously subjectively).

Think along the lines of Mama Rose, George Seurat, Hedwig...

Updated On: 11/5/16 at 12:15 PM

[TerrenceIsTheMann]

Posted: 11/5/16 at 12:25pm

I would say Aaron Burr could be put up there. You have to act, rap, sing and dance extremely well. Sweeney Todd, Sally Bowles, Coalhouse Walker, and Bruce Bechdel are all pretty challenging as well to me.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 11/5/16 at 12:53pm

I'd say both Monty Nevarro and the D'ysquith's from A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. On one hand, you have to play like 9 separate personalities throughout the show, and on the other hand, Monty almost never leaves the stage for the entire show. 

 

Also Leo Frank.

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 11/5/16 at 1:10pm

Eva Perón and Elle Woods are the first to come to mind. And I know there's a big debate regarding if Elle is actually challenging, but I'm not looking to get into that debate. Meaty, no. Incredibly daunting? Yes.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 11/5/16 at 1:27pm

I don't know about others, but for me, a role where you almost never leave the stage (like Elle Woods) is pretty daunting.

[UrNotAMachine]

Posted: 11/5/16 at 1:59pm

Max Bialystock has to be up there. Just the song "Betrayed" alone is a huge undertaking.

[JennH]

Posted: 11/5/16 at 2:40pm

PThespian said: "ALW seems to write mammoth parts. 

Eva Peron, Judas, Jesus, Christine (vocally) and now Dewey. 

Dewey belts out his rock music, dances, jumps from chairs and tables, does his one man "Legend of the Rent", play the guitar, act, etc. 

 

"

EEhhhhhh...Christine really isn't all that crazy when you think about it, because she has enough breaks in between when she does sing, but also all of her singing lies in the nice mid range. It's no secret that a good chunk of her material is prerecorded and the song that DOES/WOULD make her a somewhat tough sing because it's the one that encompasses her whole damn range, is ALL prerecorded. Many Christines have said while they're grateful for two shows off every week, they many times don't...really need it. A well trained soprano can almost file her nails by those vocals.  No denying he does write stupid hard, mammoth parts that are near impossible to pull off 8 times a week for a long run, and all a little different in their requirements, but I'd give the 'mammoth' title to the Phantom himself. He may only be on stage/present for say...20-30 minutes of a 2 and a half hour show, but when he is, he's GUNNING it, it's all high energy. I call those roles high wire acts, the ones that may not be on stage a lot but are always so high octane when they are. I find that roles that are almost always on stage you can find many ways to conserve and stretch your energy and not lose steam and that's fine, the energy isn't always GO GO GO the entire time. But the rest of those roles...yeah, STUPID demanding and hard. And I'm adding Joseph and Narrator to that ALW list. That's pretty uncomfortable singing they do. 

Of course, the list of demanding/daunting/etc. roles can be lengthy but WHAT makes then difficult or WHY varies for each one. 

One MAMMOTH male part we can all agree on (I hope) is Jekyll/Hyde. NIGH IMPOSSIBLE to do many times a week for a long run. And Lucy is a difficult sing as she's pretty much all power belt but a lot of it lies in the THE most uncomfortable spots in a woman's belt voice. Even Elphaba is slightly more comfortable, and that's saying something. 

I've concluded over the years, it's Wildhorn and ALW that are the biggest culprits of vocal damage because they put NO thought whatsoever to vocal pedagogy when they wrote their vocal lines. Of course, this an analysis of the vocals of those roles, not other aspects. Vocal writers need to study pedagogy again.

Updated On: 11/5/16 at 02:40 PM

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 11/5/16 at 3:46pm

Would Fanny Brice qualify as well?