Yeah, I too find this very bizarre. Why is Charlie the only one to be played by a child? Won't that make the adult casting for the rest of them feel even more off?
Not sure how the casting for the rest of the children will work out, but Jackie Hoffman and John Rubinstein are the first two names to get me interested in this. Very happy that they'll both be back on Broadway.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
Lots of shows cast child actors with no more expense....they don't have to double and triple cast them as we've seen more recently.
I SUPPOSE the reason has more to do with Charlie's being "normal" and the other children being caricatures -- and this helping point it out even more?
To be honest, I didn't have much interest in this to begin with, this doesn't change that in any way.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Wow, I didn't even realize that when I read the list, I just assumed the other "children" had smaller roles so they wouldn't need alternates. How very odd. That may prove fatal for this show...
I'm not sure how I feel about the adult as children. If anything I think it'll prove Charlie's youthfulness and innocence. All four of the adults playing kids are killer performers so I'm excited for that! I wish Anthony Rosenthal was playing Charlie though.
Is anyone really expecting this to be anything more than a tourist machine? (As tourist machines go, it could be perfectly entertaining mindless froth; it could also be deadly, I suppose.)
wicked4l said: "The show did 2 workshop presentations in NYC. One with adults as the kids and one with kids playing their age. They felt the adults worked better."
I was wondering about this. I hadn't been paying attention to the previous workshops. Thanks.
I wonder if the child roles will end up being apart of a track since they aren't major roles. It would sort of justify using adults. I also thought Aidan Gemme was confirmed for Charlie. I could have sworn I saw a promotional photo with him and christian. Did he over grow or did his voice break?
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
That is super odd. It's not like it won't be noticeable. This whole thing seems misguided. They're making such drastic changes to it, i don't see this being any good.
I know that this whole thing is being completely overhauled from London, but what? I'm not sure how they think adults work better...unless the idea of them being caricatures is the thing, but even then, this is just an odd choice. The whole point of this story is kids are a product of their parents. I saw many London clips and kids playing kids seemed to work just fine. Of course obviously the argument for it being cheaper to have adults is void, what with the many shows these past few years who's plot is reliant on a whole group of kids.
I was completely neutral on this, then saw the short video commercials and then Borle was cast and I got excited. This just made my excitement level drop quite a bit.
We had a mix of children and adults as children in the British production of MATILDA, didn't we? They used more kids in the Broadway- I just remember the almost Brian Blessed-like voice of one of the "kids" during "School Song" on the OLC.
In Matilda, all the kids (10 or so?) in Matilda's class are played by children. Some young adult chorus members (8 or so?) play upper classmen at the school, who are probably meant to be 16 or so, but it's never specified.