Next Gender Blind Casting?

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Next Gender Blind Casting?

Posted: 9/10/26 at 11:22am

Two of the buzziest replacement announcements of the year both took a role that has always been played by a man and handed it to a woman, and in both cases the reaction has been "oh, obviously." Zidler is a ringmaster. The Genie is a force of nature. Neither one is load-bearing on gender:
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://playbill.com/article/emmy-winner-sherri-shepherd-will-be-aladdins-genie-on-broadway&source=gmail&ust=1789121290582000&sa=E

So let's make a list. Which roles are next, and which ones genuinely cannot go?

My nominations for roles that would lose nothing and gain a lot: the Wizard in WICKED. Mr. Mushnik. The Emcee, which people have been quietly arguing about for years. Fagin -- tell me a great character actress wouldn't destroy that. Judge Turpin is a harder sell but I'd watch it.

And on the other side: some parts are about the specific power dynamic between the character and everyone around them, and swapping the gender doesn't open the role, it just breaks the scene. I'd put Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett in that bucket.

Next Gender Blind Casting?

Posted: 9/10/26 at 11:32am

I dont see how the wizard could be considering he's meant to be Elphabas father. Plus I think it would lesson Morribles impact and the dynamic between them.

Re: Next Gender Blind Casting?

Posted: 9/10/26 at 11:46am

A female Billy Flynn would be amazing, and I say this as someone who isn't too crazy about Chicago. But I'd love to see how the gender politics change when Billie Flynn does everything the same as Billy Flynn, and the only thing that changes is the gender.

I've spent years begging for a legitimate gender-swap of The Last Five Years because I want to know if people judge the characters' actions any differently when the genders of the people performing said actions are swapped.

Swapping the gender in any biographical jukebox musical is pretty difficult to justify as-is, but the one where it really doesn't work is Jersey Boys, because Frankie Valli's character is built around being a man with an unexpected and amazing falsetto. The show only works when his voice and his falsetto are what make him special. Any soprano could hit all of Frankie's notes and sing them well, so Frankie wouldn't be special anymore, and the show doesn't work. But now I'm picturing a female Bobby Darin and I'm kind of attached to it.

I want a drag queen as Dolly Levi again.

"See a picture of a woman wearing four years of confusion like a scar."

Re: Next Gender Blind Casting?

Posted: 9/10/26 at 1:49pm

Own Little Corner said: "A female Billy Flynn would be amazing, and I say this as someone who isn't too crazy about Chicago."

It's an interesting idea, but as I recall, a college did an (almost) all female Chicago production a while ago and the one caveat to get the rights was that Billy still had to be played by a man (Kander et al were fine with all the other male roles being gender swapped, but not that one). So, unless their opinion has changed since, it seems unlikely we'll ever get this.

Updated On: 9/10/26 at 01:49 PM

Re: Next Gender Blind Casting?

Posted: 9/10/26 at 2:03pm

Also swapping Billy, sort of negates the whole point of Mary Sunshine, no?

Re: Next Gender Blind Casting?

Posted: 9/10/26 at 5:56pm

When I saw Little Shop two weeks ago we had a female understudy as the voice of Audrey II. Also, I worked on a local community theatre production of the show where an actress did the voice. In both cases I think it worked fine. As long as the voice is menacing.

Re: Next Gender Blind Casting?

Posted: 9/10/26 at 6:40pm

I saw a high school production of 42nd Street where Julian Marsh was played as Julia Marsh, and early Hollywood glamour-dyke-coded. They played the mentoring relationship between Marsh and Peggy as an older queer person recognizing someone who reminds her of her younger self, and it made the ending where Peggy goes off with Marsh instead of the cast a lot less casting-couch icky than that moment often plays today.

Re: Next Gender Blind Casting?

Posted: 9/10/26 at 7:09pm

Own Little Corner said: "A female Billy Flynn would be amazing, and I say this as someone who isn't too crazy about Chicago. But I'd love to see how the gender politics change when Billie Flynn does everything the same as Billy Flynn, and the only thing that changes is the gender.

I've spent years begging for a legitimate gender-swap of The Last Five Years because I want to know if people judge the characters' actions any differently when the genders of the people performing said actions are swapped.

Swapping the gender in any biographical jukebox musical is pretty difficult to justify as-is, but the one where it really doesn't work is Jersey Boys, because Frankie Valli's character is built around being a man with an unexpected and amazing falsetto. The show only works when his voice and his falsetto are what make him special. Any soprano could hit all of Frankie's notes and sing them well, so Frankie wouldn't be special anymore, and the show doesn't work. But now I'm picturing a female Bobby Darin and I'm kind of attached to it.

I want a drag queen as Dolly Levi again."

About ten years ago I got to see Takarazuka (all female troupe from Japan) do Chicago at Lincoln Center. I really loved it and hope they come back.
https://youtu.be/jMLlDKMl9HQ?si=LWhoZz1N8u3YBZeT

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