Characters You Never Liked Until You Saw A Different Interpretation- Page 2

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 6/16/09 at 11:38am

Schmerg who have you seen as Eponine?

I've seen some outstanding Eponines, the very best in my opinion being Felicia Curry, who was adorable. But none of them could make me actually care for the character. I left the performances loving the actors but still disliking Eponine.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/16/09 at 12:23pm

It's sort of funny, but my mother (keep in mind, she was in her 50s at the time) hated the character of Angel in Rent until she got to see Wilson Jermaine Heredia in the role. Then Angel became her favorite character in the show. To this day, Rent is the only show she has seen twice on Broadway and that was on two consecutive trips.

[Brick]

Posted: 6/16/09 at 12:35pm

Lovett. Until the 2005 revival.

I know, I know... I've always thought the part was amazing, but felt that everyone worked so hard trying to mimic Angela that no one played the obvious darker colors of the character.

I'll never forget the moment in the 2005 revival when Micahel Cerveris' Sweeney grabs Lovett by the throat - well, by the face, I guess - and then let's go, sending Lovett panting across the room in fear. Patti's Lovett retreated to the chair across the room, leaned on it's back, with her hair covering her face. Then, she slowly pulls her hair out of her face while looking over her shoulder at Sweeney. The look on Patti's face was a revelation. She liked his brutality. And of course she did: this is a woman who in an hour's stage time will hatch a plot to bake corpses into pies.

Loved it.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/16/09 at 4:28pm

Dogberry in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. I've seen assorted productions of this play over the years, and always sat there waiting for his scenes to be over. The character just seems dated out of all possible understanding now, unfunny and uninteresting. I'm including Michael Keaton's excruciating performance as Dogberry in Branagh's film, which is really just an abortion.

And then in Central Park a couple of years back Brian Murray played Dogberry, and made the character annoying and pompous but still oddly loveable, closer to Oliver Hardy than anyone I'd ever seen in the role.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 6/16/09 at 4:50pm

Romeo from Romeo and Juliet, until I saw the all-male production at the Shakespeare Theatre in D.C. Dang, Finn Wittrock gave kind of a bizarre performance, very immature and awkward and hyperactive, but he made Romeo so much more human and loveable, and he completely nailed the awkward teenager aspect of the character in addition to being totally adorable. I'd never seen the balcony scene played as a comedy before. I loved that production...

He said in an interview about the role:
I am feeling the power of youth in my life right now, and this is the quintessential play about youth's glory, as well as its downfall. It is also a play about love, obviously, but in not such obvious ways. For instance, there?s the love of friendship, which is incredibly vivid in this play.

[Geridith]

Posted: 6/16/09 at 4:56pm

Was generally unimpressed with the character of Fiyero until I saw Aaron Tveit.

[Jon18]

Posted: 6/16/09 at 9:57pm

Aida. I think a huge part of it is how the role is written but I've only seen one girl (in a high school production at that) embody the character in a way that made me feel some sympathy for her.