Greatest Cast of Characters in a Show

[Hot Pants]

What are some shows that have no shortage of fantastic roles?

Some off the top of my head:

Into the Woods - Probably my #1 favorite ensemble. Much like the show as a whole, the main characters are a perfect blend of comedy and tragedy. The Baker and The Bakers Wife provide the real heart and soul of the show. The Bakers Wifes surprisingly adventurous and at times morally dubious actions can often get some of the best reactions from the audience, making the end of her story all the more heartrending. Meanwhile The Bakers insecurity is universally sympathetic, and I love how he ultimately grows to become the moral center of the story. While at first glance The Witch comes across as cartoonish and over the top, over the course of the show it becomes clear that shes a truly tragic villain, with just the right amount of sorrowful moments and villainous actions to keep her an intriguing presence. Cinderella is a wonderfully refreshing take on the ingenue. Shes a flawed person who initially is a truly weak pushover, but she grows and becomes much stronger and smarter in one of the most complete and fulfilling arcs of this fairy tale. To me, Cinderellas Prince is one of the most hilarious supporting roles to ever be in a musical. Not only is he a ridiculously enormous ham, but he actually gets much more depth than you would think. Sure, hes a grossly perverted jerk, but at the same time his selfishness comes from being seemingly oblivious to the good in his life, and the fact that hell never be truly satisfied is surprisingly saddening. Not to mention, his actor gets to double as the one song wonder that is The Wolf. The Narrator/Mysterious Man gets the honor of grabbing the audiences attention and moving the whole plot along with some beautiful one liners and he also gets to share one of Sondheims saddest and most touching numbers with The Baker. The childlike wonder of Jack is truly endearing, and while hes not the most overtly stupid character, his dim nature brings out plenty of laughs. Little Red Riding Hoods snarky and somewhat sociopathic attitude makes her one of the funniest parts of the show. The two child characters learning morality is done in a way that gets the message across just right, without feeling too overly preachy. Even some of the smaller roles have that right mix of comedy and drama, such as Jacks Mother(A stern and nagging mother, but she gets to prove in the second act just how much she loves her son), Rapunzel(Her craziness gets some good laughs, but its clear that it comes from having such an unhealthy and abusive relationship with her mother), and Rapunzels Prince(Like his brother hes a hammy douche, but hes also forced to watch the woman that hes deluded himself into thinking he loves being crushed to death. Also, while Cinderellas Prince is funnier, Rapunzels Prince gets to sing some of the most hilarious lines Stephen Sondheims ever put on stage). To me, Into the Woods is the most consistently strong cast in any show.

Angels in America - I wont go into too much detail on all the characters since they all have so much depth that it would take forever to write about them individually. But outside of the Angel(A great part, but its by far the most supporting role in the show, meaning unlike everyone else, she doesnt really have a journey to go on), every one of the principles has a truly fantastic arc that holds the viewers attention and doesnt let them go until the curtain has gone down. The real standouts being Prior Walter and Roy Cohn. Ill never not be impressed with Priors story. The character seemingly transcends comedy and drama, balancing both of them in a way that not only makes him the funniest character, but the saddest one. The audience roots for him, cries with him, and laughs with him. Seeing a seemingly normal man find the strength to beat AIDS and stand up for humanity is nothing short of inspiring. As for Roy, he is without a doubt one of the greatest villains of all time. His principles and actions are horrific, disgusting, and irredeemable. And yet, his hopeless battle against AIDS gives just enough of a sympathetic side. The show never forgets that hes a monster, but theres some strange, indescribable charisma that makes it so difficult to take your eyes off of him. It wouldve been so easy for Tony Kushner to make Roy Cohn into an embarrassing straw character thats 100% evil. And while his portrayal is extremely unflattering, Roys still a fantastic 3 dimensional character. Hes incredibly intelligent, ruthless, self loathing, terrifying, pitiable, unflinching, a scoundrel, a victim, and so much more. While many of the characters are quite different, they all have one thing in common. They get to speak Tony Kushners beautiful words. The dialogue is somehow both realistic and poetic, and it makes every member of the cast truly entrancing, in a way that few casts are.

Sweeney Todd - Sweeney Todd is home to two of the most brilliantly strong leads in any musical. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are just simply enrapturing. Todd is tragic, terrifying, mournful, and frighteningly clever. Lovett, on the other hand is hilarious, devious, lovestruck, and almost entirely morally bankrupt. Theyre perfectly paired protagonists, with Sweeneys crushing drama being contrasted with Mrs. Lovetts wonderful comedy. This is also done in a way where neither feel too one note, as Lovett has plenty of gentler and more somber scenes, while Todd gets to have his fair share of funny moments. While its practically impossible (as long as the actors arent woefully miscast) for the supporting players to steal the show from the leads, theyre still a uniformly excellent set of characters. Something thats so great about the cast is that it feels like all their voices are written so differently that they each stand out for their big moments. Toby is without a doubt the most heartbreaking character in the show, with no shortage of misfortune falling on his shoulders. Even the one person who seems to care for him is still willing to let him die. His childlike innocence only serves to make his story even more depressing, making him not only one of the biggest standouts of the cast, but the real heart of the show. While Anthony and Joanna may not seem like the most interesting roles on paper, in my opinion, I think that theyre wonderful parodies of the classic love at first sight stock characters(without ever feeling too overt to disrupt the mostly serious nature of the show). I believe that anyone who plays the roles as if theyre supposed to be straight dramatic characters is missing the point, because embracing the comedy of these two (while still knowing when to play the drama straight) makes them stand out in a way that is much more affecting and rewarding than the likes of their more generic peers(Marius and Cossette, Billy and Hope, etc.). Judge Turpin is one of the slimiest, most disgusting characters to ever appear in a musical, and provides an opportunity for an actor to let out their true wickedness. It makes it much easier to root for Sweeney throughout the show knowing that it means the Judge will eventually get what he deserves. The music of the show is probably the scariest score to ever appear on Broadway, and its the Judges unnerving songs that really get underneath an audiences skin(Any production that cuts out his version of Johanna is making a huge mistake, since, despite being his most villainous moment, is also the number where hes gets most of his depth from. For that matter, cutting out any of the music from this show is wrong). The Beggar Woman has the opportunity to perform some of the most complex and difficult music in the show. Not only that, but thanks to the big twist surrounding her, it makes first time viewers appreciate all of the actress work much more in hindsight. Said twist also makes a role that, at first seems to be rather unimportant, into one of the most tragic character of the entire story. The Beadle may not be a particularly complex character, but at the same time, this is more than made up for with his incredible high notes. The unique music for Beadle Bamford is absurdly demanding, but if the actor pulls it off, it makes a role thats not particularly detailed into a potential audience favorite. Also if youre going by Jack Eric Williams performance in the original cast, the role has the potential to be wonderfully hammy. Of course it can always be done deadpan like Alexander Gemignanis highly under appreciated and side splitting portrayal. Even Pirelli, by far the smallest principle role, gets to have an uproarious chance to show off his performers operatic voice. Sweeney Todd is my all time favorite show, and the cast is a big reason why.

[A Director]

Most plays by William Shakespeare!

[ND_2000]

For me it has to be Hello Dolly. What a kooky group of characters. I'm a sucker for a show with so many couples. Dolly, Horace, Cornelius, Irene, Barnaby, Minnie, Ermengarde, Ambrose. Not to mention Ernestina! I love all of them.

[Deena Jones]

Mystery of Edwin Drood

[thirtythirtyninety]

Guys & Dolls seems the obvious choice

[bwayphreak234]

Ragtime.

[Impossible2]

The Great Comet x

The Band's Visit x

[Jarethan]

Les Miserables

Follies

To Kill a Mockingbird (I acknowledge that may be due to previous knowledge of the book, but there were a lot of really well-defined characters).

Sweeney Todd

You Can't Take iI With You

Long Day's Journey Into Night

 

[MyLife]

...Spelling Bee

As far an ensemble casts go these characters are top-notch. They're each memorable on their own but come together so perfectly as a whole.

[AEA AGMA SM]

thirtythirtyninety said: "Guys & Dolls seems the obvious choice"

Unless you're a "doll" as there are just the two female leads, and then two more female characters who have a tiny handful of lines between them.

[BuddyStarr]

The Drowsy Chaperone

Drood (one of my favorites as an actor)

[a-mad]

Easily.... Ragtime

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Man Who Came To Dinner and You Can't Take It With You have such great roles. Lead roles, a handful of prominent supporting roles, and some 1-2 scene showstopers. It's basically the only reason why high schools continue to do them.

[Hot Pants]

I agree that You Can’t Take it With You has a wonderful cast. It was the first show I did in high school (I was Mr. DePinna) and I had a blast. Of course the problem with high schools doing that show is that while it keeps it alive in younger performers, if these performers are anything like my high school, it means that the charming and heartwarming story gets bogged down by over the top actors trying way too hard to be funny. My production’s Kolenkhov gave the hammiest performance I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and not in a good way.

[Madison7]

Newsies is the first one that came to my mind

[bwaylvsong]

Have to agree with “Spelljng Bee” and “Ragtime.”
Also have to disagree with “Les Miz”, which I love, but has so many characters that are not at all fleshed out, most of whom are named in the program but not referred to by name in the show itself, so you often don’t even know which character/actor is singing at a given time.

[MollyJeanneMusic]

The first thing I thought of was Pippin. Major roles for both guys and girls, young and old, all types of voices.

[dramamama611]

MollyJeanneMusic said: "The first thing I thought of was Pippin. Major roles for both guys and girls, young and old, all types of voices."

August, Osage County 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Company yet. What I love about the show (among many things) is that every character gets their own little chance to shine. It may be Bobby's star vehicle/story, but it is still one of the best ensemble pieces I've seen.

[EvanstonDad]

Urinetown. Can't think of a single role in that musical, including anyone in the ensemble, that wouldn't be a blast to play.

[greensgreens]

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark! I mean, it's got SWISS MISS, the alligator guy, and the blow-up wrestling challenger - not to mention the whole chorus of Spider-Men and Arachne!

[stoptheworld38]

Come From Away for sure. Each and every character has their own story that they were going through, and as the audience, we get to see it all, rather than just following one or two lead roles, the way it is in a lot of shows. There's the story of Beverley's journey to becoming the first female American Airlines captain, the story of the two Kevins finding acceptance as a gay couple, the story of Nick and Diane's blossoming romance, the story of Hannah struggling to find out whether or not her son is alive, and so much more. Not to mention, all of the "others" who the 12 actors depict at one time or another, in addition to their main named characters. And the fact that they can transform from one character to another in a matter of seconds. Also, since Come From Away is entirely based on real events and real people (most if not all of whom have seen the show numerous times and have become close friends with the performers), that adds a whole other level. Due to the ensemble cast, the fact that the show is a true story, and the strong connections the actors have with each other in real life as well as onstage, in this show we see a lot less turnover in cast, with 9 out of the 12 original cast members still playing their roles now, almost 2 and a half years after it opened on Broadway - not to mention that most of those people started out pre-Broadway at La Jolla or in Washington, DC. While I have not yet seen Come From Away on Broadway (only in Toronto so far - also incredible!) I did meet most of the Broadway cast in January and can say that their kindness and inspiration of the characters they play is every bit as true of who they are as people off the stage. In the span of 100 minutes, you end up leaving feeling as though you really know so many incredible real life stories all at once, which to mean, is one of the best indications of an amazing piece of theatre with an amazing cast.

[Hot Pants]

greensgreens said: "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark! I mean, it's got SWISS MISS, the alligator guy, and the blow-up wrestling challenger - not to mention the whole chorus of Spider-Men and Arachne!"

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner

[darquegk]

I can't stop world-building! It's getting annoying as I work my way through the libretto for my latest show. I keep making "Woman in crowd 2" and "fairground girl 1" into a single character, giving her an arc, a feature number... it's getting out of hand.

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Surprised that no one has mentioned Rent. What a great ensemble of roles.