Does Peter Pan have to be portrayed by a woman? Could a small man with a high-pitched voice do the role, or does Broadway’s… union(?) or whatever it is specify that it has to be a woman?
Are there any roles that can be played by men or women? Perhaps the character is a masculine woman (and can be played by a man) or an effeminate man (and can be played by a woman), or their sex isn’t specified so they can be played by whomever the casting director wants?
Well, there are some adaptations called Twelve Angry Jurors, if female characters are included.
Spoiler for Chicago
Mary Sunshine is usually played by a man, but in the movie, she was played by a woman (with one of the scenes cut out to make it work).
Of course, you can recast many plays with opposite sex roles. Last year, Mark Rylance played Olivia in Twelfth Night, with an all-male cast.
I don’t think it’s a requirement, even by Actors’ Equity (the stage actors’ union). After all, there have been stagings of The Odd Couple with two women in the main roles. Also, Peter in the Disney movie is voiced by a male.
I seem to recall hearing that the musical was written with Mary Martin in mind, which would explain why it is expected that a woman perform the role.
Many roles can be played by either a man or a woman. I once knew an theatre actress who played a Scotland Yard inspector (the leading role!) in a British murder mystery (probably something by Agatha Christie; I don’t recall the title).
The narrator from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is traditionally played by a woman but there’s no reason that has to be the case. In fact, the part was sung by a man on the original concept album.
I thought the idea was that it was easier for a small woman to play the character of a boy. Easier than casting a child actor. Perhaps the songs require a soprano voice?
“Peter Pan” started out as a stage play in 1904, and the title role has customarily been played by a woman right from the first:
The Leading Player in “Pippin” was originally a man, but the performance my husband and I saw a few weeks ago had a woman in the role.
In the 1990s Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Whoopi Goldberg played Pseudolus.
Well, one of the treasures of my theater-going times was a ripping take on Cinderella, with the evil stepmother played by a 6’6" drag queen. S/he didn’t chew the scenery, s/he blenderized it into a smoothe and spat it at us.
I saw a high school production of “Hairspray” last year in which the role of Seaweed, the black male love interest of the main character’s best friend, was played by a white girl in an Afro wig and a bit of selectively applied make-up.
You kind of forgot about it after the initial surprise. Such, I guess, is the magic of theater…
I was in a stage production of “Peter Pan” a couple of years ago. I never heard anything about the Mary Martin reason, but it was explained to us that the character of Peter was traditionally portrayed by a woman; and as well, the characters of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook were portrayed by the same actor.
Tradition is a tough hurdle to overcome, but as you note, it can be done.
Neil Simon wrote a “female version” of the play.
I saw a college production of Godspell with a female in the role of Jesus. As far as I know, it wasn’t done to be controversial or Make A Point; it was just that there was no particular reason the actor playing Jesus had to be male.
You can gender swap just about any play, with some rewriting. The students at Wellesley have been doing that a long time, even putting on a genderswapped version of [The Taming of the Shrew (with Petrucchio/“Peter” jokes in place of Kate/“cat” jokes). One of the more interesting was their version of an all-female cast of Waiting for Godot, which required little or no meddling with the text. (Actually, they had to change more lines about footwear, since they had zippered boots on one of them, which Beckett hadn’t counted on).
Certainly Ariel in The Tempest could be either sex (I’ve seen both, in different version), or The Mute/Wall in The Fantasticks can be either sex.
Edna Turnblatt in Hairspray is always played by a male, although I guess technically there’s no reason why a large woman couldn’t play her.
Ben Vereen and Patina Miller both won Tonys for the role, the first time an award winning character has been played by both genders.
The Stage Manager in “Our Town” can be played by either gender.
The part of Nana the dog and the Crocodile is usually played by the same actor, as well.
Good call. They were, in our production as well.
(Our costume-clad Crocodile plopped on a skateboard, and “swam” across the stage. It worked really well.)