# Amateur Theater Lovers: Roles you HAVE played **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2013, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020 "2013-10-23T11:04:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/1 "2013-10-23T11:04:11Z")
Kind of a companion to [this thread (your dream casting)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=705643), but more reality based based - what parts HAVE you performed? for me: **Sir Evelyn Oakleigh** in _Anything Goes_ **Nicely Nicely Johnson** in _Guys and Dolls_ **Bill the chicken** in _Ozma of Oz_ **The Sheriff** in _The Rainmaker_ **The Preacher** in _Prelude to a Kiss_ **Mr Potter** in _A Wonderful Life_ **Samuel Chase** in _1776_ **Chief Bromden** in _One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_ Plus many other roles, including a few years doing outdoor drama, and misc. small parts. I would have acted more, but I ended up being more of a backstage kind of guy. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/2 "2013-10-23T16:39:11Z")
Mae from **The Pajama Game** Mae Peterson from **Bye, Bye Birdie**. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/3 "2013-10-23T17:31:14Z")
There’s a semi-pro theater in Hollywood. My then GF got cast for Cleopatra in Anthony & Cleopatra. (Yes, she was gorgeous and dark haired, etc). I was hanging around a bit so the director ask me if I wanted a bit part. I played- _literally_- a **‘spear carrier** ” .😃 I even had a spear. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/4 "2013-10-23T17:58:47Z")
It’s been a long time since I’ve been on stage, but some I played way back when were" [Moonface Martin](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman/tryinghard.htm) in **Anything Goes** (which got me Tuckerized as a character in a book). Marcellus Washburn in **The Music Man** Stewpot in **South Pacific** ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/5 "2013-10-23T18:15:16Z")
This was all in HS: Lenny in **Up the Down Staircase** The Centurion from **Androcles and the Lion** Lexy in **Candida** A pirate and cop chorus member in **Pirates of Pennzance** The French boyfriend in **Sabrina** The Ship Steward in **Anything Goes** I was originally cast as Jonathan Harker in **Dracula** but I had scheduling conflicts because I was in football and the director wouldn’t alter the practice schedule for me. She did for three other cast members a few weeks later though. Hmmm. The most fun I had was as a wild west gunfighter the summer after my senior year in HS and before I went into the Army. The pay wasn’t the best and the owners were kind of goofy, but I had a fun time. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/6 "2013-10-23T18:31:50Z")
Back in the day: The Great Orator in Ionesco’s **The Chairs** Col. John Gordon Macarthur in **Ten Little Indians** various parts in **America, Hurrah!** Come to think of it, I usually ended up being stage manager or house manager for productions. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/7 "2013-10-23T20:59:36Z")
I was a dancer in **Brigadoon**. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/8 "2013-10-24T19:50:51Z")
In high school: A teenager in _Bye Bye, Birdie_ Mrs. Pearce in _My Fair Lady_ Sarah Brown in _Guys and Dolls_ In college: A Fly-By-Night in _The Dream On Royal Street_ (music by Alan Menken; we were the world premiere cast) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/9 "2013-10-25T03:00:11Z")
Charles Thomson (Congressional Secretary) in **1776** Peter in **The Zoo Story** Henry Percy (“Hotspur”) in **Henry IV, Part I** Prospero in **The Tempest** Bartender in **Winter’s Night** (my own radio play) ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/10 "2013-10-25T13:19:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Bartender in **Winter’s Night** (my own radio play) I wrote a radio play once, in college; it won a departmental award and everything. I have the reel-to-reel around here somewhere (which means I haven’t listened to it since college, and am not likely to ever be able to listen to it again :D). I wasn’t in it, though; I just directed. It was called _Hotel Maxim_. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/11 "2013-10-25T21:22:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve been on stage, but some I played way back when were" > > [Moonface Martin](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman/tryinghard.htm) in **Anything Goes** (which got me Tuckerized as a character in a book). > Marcellus Washburn in **The Music Man** > Stewpot in **South Pacific** I also played Marcellus Washburn in a dinner theater production of “The Music Man.” Meredith Willson actually attended the show with his nurse (he was frail and, I believe, was in early stages of Alzheimer’s at the time). After the show he was introduced to the cast, and said with a wink that the show had stunk. We all laughed, but to tell the truth, I think he was right. I, of course, was brilliant, but the rest of the cast . . . 😃 I played Lazar Wolf in “Fiddler On The Roof” at the Glendale Center Theatre (Glendale, CA) in about 1984. I haven’t been onstage in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/12 "2013-10-25T21:38:14Z")
In community theater: Harold hill in Music Man Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls Willy wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Major General in Pirates of Penzance Strephon in Iolanthe The diplomat (cannot remember his name) in King and I The lawyer Mr. Blind in Die Fledermaus Ko-ko in The Mikado Mr. Mallard in Make way for Ducklings A bunch of chorus-type characters etc. Fun stuff. Big time commitment though and so I am retired from it for the second time. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/13 "2013-10-25T21:40:09Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > The Centurion from **Androcles and the Lion** I had that part in college. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Charles Thomson (Congressional Secretary) in **1776** > > Peter in **The Zoo Story** I was Jerry in a version that never made it to an audience because of script rights issues. My best role was as Aston in _The Caretaker_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/14 "2013-10-25T22:10:18Z")
Many times in the chorus, but here are my favourites from community theatre: Benny Southstreet in _Guys and Dolls_. First Gangster in _Kiss Me Kate_. Mr. Sowerberry in _Oliver!_ Me. Smee in _Peter Pan_. ---
**Author:** ![NVME702-redux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a183cd/32.png) [@NVME702-redux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NVME702-redux)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/15 "2013-10-25T23:00:51Z")
Lady Capulet in a musical version of Romeo and Juliet…using modern music ala Baz Luhrmann…and it was just a bad as you can imagine. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/16 "2013-10-26T18:01:18Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I wrote a radio play once, in college; it won a departmental award and everything. I have the reel-to-reel around here somewhere (which means I haven’t listened to it since college, and am not likely to ever be able to listen to it again :D). I wasn’t in it, though; I just directed. It was called _Hotel Maxim_. I didn’t _want_ to be an actor in the play (I wrote it, produced it, and directed it. Enough’s enough), but one of my actors quit the night before the taping. Hard to find fill-in’s on that short a notice. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-theater-lovers-roles-you-have-played/672020/17 "2013-10-26T20:21:37Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Many times in the chorus, but here are my favourites from community theatre: > > Benny Southstreet in _Guys and Dolls_. > First Gangster in _Kiss Me Kate_. > Mr. Sowerberry in _Oliver!_ > Me. Smee in _Peter Pan_. I was in a production of Kiss Me Kate at Occidental College in California. I played Harry/Baptista. I would have loved to be one of the gangsters! \*\*Brush Up Your Shakespeare \*\*must have been a lot of fun to do.