Cross Sex Casting

[baritonewithtenortendencies]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 9:33am

So, we all know about female roles written for men (Edna, The Trunchbull) and male roles written for women (Peter Pan, Gary Coleman) 

But what about female roles just being played by men on Broadway specifically

The only one I can think of is Harvey Fierstein as Jeanie in that Hair benefit performance

Female playing male I can think of a few

Lillias White as Hermes, Patina Miller as The Leading Player, Whoopi Goldberg as Pseudolus 

I'm curious about this because I don't know that many examples of roles like this that have been played by both men and women

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 9:46am

It's not Broadway, but when the Roundabout revived Tennessee Williams's THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE in 2011, a male actor (Edward Hibbert) played The Witch of Capri, a traditionally female role.

An older example is the play WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY?, which opened on Broadway with a male actor (Tom Conti) in the leading role. The part was then rewritten to allow Mary Tyler Moore to replace him. The play now essentially exists in two versions -- one with a male main character and one with a female main character -- and has been revived for both men and women.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 10:38am

Let's not forget Neil Simon famously reworked The Odd Couple to have it star Rita Moreno and Sally Struthers as Olive and Florence, and have the Pigeon Sisters become the Costazuela Brothers.

Updated On: 12/12/23 at 10:38 AM

[sondheim94]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 1:27pm

In 2011, Brian Bedford directed (and starred as) Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest.

[binau]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 1:39pm

I guess the Company revival doesn’t STRICTLY count because the text was actually changed to switch the sex of the character, but I guess it kind of counts. 

[baritonewithtenortendencies]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 2:01pm

Lena Hall playing Hedwig in the National Tour of Hedwig kind of counts but that wasn't Broadway

[Tsao5]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 3:43pm

There are not that many examples here. However, there seems to be more in the UK. Recently, Joanna Ampil as the engineer in Miss Saigon, and there have been a few Miss Hannigans played by Drag Performers as women. In emergencies here, there have been some times males have gone on in female roles. In the revival of Cats, Corey Snide went on for JennyAnyDots, and in Hadestown, males have gone on as the Fates. Titus Burgess played the Witch in Into the Woods, I believe in Florida somewhere (though I am not sure if he played it as a Witch or a Warlock).

Generally, license companies for musicals are quite protective of their shows.  For example, I know  there was a theater that wanted to have in their production of Little Shop, Mr. Mushnik become Mrs. Mushnik with a celebrity in the role. But that request was denied. 

 

[sondheim94]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 5:41pm

A few more came to mind --

The late 90s revival of Grease we saw Darlene Love, Mary Bond Davis, and Jennifer Holiday as the Teen Angel singing Beauty School Dropout.

Rosie O'Donnell and Cathy Rigby played the Cat in the Hat in Seussical after the role being originated by a man.

Melissa Etheridge played St. Jimmy in American Idiot.

Also the role of Papa Ge in the Once on This Island revival was cast as a woman instead of the traditional man - though a man did also understudy the role.

[sondheim94]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 5:45pm

Ok last one -- Lea Delaria in Rocky Horror playing Eddie and Dr. Scott. 

[Kitsune]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 5:50pm

Didn't Waitress have a stunt cast for the role of Joe that was a woman? I remember hearing they changed the lines about losing the baby when Joe is reminiscing.

On another note: I've seen a couple of local productions of Guys and Dolls where Arvide Abernathy is a female character. I also recently saw a local production of Anything Goes where Moonface Martin is a woman, who instead disguises herself as a nun (and gets the girl in the end).

[annang]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 8:23pm

Kitsune said: "Didn't Waitress have a stunt cast for the role of Joe that was a woman? I remember hearing they changed the lines about losing the baby when Joe is reminiscing.

June Squibb played the role, but it was renamed "Josie," and the character was explicitly a woman.

 

[summerwind03]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 8:41pm

Pi in Life of Pi was played by both male and female actors.

[helvizz]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 9:11pm

This didn't actually happen because 9/11 happened first so producers became much more cautious of how they'd spend money, but if I recall correctly Billy Porter was slated to play the Witch in the 2002 Into the Woods revival.

Someone pointed out that Lena Hall played Hedwig - which is true, and it reminded me that Ally Sheedy was the first woman to play Hedwig, back in its original Off-Broadway run.

 

Updated On: 12/12/23 at 09:11 PM

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 12/12/23 at 10:01pm

helvizz said: "This didn't actually happen because 9/11 happened first so producers became much more cautious of how they'd spend money, but if I recall correctly Billy Porter was slated to play the Witch in the 2002 Into the Woods revival.

Someone pointed out that Lena Hall played Hedwig - which is true, and it reminded me that Ally Sheedy was the first woman to play Hedwig, back in its original Off-Broadway run.

"

I love your profile picture-- Harvey is my favorite

Also I have known almost all of these but I gotta say I did not know about Ally Sheedy

Also I've always wanted to play The Witch 

And I'm a guy

That means that

If I get as famous and capable as Billy Porter 

Then I could actually play that role