The Same Role in Different Shows
The Same Role in Different Shows
#1The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 12:57am
I was looking over Anne Nathan's credits the other day and saw that she played Emma Goldman in both the ASSASSINS revival and RAGTIME (where she was the understudy in the original cast).
Has anyone else ever played the same role on Broadway in two completely different shows?
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#2The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 8:18am
Yes. Offhand:
Jason Robards and Kevin Spacey each played Jamie Tyrone in both "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "A Moon For The Misbegotten".
Matthew Broderick played Eugene Morris Jerome in both "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues".
Raynor Schein played Rutherford Selig in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" and "Gem of the Ocean".
Chita Rivera played Rosie in both "Bye Bye Birdie" and its sequel "Bring Back Birdie".
Updated On: 11/2/13 at 08:18 AM
#2The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 8:33amStephen Spinella has the distinction of being the only actor to win two Tonys for playing the same role in two plays.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#3The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 9:07am
I've always been a little cynical about that distinction, best12, because when I saw "Angels" prior to its NY opening it was still being treated as one play.
But you are technically right, and in that case the entire casts (Stephen Spinella, Joe Mantello, Marcia Gay Harden, David Marshall Grant, Jeffrey Wright, Kathleen Chalfant, Ellen McLaughlin and Ron Leibman) of "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika" played the same roles in two plays. Ditto their replacements (including Cynthia Nixon, Cherry Jones and F. Murray Abraham) and the cast of the Signature revival (Christian Borle, Zachary Quinto, Billy Porter, Frank Wood, Robin Bartlett, Robin Weigert, Bill Heck and Zoe Kazan).
Updated On: 11/2/13 at 09:07 AM
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#4The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 9:39amHoward Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney played the same roles in both Life With Father and Life With Mother.
#5The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 12:26pm
To be a little more clear, I meant the same actor playing the same role in two shows written by different people.
Most of the examples being mentioned are in sequels or companion pieces, but what Nathan accomplished is much more rare.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Mattbrain
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
#6The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 12:38pmKen Howard played Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
--Cartman: South Park
ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#7The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 12:53pmIs it more rare? Sure, but I'm not seeing how it's an accomplishment. I can't see how that many folks would be striving to play the same role in more than one production.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#8The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 1:04pmYou're talking about historical characters. I don't know of many examples of this on stage, but Peter O'Toole playing King Henry in the screen versions of both BECKET and THE LION IN WINTER does come to mind.
#9The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 1:19pmA good number of people have played the Phantom in both the Yeston/Kopit and ALW Phantoms. (Christine as well.)
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
jonartdesigns
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/04
#10The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 2:17pmWilliam Daniels played John Adams in 1776, and in the tv movie The Rebels.
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
#11The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 4:00pm
Shuler Hensley did the Frankenstein Monster in both the film "Van Helsing" and the musical "Young Frankenstein"
Frank Langella did Sherlock Holmes for both the William Gilette play and the spinoff play "Sherlock's Last Case" on Broadway.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#12The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/2/13 at 4:06pm
"Is it more rare? Sure, but I'm not seeing how it's an accomplishment. I can't see how that many folks would be striving to play the same role in more than one production."
O'Toole's Henry II in both Becket and Lion in Winter were certainly an accomplishment.
And the same can be said for Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth R and Mary Queen of Scots.
And I wouldn't be surprised if Helen Mirren's Elizabeth II in The Queen and The Audience is also an accomplishment, although I've only seen her in the first, in that it is the same author.
Updated On: 11/2/13 at 04:06 PM
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#13The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/3/13 at 12:42am
Vivien Leigh played Cleopatra in both Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra.
Eli Mintz played Uncle David in both Me and Molly and the musical, Molly.
Updated On: 11/3/13 at 12:42 AM
#14The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/3/13 at 4:08pmOn screen, Bette Davis played Elizabeth I in both ELIZABETH AND ESSEX and THE VIRGIN QUEEN. Also, Anthony Quinn and Lilia Skala played Zorba and Hortense in both the film, ZORBA THE GREEK, and the later musical adaptation, ZORBA (different enough to qualify set guidelines).
Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....
Updated On: 11/3/13 at 04:08 PM
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#15The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/3/13 at 6:22pmHenrik -- What exactly is the accomplishment? Performing the same character in different productions, or the quality of each individual performance? I would guess it's the latter...which is different than to what, I assume, the OP referred.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#16The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/3/13 at 7:14pmDoes anyone remember anyone doing Falstaff in MERRY WIVES and HENRY IV in rep? Orson Welles, maybe? IBDB doesn't show much detail for productions of the former, so I may be thinking of London rather than Broadway, but this rings a bell for me.
#17The Same Role in Different Shows
Posted: 11/3/13 at 8:12pmJohn McMartin has played the male lead in both dramatic and musical versions of THE VISIT. His performance in the New Phoenix Rep production opposite Rachel Roberts was one of the most harrowing and brilliant performances I've ever seen.
Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....
