Is Hamilton one of the most demanding male roles to play?

[RicardoMagon]

 He's hardly ever offstage. The amount of songs he has to sing and rap is through the roof.  It's a 7 shows a week role instead of 8. Can anyone think of a more demanding male role?

[BroadwayConcierge]

Do you mean "demanding" in terms of the physical stamina required to do the role? Because in terms of vocal/acting demand, I think Burr is much tricker than Hamilton.

[RicardoMagon]

I guess i mean stamina, vocally and the amount of time the character is onstage.

He's onstage for the prologue song then he has Aaron burr sir, My shot ( which is grueling), story of tonight.  Then he gets a break during schulyer sisters. Goes back on for farmer refuted, gets one more break during the king george song and then is onstage from right hand man - story of tonight reprise until he gets one break during wait for it. Then he's back on for stay alive all the way up until the act one finale Non Stop. 

And that's just act 1

[Dollypop]

Sweeney Todd is far more demanding vocally.

[adamgreer]

Sweeney Todd and Jean Valjean immediately come to mind.

[Sondheimite]

Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch comes to mind first.  Hedwig is a much more demanding role and, as far as I know, was an eight show a week role on Broadway.  AND, aside from when John Cameron Mitchell hurt himself on stage, no Hedwig ever missed a performance on Broadway. 

Vocally, Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar or Freddie in Chess.

Hamilton may be on stage for most of the show, but Hamilton is an easy role in terms of physical or vocal stamina.  

[RicardoMagon]

My problem with Jean Valjean is he disappears for the second half act 1. He sings alot at the start of the show, adopts cosette. Appears brieflty for look down (with adult cosette) and then disappears until one day more.Then the show gets turned over to the revolutionaries. 

In act 2 he join the revolution and has a few book scenes ( letting javert go). He has  bring him home and then carries Marius through the sewer. But then disapears again until the epologue.

I've always found jean valjean to be one of those roles that looks demanding but isn't as demanding. Sort of like Elphaba. I never found that role to be that demanding either though I see alot of people put it as such.

[RicardoMagon]

Sondheimite said: "Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch comes to mind first. Hedwig is a much more demanding role and, as far as I know, was an eight show a week role on Broadway. AND, aside from when John Cameron Mitchell hurt himself on stage, no Hedwig ever missed a performance on Broadway.

Vocally, Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar or Freddie in Chess.

Hamilton may be on stage for most of the show, but Hamilton is an easy role in terms of physical or vocal stamina."

 

I agree about Hedwig. Thats a crazy role. Judas as well. I disagree on Hamilton though. 

[HogansHero]

Miranda wrote it for himself, and consequently it is not technically demanding as long as you wake up in the morning rapping like he does, and there is virtually no dancing. It's a long show in which he is very present, and it has more words to be sung than any musical ever written (I am pretty sure). But I'd bet if you asked people who have done a lot of big roles in musicals, it would not be in the top 20 of anyone's list.

[RicardoMagon]

HogansHero said: "Miranda wrote it for himself, and consequently it is not technically demanding as long as you wake up in the morning rapping like he does, and there is virtually no dancing. It's a long show in which he is very present, and it has more words to be sung than any musical ever written (I am pretty sure). But I'd bet if you asked people who have done a lot of big roles in musicals, it would not be in the top 20 of anyone's list."

Miranda wakes up rapping like he does and even he did 7 shows a week. Are you saying the actor playing Hamilton should be doing 8 shows instead of 7? I think a hole in your argument is that alot of men who have done big roles ( Sweeney, Hedwig, Judas, Valjean) will never be playing Hamilton, at least not professionally and have never had to rap and sing at the same time. It's comparing apples to oranges, which is why I guess this topic is hard.

I think Lin has written a very different type of role for a very different skill set. I'd also like to point out that many of the men who have played Hamilton ( Michael Luwoye, Jin Ha, Joseph Morales, Miguel  Cervantes, and others) don't wake up rapping like Lin does.

If there was a top 20 list, I personally would think Hamilton would make top 15.

I've heard your opinion on Hamilton, but what do you think about the character of Burr?

[HogansHero]

I think Burr is "more demanding" than Hamilton, but I don't think it is up in the stratosphere of demanding roles either. you are of course free to feel differently. (Let me add: I don't equate exhausting with demanding.)

[RicardoMagon]

I think we have to have a distinction between exhausting and demanding. I don't think either role is exhausting physically. Though I would say, i implore everyone to go sing Hamilton's part in  "My shot". It's an incredibly taxing song on the vocal chords. Do that and then sing all of Hamilton's parts in the rest of the show. It's pretty brutal. 

But Hogan, it's interesting you find Burr more demanding than Hamilton. Please elaborate. 

[Mediamaven2]

f. It's a 7 shows a week role instead of 8. Can anyone think of a more demanding male role?"

I think the 7 show a week instead of 8 is just because LMM started that precedent. And that was more  because of his own personal reasons and position with the show / involved in so much else including press at the very beginning....I kind of remember reading that at the time... I don' t think it had to do with the show's demands being any greater on his role vs Burr or by comparison to other demanding leads in other shows....

[RicardoMagon]

But then why not just re-install the 8 shows a week after he left the cast? 

[denali.fire]

Evan Hansen is a very  difficult role.

[Oak2]

The most demanding role is Bad End Pippin. Only one performance, but I'd say it's pretty brutal and demanding

[Jarethan]

It was a flop, so not a lot of people saw it, but I would have said that Christopher Plummer's role as Cyrano was significantly more demanding, as was Sweeney Todd.  Not an actor, so I am just opining, but I would have thought that Evan Hansen is a much more demanding role, as are Peter Allen in Oz (don't laugh...Jackman didn't stop for air), Don Quixote, Max Bialystock?????, and maybe Barnum.  Those are off the top of my head.

I have to admit that I don't remember Hamilton being on-stage every minute.  Given the roles that Miranda wrote for Burr, Washington, Lafayette / Jefferson, the Schuyler sisters, King George et al, I sort of thought of Hamilton as a quintessential ensemble show, with no single role seeming to be 'challenging for the record books.'

 

[JudyDenmark]

I would say Jekyll/Hyde is definitely up there. As is whoever's playing the D'Ysquith Family in Gentleman's Guide. We're all entitled to our opinions, but the role of Hamilton would definitely not break my Top 25. I don't think the music is particularly challenging to sing in the scheme of musical theatre scores, and I agree with Jarethan that it really feels like an ensemble show more than anything. 

[RicardoMagon]

Is Don Quixote really that challenging of a role? I'm not very familiar with that show. I'll have to research it more.

And yes I think Evan Hansen is definitely up there. 

[Jarethan]

Again not an actor, but I have always thought of it as a demanding role.  Partly because it seems to work best when played by a man of a certain age, but more because it just seems like such an intense role.  

[TexanAddams18]

I think Phil in Groundhog Day is more demanding than Hamilton, Burr, Evan, etc. 

[CedricOates]

I believe Frankie Valli is a more demanding role than Hamilton. He’s on stage 95% of the musical and sings 27 songs that are not easily sung.

[JayElle]

Depends on what demanding means.  Sirius XM interviewed Lin back in 2016.  He said there were 20k words to remember.  I don't remember if that is entire show...likely.  Assuming a 8.5 x 11 inch paper can hold 600 words average, that would mean 33 pages for 20k words.  He said he'd sometimes  forgot them and would make stuff up as he went along.  Far more demanding than movie actors.

[HogansHero]

RicardoMagon said: "I think we have to have a distinction between exhausting and demanding. I don't think either role is exhausting physically. Though I would say, i implore everyoneto go sing Hamilton's part in "My shot". It's an incredibly taxing song on the vocal chords. Do that and then sing all of Hamilton's parts in the rest of the show. It's pretty brutal.

But Hogan, it's interesting you find Burr more demanding than Hamilton. Please elaborate."

The exhaustion in the role is in spitting out 11 times as many words as any other singer, not the exhaustion of a heavy dance track. But I would not say that the role taxes the vocal chords significantly. Burr is more forcefully sung and has a lot more dancing/movement. (In fact, as I noted, LMM created Hamilton for his own non-dance oriented self.) I doubt Miranda could dance Room without being laughed off the stage.  And yes, Frankie Valli is many times more demanding.

[RicardoMagon]

I have forgotten Frankie Valli. I can't think of any male role in musical theater that has to sing as much as he does.