A GREAT BIG BROTHERHOOD OF MAN: Deadline is reporting that the first
Glee cast member to make the jump back to Broadway won't be Matthew Morrison (whiteboy rapping has a very limited need on Broadway) or Lea Michele (who has yet to be cast as Fanny Brice, despite her two-year audition for the part), but Darren Criss, who will perform a short
three-week engagement in How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying between Daniel Radcliffe's departure in January and a more permanent replacement for J. Pierpont Finch. Criss is allegedly doing this with the blessing of the
Glee producers, and, yeah, that'll sell tickets during the traditionally down period of January.
So, what should Chris Colfer's Broadway debut role be? (Bonus points if you cast him with NPH)
ReplyDeleteHe could play Toby in Sweeney Todd (a role previously played on stage by NPH) and NPH could take on Sweeney...
ReplyDeleteOr Chris could be Jack in Into the Woods with NPH as The Baker...
Kind of funny since Darren Criss played Harry Potter in this.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/v/wmwM_AKeMCk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
NPH is too young for Sweeney, but he could be the Beadle or Anthony.
ReplyDeleteHe could be Benjamin or another brother in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I don't think his voice is low enough for Joseph? But maybe.
The roles are probably too small at this point, but I'd love to see them do Barnaby and Cornelius in "Hello Dolly."
ReplyDeleteand the ages don't work (but they never work...) otherwise I'd like to see them as Frank and Charley in Merrily We Roll Along.
<span>In this version of "Hello Dolly" do we cast Bernadette or Patti as Dolly? Anne Hathaway as Irene? And maybe Boyd Gaines as Horace?</span>
ReplyDeleteEh, I'd buy him as Sweeney with a greying wig...
ReplyDeleteSorry, I can't actually cast the role of Dolly yet, since Carol Channing is still alive.
ReplyDeleteOMG. NPH as Franklin Shepard.... brilliant. But Colfer is really too young for Charley.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Henrik Egerman in "A Little Night Music?"
ReplyDeleteAnon-- I actually think it could work. Maybe more in an assignment for a class on directing than in an expensive show people pay for, admittedly, but given the weird timeline and the show's initial teen cast, I think it's an interesting idea to have Frank, who gets corrupted by the world far more than Charley, look far older.
ReplyDeleteAnne Hathaway as Irene is terrific! I love Boyd Gaines but will need to wrap my mind around him as cranky miser (haven't seen him recently, but I know he has big range so he could do it).
ReplyDeleteI almost always prefer Bernadette over Patti, but don't really see either as Dolly.
LOVE the idea of NPH as Franklin Shepard. Perfect.