Update: Nine Roles I'd like to Play

Wow, the first list like this was posted on my blog in 2016, way back when I was young. I'm interested to see how much things will have changed over time since a lot has changed since I originally made that list and I now have different opinions than I did back then. So here we are, this is an updated list of roles I would like to play.

9 - Wendla in "Spring Awakening"

Beginning the list with a role that was on my original ten roles I would like to play is the role of Wendla from "Spring Awakening". I love the songs in Spring Awakening and I feel like the role itself is very much in my character type. I feel like my looks may let me down on this one since I look older than I actually am, so I don't think that at 20 years old I would be able to convincingly play Wendla. As briefly mentioned above, I adore the music style in Spring Awakening and part of the reason why I would like to play Wendla is because of the songs that she sings in the show. 

 8 - Heather Chandler in "Heathers: The Musical"

Heather Chandler as really out of my casting type, but given the opportunity I would love to play a role as good as this. I feel like if I was being realistic, I am more likely to be cast as Heather Mcnamara (who again, is a great character), but I would like to be pushed out of my comfort zone every once in a while. Because I am so opposite to this type of character in real life (or I would at least hope that I am not like this character!). I did dress up as Heather Chandler for Halloween which was great through!

7 - Madame Thenardier in "Les Miserables"

I think it is really interesting to see that I listed this show in my other list, but I now have a completely different character on my list. Madame Thenardier is someone I would love to play. She is such an over the top character and I feel like she also is the comic relief in such a serious and sad show.

She is not the nicest person, but I love how she is written in the show and I love that she is given just as much stage time as her husband. In the "Brick" written by Victor Hugo, Madame Thenardier is arrested and then dies in prison, which if they included this part in the muscial she would not be included in Act 2 at all. This would then mean that there are two female characters left in the whole musical. I love Les Mis so much, but one of my biggest issues I have with it is the lack of female characters, but I guess that it is to do with it being a period piece and with the role women played in life at the time.

I am all for accurate adaptations of books, but I feel like not killing off Madame Thenardier was a very good move on the writers part, since one of my favourite scenes is the confrontation at the wedding. In the 2015 production that I was involved in, this was always a scene that I wanted to try to watch from the wings of the stage since I did just find the actors playing the Thenardier's so funny at this part in the show, so I would love to put my own spin on this one day.

6 -  Sally Bowles from "Cabaret"

I first watched Cabaret in 2017 when I bought my mum the DVD for Christmas, and I was very confused with what was going on. At the time it was not one of my favourite musical, however, after doing a character study in an Acting class during my first semester at university, I became more invested into the story. 

Going into Cabaret, I had the mindset that this was the original Chicago. I love both the stage and the movie version of Chicago and when I watched Cabaret and it wasn't quite the same I felt a little let down. Now that it has been a few years and I can now separate the two shows, I feel like I have a new found appreciation for Cabaret and the character Sally Bowles. It is quite a tragic story, and the song "Life is a Cabaret" is actually much darker than I originally thought it was. It is a character who is at her breaking point having a meltdown whilst performing in a job that isn't really getting her anywhere and she has not become the big star she wanted to be, as well as the trauma that has also probably come from the implied abortion that she has had offstage. 

With the new found appreciation for the show I found, I also found that I fell in love with the character of Sally Bowles and I think that portraying her ultimate breakdown at the end of the show would be a challenge, but one I would love to take on. 

5 - Maureen Johnson in "Rent"

This is a role that I am very surprised that this role was left off my other list. Maureen Johnson is a character that I love. I feel like she is supposed to be unlikable due to how she keeps leading Mark on after they have just broke up and how that impacts her relationship with Joanne, but I think that it would be really fun to try and portray this on stage. This is especially because it is a type of character I have never really looked at playing before. 

One of my favourite parts in Rent is Over the Moon. When I was younger it used to just be because of the sheer randomness of the scene, but as I watched it more and understood what was going on I realised the real meaning behind the song. 

4 - Janis in "Mean Girls"

I have been waiting for Mean Girls to be turned into a musical for so long, so finally when it opened in 2018 I was so happy that Janis because a character that I could add to my "Dream Musical Theatre Roles" list.

In the 2004 movie "Mean Girls", Janis was always my favourite character (fun fact for my first audition I actually did a monologue Janis says in the movie) but I have so many issues with this incarnation of Janis that the musical fixes. I mean, I feel like one of the running themes of the movie is that nobody is perfect which I totally understand, but Janis is portrayed as a lesbian throughout the entire movie then ends up dating a man at the end of the movie. This would have been totally fine if she was established as bisexual in the movie, but it did feel like the movie was queer-bating people. 

I am so glad that in the musical she is written and portrayed as a lesbian, I feel like people still have issues with gay women even in 2019, and to have a character I love also be a lesbian is really awesome.

I love how amazing she is in the show too, she has really cool costumes to wear and although she is not a massive part in the story I do love the songs that she gets to sing (Apex Predator and I'd Rather Be Me). 2018 Janice is the Janice I would like to be given the opportunity to play.

3 - The Baker's Wife in "Into the Woods"

I find it interesting that on the original post I made, I said that I would love to play the role of The Witch in Into the Woods. This has now changed and I feel like the role of the Baker's Wife would fit me best in this show. 

After being in a production of Into the Woods at the end of 2016, I think I just realised that my singing voice wasn't quite suited for the role of the Witch. When studying Stephen Sondheim and revisiting the Into the Woods score at University, I came to the realisation that The Baker's Wife is a ole that would suit me much better.

The Baker's Wife is a very fun character to play. I do believe that all characters in Into the Woods are very interesting and it would be great to step into any of their shoes. Moments in the Woods is one of my favourite songs from the musical, and I do think that her small affair in the woods is comedic yet tragic. Portraying this on stage would be very interesting and I would love to get the chance to portray this in the future. 

2 - Mrs Lovett in "Sweeney Todd"

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to play Mrs Lovett in my college showcase back in 2017. Although we did not do the whole show of Sweeney Todd, I really enjoyed my time playing Mrs Lovett and I am dying to play her in a full length production of Sweeney Todd.

Mrs Lovett is quite a tragic character, but at the same time very manipulative. I would love to explore this side of her more and to be allowed to fully develop this side of her character, rather than just portraying one side of her in an excerpt of the story.

1 - Nancy in "Oliver"

So this is possibly my dream role in a musical that also I could see myself realistically achieving. I love Oliver a lot, I feel like a lot of this comes from it being the first real musical that I was ever involved in (way back in 2012) and still to this day I think it is in my top five shows that I have done.

I remember working so hard and wanting this role really badly, but I was not experienced with auditions and wasn't exactly filled with much confidence so I didn't get the role, but there was a time where I got the opportunity to read in for Nancy when the girl playing the role was ill and it was one of the best times of my life (at that point). It felt like someone had just given me £1,000,000.

I love Nancy as a character and I feel like she is a really great role model for girls, she starts off not in the greatest position in life and with her being in a pretty bad relationship. Through Oliver, she manages to build the courage to get herself out of that situation and wants to give this little boy a better life by taking him to his grandfather. Unfortunately this doesn't end well for Nancy, but I would love to portray this on stage one day, and cockney accent is probably me go to accent at this point.

So here is the updated list. There is only nine roles on my list, but I only really had these roles in mind right now, I'm sure if you ask me next week I'll have another ten roles to add to the list. I tried to keep these roles to things that I could potentially see myself playing. I myself am very against type casting and am open to non-traditional casting, but I feel like wanting to go into this profession I do at least have to acknowledge the type of roles I would be considered for. I would love to do another list of roles I would never play but would like to if given the chance to. Thank you for reading along and if you are interested here is a link to my original top ten list. I would love to know what roles you would like to play!