For some reason, it’s always bothered me when I read about a restaging of Peter Pan, and the title role is inevitably played by a woman. There’s apparently a long history of this, with Mary Martin and Cathy Rigby in particular coming to mind. I could never figure out why they cast women in this role. Clearly, it requires someone of some athletic ability, and probably someone of fairly lean build in order to fly them all around the stage. But surely there are male gymnast-types who fit the bill, and have the added advantage of being the SAME GENDER AS THE DAMN CHARACTER!
Now I’m hearing about “Seussical The Musical” coming to my fair city, and who’s got the starring role of the beloved Cat In The Hat? Cathy Freakin’ Rigby!
So now I’m particularly tweaked by this issue, and I’m seeking real answers. Why are women being cast in these male roles? Are there more examples beyond the couple I’ve given? Is there a rationale for this, other than the novelty (or by now, tradition) of the casting?
Can anyone tackle this? Or is this fit for Mighty Cecil?
Boyish figure: agreed.
High voice: not necessarily.
That means casting a boy or a woman: not at all.
Peter Pan’s supposed to be an eternal boy, I believe. I don’t know where he’s supposed to fall on the pubescence range, but even a young boy has different voice qualities than a young girl (or a woman trying to sound like a boy). I’d agree we don’t want Barry White for the part, but nor does Peter Pan have to sound like a chipmunk. The actor who voiced the part in the Disney classic had a nice, standard boy-kid voice.
So if we agree on the boyish figure and boyish voice, what’s wrong with casting a boy? Or a young man?
And what about the Cat In The Hat? Don’t tell me you’ve always envisioned Cathy Rigby in that role…
Why exactly should this bother you? Does Peter Pan have to be played by a boy who can fly?
They don’t cast a boy to play Peter partly out of tradition, partly because it’s written for a woman, and partly because you need a star in the lead to draw crowds, and there are very few boy stars.
Women occasionally play male parts. A few years ago, Whoopie Goldberg replaced Nathan Lane in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”; they rewrote the play to make the change. Various women have also played “Hamlet,” starting with Sarah Bernhardt.
If memory serves, J.M. Barrie originally wrote the stage version of Peter Pan as a pantomime. That style of show traditionally features cross-dressing of certain roles, such as “principal boy” and “dame”. The role of Peter is a principal boy role and as such is traditionally played by a female actor. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it has to be done that way, but that’s the tradition.
The voice in the Disney version was provided by Bobby Driscoll, who was sixteen at the time. If you can think of a sixteen-year-old actor who could do the job give the producers a call. Otherwise, if it bothers you, maybe you should watch a different show?
BTW, I’m guessing they won’t be using a real crocodile either.
‘Peter Pan’ was originally written by Barrie for performance in the British pantomime tradition. And the pantomime tradition continued the customs of itinerant troupes of semi-improv actors (similar to the Italian Commedia del Arte).
The old traditional troupe was permanent long-lasting company, which couldn’t afford high turnover of personnel. Among the stock roles of its material was the jeune premier, the leading youth. The problem with casting actual youths in the jeune premier roles is that they grew up too quickly. The troupe would have had to take on a new youth every few years, and then either indulge in some painful and invidious sackings, or else grow far to big. They couldn’t cast men in the parts because even small men were too hairy and their voices were too deep. So the wandering panto companies included each one women who specialised in playing the parts of young men.
The tradition of women playing young men in panto has survived the change of circumstances.
FYI, PJ Hogan (My Best Friend’s Wedding, Muriel’s Wedding) is filming Peter Pan here in Queensland at the moment, and there is a boy playing the role of Peter.
Whoopi Goldberg played Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum on Broadway, but I don’t know if they gave the male character a sex change when she played the part.
J.M. Barrie wrote the stage version of Peter Pan for Maude Adams, his favorite actress, and the tradition has kept up ever since. In the mid-19th century right through WWI, there was also a tradition of “girl heroes,” “actresses in tights.” It was the only way male audiences could see ladies’ outlines. Short of going to a burly-que show, of course.
Maude Adams, by the way, was one of the great beauties of her—or any other—day.
What makes you think that TCITH is a male cat? I’ve read the original book to my children a number of times, and I don’t remember seeing any dangly bits in any of the illustrations …
and to add confusion on the whole thing, traditional Japanese theatre (kabuki) relies on “onna gata” (actor who speciallize in female roles) to play the female parts while the more recent Takarazuka Review, a musical theatre company very famous in Japan (especially here in Kansai), has all parts played by young women.
