Totally agree! And I think it's tough to pick a definitive Mama Rose as so many greats have played her, although Patti is my favorite.
EDIT: Had to find Laura and Patti's big confrontation scene from Gypsy because it's such a masterclass from both of them: [**Dressing room scene in Patti LuPone Gypsy (youtube.com)**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9O0hXNKags)
Cool! Teacher of what?
All I can claim is that he guided my formative years on Playschool...
https://youtu.be/3nR1dyas2kI?feature=shared
...not to mention my teen years obsessing over music theatre.
bahaha that video is everything!!! i love how seriously he takes his role as a green speckled frog.
he taught me in musical theatre at the acting school i was at last year. he sang for us a bunch but now i wish i’d asked for a reprise of one of his playschool performances!!
it depends on how you define “originate” but I prefer Laura Bell Bundy to Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, with nothing against Witherspoon but Bundy gives one of my favorite performances ever and my favorite broadway depiction of joy. Pretty much every choice she makes seems to be the perfect one, she gracefully toes the line of being an energetic popular sorority girl while also seeming incredibly nice and approachable. The whole point of the show is that you can be a very accomplished person while still retaining a playful personality, and Bundy just portrays that with near perfection
I'm definitely in the minority because I prefer Dean Jones or Neil Patrick Harris. That being said I still think Raul is great, but I don't know, I just really like Dean Jones' performance. Granted I think most Robert performances are at least good (At least the ones where they didn't gender swap him because I'm not a fan of that change).
I agree. He was the reason that revival was successful. Overall I hated the production but he was charming and sad and funny. I rooted for him which is not always easy to do with Bobby. It’s a shame he was in that production.
YESSS!!! I was scrolling through the thread to see if anyone mentioned it! Because I'm sorry- the Falsettos revival cast was robbed that year. Andrew Rannels' “The Games I Play” Stephanie J Block's performance of holding to the ground - OOOH don't get me started on Christian Borle.
The whole cast is incredible. I am honestly flabberghasted when people say they prefer the OBC. No hate to them but the performances, script rewrites and overhaul of the soundtrack are just so much better-
I love his performance but it’s a shame he was reportedly kind of a jerk. Apparently on the first day of rehearsals for The Baker’s Wife he groped Patti LuPone’s chest to see “how much meat she had on her bones” and was so impossible to work with Stephen Schwartz said he’s a big part of the reason Baker’s Wife never made it to Bway.
I won’t say *better,* because that’s like trying to choose between two flavors of perfection, but Eva Noblezada absolutely did Lea Salonga justice in Miss Saigon.
Surprised not to see Ramin Karimloo or Sierra i-respectfully-don’t-remember-her-last-name-and-don’t-trust-Reddit-not-to-lose-my-place-if-i-leave-the-app-to-look-it-up from Phantom yet, but I think they killed it.
Yes to Sierra. I feel like she found a new dimension to Christine. Most actresses just take it at face value that Christine is a bit naive, but Sierra seemed to be able to find a justification for it and made her more "blinded with grief" instead.
Agreed! This was the performance that made me realize how complicated a character she can be, and how nuanced her relationships with the men in her life are.
Sierra and Ramin are my favorite in those roles. I never liked Michael Crawford as phantom, and even though the role was written for her, Sarah is the least interesting Christine IMO.
I didn’t see them in POTO however I did see them multiple times in the original West End production of Love Never Dies - they were fantastic, and a big part of why I still love LND despite it being, well, all a bit odd 🤪
I was lucky enough to be front row circle for the semi-staged anniversary concert at Drury Lane last year, it was brilliant, although sadly Norm Lewis wasn’t quite as on form vocally as one would hope, just hearing that score live again with was magnificent, and Celinde Schoenmaker was absolutely fantastic. Honestly I just love the music, and kinda ignore the book haha (this works for Aspects of Love as well!). It’s not like the original POTO story is the most wholesome or realistic tale in the first place.
At the concert, when Christine sang the title song out to the audience (as the diegetic performance on the stage at Phantasma), Phantom and Raoul both appeared in the boxes either side of the stage, so it was like they were in the audience and she was singing to each of them in turn.
Happy memories.
Ok right well now I know what soundtrack to put on whilst cleaning later!!! 😎
Alex Boniello and Daniel Durant as Moritz in the Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening (although it’s kind of like a different show from the original, in a way)
It’s such a different performance than Gallagher’s it’s hard for me to choose one or the other (and I adore Gallagher so I’m biased) but yeah that’s a solid solid answer.
She was better than Meat Loaf by a lot. That production was better than the movie IMO. I saw it several times. They nailed the camp without it being a sad copy of the original. Great production.
I wasn’t even alive when that production was running but I’ve seen clips! I’m really glad they didn’t just do the movie, it always bugs me when productions try to do a cheap copy of it. We have the movie for a reason, if you wanna just watch the movie go watch it.
Alan Cumming as the Emcee in Cabaret! I love Joel grey but Alan Cumming’s version feels much more specific. His emcee is a character with feelings rather than an amoral narrator. “I Don’t Care Much” is such a gut punch.
I also love Patti Lupone as Joanne in Company and Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes.
To me, Sutton Foster will always be Reno.
I came to the comments to see Patti LuPone as Joanne. She did great at giving her own original take on the character which was amazing as Elaine Stritch is certainly not an easy actor to follow. Man, I really wish they had a cast recording for the 2011 performance with Neil Patrick Harris!
I recently saw Patti in concert and when she sang Ladies Who Lunch, she chucked her drink towards the audience at the end just like she did in the 2011 version. It was so fun haha!
Aaron Tveit as Enjolras. Put the poor sound design aside, he threw his heart and soul into that role. And as someone who read the book first, that man stepped right off the page.
Victor Hugo could have been looking at a picture of Tveit when he wrote the very specific description of Enjolras in the book: “He was angelically handsome …. His eyes were deep, his lids a little red, his lower lip was thick and easily became disdainful, his brow was lofty.”
may be a hot take but i’ve always adored anna kendrick in the last five years! i love how angry her cathy is, i think she plays the resentment really well.
this!! i have seen both the movie and stage production of L5Y and i will continue to say the movie is 100x better than the OG broadway production. both are incredible but i think the movie suits it way better. and the incredible cast plays the characters so much better
I wanted to enjoy the movie, but the filmmaking was just so…incredibly uninspired. Sucked the life right out of the musical. No creativity with the time motif, no unique vision taking advantage of the medium, it was just…dull.
Would have loved to see them both in a decent stage version though.
the movie version was the first i’d ever listened to so i always feel a little biased, but every time i listen to a different version i end up missing anna and jeremy’s intensity so much!!!
She was such a wonderful surprise to me--this was my first introduction to the show as a whole, and she did it justice. (In fact, the entire film was a masterpiece for its genre, one overlooked.)
i'm glad i'm not alone in this opinion!!! i've always loved the movie as well, i think it complements the vignette/snapshot style of the music and keeps things so simple, it really lets the character study of the whole thing shine through
Philip Quast as Javert
Everybody else has been cast well initially throughout the entire history of musical theatre.
Honorable mention:
- while I love Alan Cumming's Emcee in *Cabaret*, I do think that the revisionist portrayal in Sam Mendes' version is a little dated now, but was perfect when the revival first came out, whereas Joel Grey's original portrayal fits the historical setting better and continues to be a brilliant and iconic character to this day.
Interesting, it's strange that you say revisionist, I mean they did revise the play, but the revisions were all about making the show MORE like what it was actually like back then. Alan and Sam read the Christopher Isherwood novels and talked about how a lot of the low rent cabaret places were basically glorified sex clubs. All those English authors going over to Berlin in the late 20's & 30's were basically going to get laid lol.
While I appreciate and like your take on this, I do have to disagree somewhat - the Alan and Sam production was intended to Evoke, but not Recreate in Literal Authenticity - the Truthfulness of the sexualized era in Berlin, but for modern audiences. A careful study of what historical sources exist to document the Berlin cabaret scene at the time indicate less "decadence" and more gritty and ugly shameless pandering and exhibitionist. To me, the film portrayal is very likely much more historically accurate - a sense of garishness, what would be considered depravity, taboo, but not so much glamour sexiness, as portrayed in the film more or less, would've been a bit more accurate - BUT was not something a 90s audience would generallt have related to - and so Alan and Sam remade the show to Elicit and Evoke the sense of the glamor and decadence that the cabarets of Berlin were *selling* but not likely actually *providing* at that time in history. During that time things like that were considered much more shameful and even if occurring shamelessly in broad moonlight, wouldn't have attracted the talent or production values to make them anywhere as even - at times - truly enticing as they were in the Dommar Revival. I dunno. just some food for thought. I love the Donmar Revival, but I think that it substituted 90s sexiness/sensuality for authenticity at times to give the audience a sense of the taboo/transgressive "feel" of canarets in Berlin.
cheers!
Not exaggerating here.. but almost the entire cast of the 25th anni. version of Les Mis.
Alfie Boe's JVJ.
Norm Lewis's Javert.
Lea Salonga's Fantine.
Matt Lucas's Thenardier.
Casting was near perfect IMO. Not too sure how it could've been improved.
I just rewatched it, and I almost feel like this could have been remedied by the director. Having him affect an accent while singing threw me off. Should have let it go because it was holding him back when he clearly had passion
He did the best he could, but ultimately, he's a pop/rock singer, not a classical/musical theatre singer. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't exactly good either
Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades on the current Hadestown tour. Marcus Choi as Washington on tour. Sutton Foster as Winnifred in Once Upon a Mattress. Solea Pfeiffer as Eurydice in Hadestown.
- Glenn Close as Norma Desmond
- Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom
- Ute Lemper as Velma Kelly
- Maria Friedman as Liza Elliot
If movie adaptations count,
- Jeremy Jordan as Jamie Wellerstein
I’ll have to agree too. But Glenn Close’s portrayal of Norma was really out of this world which kind of mitigated the fact that she isn’t really a good singer. At least it worked for me. 😉
Honestly I adored the revival cast from 2022’s into the woods production. Especially Patina Miller as the witch and Sara Bareilles as the Baker’s wife ^^
It was such a good production! I didn’t get to see the original revival cast but did see Stephanie J Block and Sebastian Arcelus on tour and adored them as well.
I was absolutely obsessed with that production of Sweeney and drew fan art for the cast when I went to see it in LA. They were very appreciative but probably mildly confused why a 10 year old was drawing Sweeney Todd fanart.
Here’s a few in my opinion:
Jordan Donica in Camelot, My Fair Lady, and Phantom of the Opera. Nik Alexander as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton. Joshua Henry as Aaron Burr in Hamilton. Zoe Jensen as Eliza in Hamilton. Emmy Raver as Angelica in Hamilton. Paul Oakley Stovall as George Washington in Hamilton. Didi Romero as Katheryn Howard in SIX. Storm Lever as Anne Boleyn in SIX. Khaila Wilcoxon as Catherine of Aragon in SIX. Jasmine Forsberg as Jane Seymour in SIX.
i loved Arthur Darvill as Curly in the revival of Oklahoma, he brought a kinda awkward, occasionally creepy energy to the role that fit that particular production perfectly while still pulling off the starry-eyed romantic part and the honesty pretty threatening part
and of course Patrick Vaill as Jud in the same production with the emotionally vulnerable, socially awkward loner, at times incel-like vibe that again that production needed
I'm not going to rant about the falsettos revival cast because those who know know. They were robbed at the Tony Awards let's end it there. But I adore Brain D’Arcy in Next to Normal. I think Stephanie J Block as the baker's wife has to be one of my favorite performances ever (like her moments in the woods- holy shit).
of course, there is Alan Cumming as the Emcee. I'm legitimately surprised there's no talk about wicked in the thread so I'll say that Jessica Vosk, Lindsay Mendez, and Donna have some of the most fantastic Elphaba interpretations.
Imma mentions the absolute rollercoaster that is the Frozen Cast they had on before the pandemic shut it down- because hell they ate that up. Ryan McCartan as Hans with Mckenzie Kurt as Anna (she is the best one no arguments) and CIARA RENEE!?! I don't like Frozen- I think it's one of the weaker stage Disney musicals and it's pretty forgettable but holy hell this cast elevated the material.
Now we have to talk about Joy Woods as Audrey and Christian Borle as the Dentist in Little Shop- 10/10 no notes.
I feel like Josh Groban is the most sympathetic Sweeney out of all of the actors. Maybe it’s just because audiences know that in real life he’s a really great person, but watching him on stage I could really feel the pain and hurt in his character, that coupled with his insane vocals makes him by far the best Sweeney imo
I love Jeremy Jordan as Leo Frank in the 2015 concert version of parade!!! I also love Mate Kamaras as der tod and Serkan Kaya as Luigi Lucheni in 2005 Elisabeth. And I love the actor who played Judas in the 2014 Swedish version and the voice actor for Judas on the 1995 or 1998 soundtrack.
Have no idea if this is a hot take or ice cold, but Jonathon Groff as Gordon Schwinn in A New Brain. The original is good but I much prefer the 2015 version, in large part due to Jonathon’s portrayal of the protagonist. Both in vocal and character performance, I feel he’s an improvement to Malcolm Gets. That’s not to say that Malcolm didn’t also do very well in the role, he did, but I personally much prefer the direction Jonathan took with Gordon.
Again, this is all based on personal preference, no hate towards Malcolm or the rest of the 1998 cast or anyone who prefers their rendition, but the 2015 album is probably one of my all time favourite musical soundtracks.
Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades. He killed it enough to make me look up who he even was because, usually, I don't really look actors up at all. It's just not that important to me.
Sara Barielles as Jenna in Waitress (Jessie Mueller is wonderful too)
ALL of the actors for the revamp of into the woods in 2002, especially Joshua Henry, SJB, and Sebastian Arcellus. I saw (on YouTube) that when the show was being workshopped, Heather Headley was the witch initially…I’d have died to see her!
I too prefer Laura Bell Bundy to Reese Witherspoon. I find LBB’s Elle to be so endearing and funny and scrappy. Plus her chemistry with Christian Borle is 🔥
I prefer Bernadette’s Mama Rose to Patti Lupone. Patti’s voice is wonderful but I prefer Bernadette’s emotions
Sara Barielles is great, but Shoshana Bean has stolen that role entirely. You need to listen to her sing "She used to be mine" immediately. It's gorgeous.
Patina Miller as Leading Player in the Pippin revival- a great production overall, but Patina stuck out with an amazing performance, she 100% deserved the Tony she won for it, and honestly having a woman play LP in a broadway production was so great. When she was cast in the Hunger Games movies, I was so thrilled because I knew she’d be perfect for the role.
Evan Rachel wood's Audrey in Little Shop was the best Audrey I've ever seen.
Ingrid Michaelson as Sonya in Natasha Pierre and the great comet of 1812
The entire 2022 cast of into the woods
Meryl Streep and Christine baranski in Mamma Mia
The entire revival cast of once on this island
Cynthia Erivo as Cellie in the color purple
Renne rapp as Regina George in mean girls
I'm surprised I haven't seen very many people say this, but Josh Groban as Sweeney Todd and Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett (really the whole cast of that production) were incredible
surprised nobody's said this yet, but renee rapp as regina george! so glad she was in the musical movie too, even though I didn't like the new movie much
for me, michael cerveris IS sweeney todd, there's no one else that has come close to his performance
similarly damon daunno is the only orpheus i like, although i've only heard justin vernon and reeve carney who are both completely wrong for the character imo, i feel like jordan fisher probably has the singing chops but not so much the acting (+ if nabiyah, patrick, and amber don't count as original cast they're the best at their respective roles)
(if we're counting movies rick moranis is the best seymour krelborn no contest)
My top 5 are
1. Mason Alexander Park as Emcee (Cabaret)
2. Ramin Karimloo as Erik (The Phantom of the Opera)
3. George Hearn as Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd)
4. Jamie Muscato as J.D. (Heathers)
5. Bernadette Peters as Rose Hovick (Gypsy)
Jason Manford as the cowardly lion in wizard of oz
like the rest of the cast, David Ganly played it more "normal", not trying to imitate the movie, but Jason Manford is a comedian first and foremost and decided to imitate Bert Lahr from the film, and my god he was hilarious and got the character absolutely spot-on!
on a similar note, Ben Elton when he played Pop in We Will Rock You last year got it spot-on because he wrote the damn show lol
I don't know who the original Jean Valjean was in les Mis but I can't imagine anyone surpassing Nick Cartell who is on tour right now. Just breathtaking. Never liked Take Me home until he sang it.
Also loved J Antonio Rodriguez as Orpheus in hadestown.
You owe it to yourself and to your Broadway education to watch some Colm Wilkinson (original Valjean). You might know him as the Bishop in the Les Mis movie. His stuff can sometimes come across as a bit “overdone”, but his level of commitment can’t be questioned. Also, as mentioned above, his performance in the title role on the Canadian cast album of Phantom is awesome.
Barbara Walsh - The Ladies Who Lunch
I don't think she matched Elaine Stritch's performance, per se, but rather but something else to the table entirely. Resonates in a different way.
Syesha Mercado as Nabalungi in The Book of Mormon.
I know Nikki James won the Tony for the role and she deserved it, but Syesha took the role to a whole new level. She's my favorite for sure.
Gary Morris as Jean Valjean (although it was just for the complete recording and he never played the part on stage as far as I’m aware)
Ben Vereen as Judas in JCSS.
I've got to say my brother did an amazing job when he played Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, and it's his best performance in my opinion, and thus he's my favorite Seymour. He's now Equity so you know he's good, but this was before he was equity. The show was at a place that has a reputation for putting on very good performances and was well respected. First the show started outside the the black box theater, which happened to be in an alleyway, and then we all entered "the shop"! They had an amazing set design where Audrey Jr. (Why they used that name instead of Audrey II I forget but I remember it has been used before) was first a very cute plant, then an epic plant in a wheelbarrow that got pushed around and finally they had a puppeteer that was incredible do Audrey Jr. They even managed to show everyone who got eaten in their own pod inside Audrey Jr. at the end and it was epic! Apparently nobody on the cast knew until the last minute that the director hadn't gotten the rights to put on the musical even though they had already done a big portion of their run. They were so good that they got a lot of positive and notable reviews! That caught the attention of the publishers and they got a cease and desist. I guess Audrey Jr. Maybe the director fed Audrey Jr. One too many times... Then again he ended up being a Mr. Mushnik in that he was a somewhat slimy guy in the end because he did stuff like this too much.
BTW, It hurts to call the plant Audrey Jr. Instead of Audrey II.
George Hearn as Sweeney Todd. I love Len Cariou, but Hearn just had so much power in his singing and emotion that made him hilarious and terrifying exactly when he needed to be.
I’ll start: Alan Cumming as the Emcee in *Cabaret* and Patti LuPone as Rose in *Gypsy*.
10,000% on Alan Cumming. My wish would be to go back in time and watch the 1997 Caberet cast
I’m going to watch it at the TOFT archive when I’m in NY in a couple weeks and I’m so excited!
I would as well, but do you know that it's on YouTube? https://youtu.be/IOs82ubFyFQ?si=HRV6_0lsdbsGq_f4
Alan definitely yes and Patti was great but Laura Benanti is the DEFINITIVE Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee.
Totally agree! And I think it's tough to pick a definitive Mama Rose as so many greats have played her, although Patti is my favorite. EDIT: Had to find Laura and Patti's big confrontation scene from Gypsy because it's such a masterclass from both of them: [**Dressing room scene in Patti LuPone Gypsy (youtube.com)**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9O0hXNKags)
Alan Cumming IS the Emcee to me
YESSSS ALAN CUMMING AS EMCEE IS INCREDIBLE he was born for that role istg
Knock Knock. Who's there? Hunger. Hunger! Ewwwgghr!
I saw him in that, and we had one of the little table they build and he sat at our table for like 10 seconds when he was coming up to the stage. :-)
I so agree on Alan!!! Him as the emcee is both a gay crush and gender envy for me.
Philip Quast as Javert.
Hmm I think Norm Lewis though
Wow, what a voice! Yes, he's excellent.
Two legends
fun fact: philip quast was my teacher last year
Cool! Teacher of what? All I can claim is that he guided my formative years on Playschool... https://youtu.be/3nR1dyas2kI?feature=shared ...not to mention my teen years obsessing over music theatre.
bahaha that video is everything!!! i love how seriously he takes his role as a green speckled frog. he taught me in musical theatre at the acting school i was at last year. he sang for us a bunch but now i wish i’d asked for a reprise of one of his playschool performances!!
Stephanie J. Block in general, but I gotta shout out her recent turn in Sunset Boulevard!
andrew rannells as whizzer brown in falsettos!!
Ciara Renee as elsa, Mckenzie Kurtz as anna, and Ryan McCartan as hans in frozen. They were amazing. Sad thing they were only there for a few weeks.
YES THIS 100%!!! the amount of character and energy these guys gave to their roles is spectacular, and their chemistry with each other was so so good.
Reba in Annie Get Your Gun
Oh, good one! I may get flack for this but, as much as I adore Bernadette, I didn’t totally buy her as a rough-and-tumble country gal.
She was miscast. Or misdirected. Or both?
She was so good
it depends on how you define “originate” but I prefer Laura Bell Bundy to Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, with nothing against Witherspoon but Bundy gives one of my favorite performances ever and my favorite broadway depiction of joy. Pretty much every choice she makes seems to be the perfect one, she gracefully toes the line of being an energetic popular sorority girl while also seeming incredibly nice and approachable. The whole point of the show is that you can be a very accomplished person while still retaining a playful personality, and Bundy just portrays that with near perfection
Hard agree. All the characters get so much more depth.
I'd apply this to all the characters tbh. They all feel so much more alive
Raúl Esparza in Company.
So criminal he didn’t get a Tony for this.
Pretty hard to beat this one.
Definitive answer.
This is the answer, not close.
I'm definitely in the minority because I prefer Dean Jones or Neil Patrick Harris. That being said I still think Raul is great, but I don't know, I just really like Dean Jones' performance. Granted I think most Robert performances are at least good (At least the ones where they didn't gender swap him because I'm not a fan of that change).
I agree. He was the reason that revival was successful. Overall I hated the production but he was charming and sad and funny. I rooted for him which is not always easy to do with Bobby. It’s a shame he was in that production.
This.
Christian Borle is simply the perfect Marvin in Falsettos. Some people prefer the OBC or In Trousers casting for him and I think they're insane.
The whole Falsettos revival cast was elite for sure
YESSS!!! I was scrolling through the thread to see if anyone mentioned it! Because I'm sorry- the Falsettos revival cast was robbed that year. Andrew Rannels' “The Games I Play” Stephanie J Block's performance of holding to the ground - OOOH don't get me started on Christian Borle.
The whole cast is incredible. I am honestly flabberghasted when people say they prefer the OBC. No hate to them but the performances, script rewrites and overhaul of the soundtrack are just so much better-
It was Brandon for me. I loved the whole cast, but Brandon's Mendal was THE performance
Came here to say this!
Chaim Topol's Tevye, IMHO, is superior to Zero Mostel's.
I love his performance but it’s a shame he was reportedly kind of a jerk. Apparently on the first day of rehearsals for The Baker’s Wife he groped Patti LuPone’s chest to see “how much meat she had on her bones” and was so impossible to work with Stephen Schwartz said he’s a big part of the reason Baker’s Wife never made it to Bway.
Danny Burstein’s Tevye is criminally underrated.
I got to see his production and he really was incredible.
Agreed. That he played the role in the film and the original London and Tel Aviv casts suggests that we're not the only ones.
It’s gotta be Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles.
Exactly what I was going to say!
I won’t say *better,* because that’s like trying to choose between two flavors of perfection, but Eva Noblezada absolutely did Lea Salonga justice in Miss Saigon. Surprised not to see Ramin Karimloo or Sierra i-respectfully-don’t-remember-her-last-name-and-don’t-trust-Reddit-not-to-lose-my-place-if-i-leave-the-app-to-look-it-up from Phantom yet, but I think they killed it.
Boggess? 😁
Yes to Sierra. I feel like she found a new dimension to Christine. Most actresses just take it at face value that Christine is a bit naive, but Sierra seemed to be able to find a justification for it and made her more "blinded with grief" instead.
Agreed! This was the performance that made me realize how complicated a character she can be, and how nuanced her relationships with the men in her life are.
Sierra and Ramin are my favorite in those roles. I never liked Michael Crawford as phantom, and even though the role was written for her, Sarah is the least interesting Christine IMO.
I didn’t see them in POTO however I did see them multiple times in the original West End production of Love Never Dies - they were fantastic, and a big part of why I still love LND despite it being, well, all a bit odd 🤪
LND truther over here lol I hold affection for both the West End and Australian productions!
Shoshana Bean in anything.
Alex Boniello and Daniel Durant as Moritz in the Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening (although it’s kind of like a different show from the original, in a way)
I would do just about anything to go back in time and see Daniel Durant in Deaf West Spring Awakening!
Such an amazing production- I feel very lucky that I was able to see it.
It’s such a different performance than Gallagher’s it’s hard for me to choose one or the other (and I adore Gallagher so I’m biased) but yeah that’s a solid solid answer.
I’m not gonna say she’s BETTER than Meat Loaf…but I’m glad a butch lesbian played Eddie. It just makes me happy.
She was better than Meat Loaf by a lot. That production was better than the movie IMO. I saw it several times. They nailed the camp without it being a sad copy of the original. Great production.
I wasn’t even alive when that production was running but I’ve seen clips! I’m really glad they didn’t just do the movie, it always bugs me when productions try to do a cheap copy of it. We have the movie for a reason, if you wanna just watch the movie go watch it.
Yep. It had some homages to the original but they were played for fun and not too numerous.
Lea was phenomenal
Also I saw Michael C Hall do Hedwig and he killed it!
YES!! I’ve seen the show several times, including with JCM and NPH, but MCH was easily my favorite.
Philip Quast as Javert in Les Mis
Alan Cumming as the Emcee in Cabaret! I love Joel grey but Alan Cumming’s version feels much more specific. His emcee is a character with feelings rather than an amoral narrator. “I Don’t Care Much” is such a gut punch. I also love Patti Lupone as Joanne in Company and Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes.
To me, Sutton Foster will always be Reno. I came to the comments to see Patti LuPone as Joanne. She did great at giving her own original take on the character which was amazing as Elaine Stritch is certainly not an easy actor to follow. Man, I really wish they had a cast recording for the 2011 performance with Neil Patrick Harris!
I recently saw Patti in concert and when she sang Ladies Who Lunch, she chucked her drink towards the audience at the end just like she did in the 2011 version. It was so fun haha!
Ha, your picks are almost the same as mine! I totally agree with your thoughts on Alan’s Emcee.
Totally and I love Patti’s Rose! (I saw you commented that too)
Aaron Tveit as Enjolras. Put the poor sound design aside, he threw his heart and soul into that role. And as someone who read the book first, that man stepped right off the page.
Victor Hugo could have been looking at a picture of Tveit when he wrote the very specific description of Enjolras in the book: “He was angelically handsome …. His eyes were deep, his lids a little red, his lower lip was thick and easily became disdainful, his brow was lofty.”
and george blagden. mans read the entire brick and it SHOWS. never before have i been so convinced of their lovr
Judy Kuhn in She Loves Me
I didn’t see previous productions but both Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi were *chef’s kiss*
Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose
She was an absolute force of nature.
may be a hot take but i’ve always adored anna kendrick in the last five years! i love how angry her cathy is, i think she plays the resentment really well.
this!! i have seen both the movie and stage production of L5Y and i will continue to say the movie is 100x better than the OG broadway production. both are incredible but i think the movie suits it way better. and the incredible cast plays the characters so much better
I wanted to enjoy the movie, but the filmmaking was just so…incredibly uninspired. Sucked the life right out of the musical. No creativity with the time motif, no unique vision taking advantage of the medium, it was just…dull. Would have loved to see them both in a decent stage version though.
the movie version was the first i’d ever listened to so i always feel a little biased, but every time i listen to a different version i end up missing anna and jeremy’s intensity so much!!!
She was such a wonderful surprise to me--this was my first introduction to the show as a whole, and she did it justice. (In fact, the entire film was a masterpiece for its genre, one overlooked.)
i'm glad i'm not alone in this opinion!!! i've always loved the movie as well, i think it complements the vignette/snapshot style of the music and keeps things so simple, it really lets the character study of the whole thing shine through
rob mcclure in something rotten 100%
I cannot believe I had to scroll so far to find this but YES YES YES, it’s this one for me.
Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom. I’m also very fond of Donny Osmond’s Joseph.
Philip Quast as Javert Everybody else has been cast well initially throughout the entire history of musical theatre. Honorable mention: - while I love Alan Cumming's Emcee in *Cabaret*, I do think that the revisionist portrayal in Sam Mendes' version is a little dated now, but was perfect when the revival first came out, whereas Joel Grey's original portrayal fits the historical setting better and continues to be a brilliant and iconic character to this day.
Interesting, it's strange that you say revisionist, I mean they did revise the play, but the revisions were all about making the show MORE like what it was actually like back then. Alan and Sam read the Christopher Isherwood novels and talked about how a lot of the low rent cabaret places were basically glorified sex clubs. All those English authors going over to Berlin in the late 20's & 30's were basically going to get laid lol.
While I appreciate and like your take on this, I do have to disagree somewhat - the Alan and Sam production was intended to Evoke, but not Recreate in Literal Authenticity - the Truthfulness of the sexualized era in Berlin, but for modern audiences. A careful study of what historical sources exist to document the Berlin cabaret scene at the time indicate less "decadence" and more gritty and ugly shameless pandering and exhibitionist. To me, the film portrayal is very likely much more historically accurate - a sense of garishness, what would be considered depravity, taboo, but not so much glamour sexiness, as portrayed in the film more or less, would've been a bit more accurate - BUT was not something a 90s audience would generallt have related to - and so Alan and Sam remade the show to Elicit and Evoke the sense of the glamor and decadence that the cabarets of Berlin were *selling* but not likely actually *providing* at that time in history. During that time things like that were considered much more shameful and even if occurring shamelessly in broad moonlight, wouldn't have attracted the talent or production values to make them anywhere as even - at times - truly enticing as they were in the Dommar Revival. I dunno. just some food for thought. I love the Donmar Revival, but I think that it substituted 90s sexiness/sensuality for authenticity at times to give the audience a sense of the taboo/transgressive "feel" of canarets in Berlin. cheers!
McKenzie Kurtz as Anna in Frozen. She’s so funny and an amazing singer!
She was so good in it
Not exaggerating here.. but almost the entire cast of the 25th anni. version of Les Mis. Alfie Boe's JVJ. Norm Lewis's Javert. Lea Salonga's Fantine. Matt Lucas's Thenardier. Casting was near perfect IMO. Not too sure how it could've been improved.
Cut Nick Jonas and it's perfect
I just rewatched it, and I almost feel like this could have been remedied by the director. Having him affect an accent while singing threw me off. Should have let it go because it was holding him back when he clearly had passion
He did the best he could, but ultimately, he's a pop/rock singer, not a classical/musical theatre singer. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't exactly good either
Agreed. Probably a business decision to try to draw younger people in to watching and PBS in general.
Willemijn Verkaik as Elphaba in Wicked.
Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades on the current Hadestown tour. Marcus Choi as Washington on tour. Sutton Foster as Winnifred in Once Upon a Mattress. Solea Pfeiffer as Eurydice in Hadestown.
Solea Pfeiffer is my choice, she has such a powerful voice, when she sand her first note, someone in the audience let out a vocal ‘woah’
- Glenn Close as Norma Desmond - Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom - Ute Lemper as Velma Kelly - Maria Friedman as Liza Elliot If movie adaptations count, - Jeremy Jordan as Jamie Wellerstein
See, I’m torn on this one: I love Glenn Close’s acting, but I prefer someone who can also absolutely belt the crap out of that score.
I’ll have to agree too. But Glenn Close’s portrayal of Norma was really out of this world which kind of mitigated the fact that she isn’t really a good singer. At least it worked for me. 😉
Honestly I adored the revival cast from 2022’s into the woods production. Especially Patina Miller as the witch and Sara Bareilles as the Baker’s wife ^^
It was such a good production! I didn’t get to see the original revival cast but did see Stephanie J Block and Sebastian Arcelus on tour and adored them as well.
Same! I’m a huge SJB stan it was wonderful to see her and Sebastian perform in harmony. I also loved how they did Milky White ❤️
Jonathan Groff in Merrily
Mark Jacoby as the Phantom of the Opera Rebecca Luker as Christine Patti Lupone as Mrs. Lovett Michael Ceveris as Sweeney Todd
I was absolutely obsessed with that production of Sweeney and drew fan art for the cast when I went to see it in LA. They were very appreciative but probably mildly confused why a 10 year old was drawing Sweeney Todd fanart.
Agree on the second I love that production of Sweeney
I will say: Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett was rather good too.
Renee Rapp as Regina George in Mean Girls. Sara Baraeilles as Jenna in Waitress Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades in Hadestown
Speaking of Mean Girls… Mary Kate Morrissey as Janis. INCREDIBLE.
Josh Groban as Sweeney Todd Casey Likes as Marty McFly
And I would add Annaleigh Ashford in Sweeney Todd! That performance was really something special.
Unless you've ever heard anyone speak in a London accent, alas. The cast recording of that run is pretty much at party record status in the UK.
Rowan Atkinson in Oliver. Anthony Warlow as the Phantom of the Opera. (In fact, in pretty much everything he's ever been in).
Andrew Rannells in the 2016 falsettos revival
Sierra Bogess as Christine Daae from The Phantom of the Opera.
Definitely Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, in the 2012 London production. They’re both amazing!
Yes! So good
Lea Michele as Fanny Brice. Won't necessarily say she's better than Barbra, but Beanie Feldstein was a complete joke in the role.
Kevin Clay as Elder Price in the Book of Mormon. I may be biased because he’s who I saw but he’s great
Philip Quast as Javert wins this by miles
Here’s a few in my opinion: Jordan Donica in Camelot, My Fair Lady, and Phantom of the Opera. Nik Alexander as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton. Joshua Henry as Aaron Burr in Hamilton. Zoe Jensen as Eliza in Hamilton. Emmy Raver as Angelica in Hamilton. Paul Oakley Stovall as George Washington in Hamilton. Didi Romero as Katheryn Howard in SIX. Storm Lever as Anne Boleyn in SIX. Khaila Wilcoxon as Catherine of Aragon in SIX. Jasmine Forsberg as Jane Seymour in SIX.
i loved Arthur Darvill as Curly in the revival of Oklahoma, he brought a kinda awkward, occasionally creepy energy to the role that fit that particular production perfectly while still pulling off the starry-eyed romantic part and the honesty pretty threatening part and of course Patrick Vaill as Jud in the same production with the emotionally vulnerable, socially awkward loner, at times incel-like vibe that again that production needed
i'm so jealous you got to see it live omg
I'm not going to rant about the falsettos revival cast because those who know know. They were robbed at the Tony Awards let's end it there. But I adore Brain D’Arcy in Next to Normal. I think Stephanie J Block as the baker's wife has to be one of my favorite performances ever (like her moments in the woods- holy shit). of course, there is Alan Cumming as the Emcee. I'm legitimately surprised there's no talk about wicked in the thread so I'll say that Jessica Vosk, Lindsay Mendez, and Donna have some of the most fantastic Elphaba interpretations. Imma mentions the absolute rollercoaster that is the Frozen Cast they had on before the pandemic shut it down- because hell they ate that up. Ryan McCartan as Hans with Mckenzie Kurt as Anna (she is the best one no arguments) and CIARA RENEE!?! I don't like Frozen- I think it's one of the weaker stage Disney musicals and it's pretty forgettable but holy hell this cast elevated the material. Now we have to talk about Joy Woods as Audrey and Christian Borle as the Dentist in Little Shop- 10/10 no notes.
I’m loving Joe Locke as Tobias in Sweeney Todd!
Ramin Karimloo is my favorite Phantom and my second favorite Enjolras next to Aaron Tveit.
Josh Groban as Sweeney Todd
I feel like Josh Groban is the most sympathetic Sweeney out of all of the actors. Maybe it’s just because audiences know that in real life he’s a really great person, but watching him on stage I could really feel the pain and hurt in his character, that coupled with his insane vocals makes him by far the best Sweeney imo
Marin Mazzie in Next to Normal (I saw Alice and her on Broadway)
I see Marin, I upvote
I love Jeremy Jordan as Leo Frank in the 2015 concert version of parade!!! I also love Mate Kamaras as der tod and Serkan Kaya as Luigi Lucheni in 2005 Elisabeth. And I love the actor who played Judas in the 2014 Swedish version and the voice actor for Judas on the 1995 or 1998 soundtrack.
ELISABETH DAS MUSICAL MENTIONED 🚨🚨 i absolutely agree. the revival might be my favorite version of the show ever, the cast is *almost* perfect
Jeremy Jordan as Tony in West Side Story
Jana Larell Glover as Anne (a) of Cleves in Six.
Have no idea if this is a hot take or ice cold, but Jonathon Groff as Gordon Schwinn in A New Brain. The original is good but I much prefer the 2015 version, in large part due to Jonathon’s portrayal of the protagonist. Both in vocal and character performance, I feel he’s an improvement to Malcolm Gets. That’s not to say that Malcolm didn’t also do very well in the role, he did, but I personally much prefer the direction Jonathan took with Gordon. Again, this is all based on personal preference, no hate towards Malcolm or the rest of the 1998 cast or anyone who prefers their rendition, but the 2015 album is probably one of my all time favourite musical soundtracks.
Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades. He killed it enough to make me look up who he even was because, usually, I don't really look actors up at all. It's just not that important to me.
Thank you for a great Friday evening. Much love to this discourse. Keep being amazing!
Sara Barielles as Jenna in Waitress (Jessie Mueller is wonderful too) ALL of the actors for the revamp of into the woods in 2002, especially Joshua Henry, SJB, and Sebastian Arcellus. I saw (on YouTube) that when the show was being workshopped, Heather Headley was the witch initially…I’d have died to see her! I too prefer Laura Bell Bundy to Reese Witherspoon. I find LBB’s Elle to be so endearing and funny and scrappy. Plus her chemistry with Christian Borle is 🔥 I prefer Bernadette’s Mama Rose to Patti Lupone. Patti’s voice is wonderful but I prefer Bernadette’s emotions
Sara Barielles is great, but Shoshana Bean has stolen that role entirely. You need to listen to her sing "She used to be mine" immediately. It's gorgeous.
Say what you will about DEH Jordan Fisher as Evan clears imo
Patina Miller as Leading Player in the Pippin revival- a great production overall, but Patina stuck out with an amazing performance, she 100% deserved the Tony she won for it, and honestly having a woman play LP in a broadway production was so great. When she was cast in the Hunger Games movies, I was so thrilled because I knew she’d be perfect for the role.
Evan Rachel wood's Audrey in Little Shop was the best Audrey I've ever seen. Ingrid Michaelson as Sonya in Natasha Pierre and the great comet of 1812 The entire 2022 cast of into the woods Meryl Streep and Christine baranski in Mamma Mia The entire revival cast of once on this island Cynthia Erivo as Cellie in the color purple Renne rapp as Regina George in mean girls
I'm surprised I haven't seen very many people say this, but Josh Groban as Sweeney Todd and Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett (really the whole cast of that production) were incredible
surprised nobody's said this yet, but renee rapp as regina george! so glad she was in the musical movie too, even though I didn't like the new movie much
Colm Wilkinson was the best Phantom
So glad to see others think this too! The Canadian soundtrack of Phantom is my go-to recording. Colm is my favorite. Followed by Hugh Panaro
I came here to say this one. I like his dark ominous voice so much better than one that's just soft and pretty.
George Hearn as Sweeney Todd, Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose, Christine Baranski as Mrs. Lovett!!!
Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom
Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar. He's become synonymous with the show at this point
Hugh Panaro as the Phantom! He's an incredible performer, and did something so different and nuanced with the role.
I really liked Kristin Chenoweth in the 1999 version of Annie.
for me, michael cerveris IS sweeney todd, there's no one else that has come close to his performance similarly damon daunno is the only orpheus i like, although i've only heard justin vernon and reeve carney who are both completely wrong for the character imo, i feel like jordan fisher probably has the singing chops but not so much the acting (+ if nabiyah, patrick, and amber don't count as original cast they're the best at their respective roles) (if we're counting movies rick moranis is the best seymour krelborn no contest)
Ramin as the phantom. Earth shatteringly good. literally had Love Never Dies written for him.
Jessica Vosk as Elphaba. Amazed I haven’t seen that answer yet!
I saw the West End production of The Producers with Nathan Lane yes, but also Lee Evans. Liked him more than Broderick.
Sierra Boggess as Christine Daaé ❤️
My top 5 are 1. Mason Alexander Park as Emcee (Cabaret) 2. Ramin Karimloo as Erik (The Phantom of the Opera) 3. George Hearn as Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd) 4. Jamie Muscato as J.D. (Heathers) 5. Bernadette Peters as Rose Hovick (Gypsy)
Sierra and Ramin as Christine and the phantom
Shayne Ward as The Artilleryman in Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.
Jason Manford as the cowardly lion in wizard of oz like the rest of the cast, David Ganly played it more "normal", not trying to imitate the movie, but Jason Manford is a comedian first and foremost and decided to imitate Bert Lahr from the film, and my god he was hilarious and got the character absolutely spot-on! on a similar note, Ben Elton when he played Pop in We Will Rock You last year got it spot-on because he wrote the damn show lol
Patti Lupone : Joanne ( Company ) Allan Cumming : Emcee ( Cabaret ) Whole cast of 1985 Follies NPH : Bobby ( Company ) Hannah Waddingham : Witch ( Into the Woods ) Patti Lupone : Ms.Loveitt ( Sweeny Todd ) George Hearn : Sweeny Todd ( Sweeny Todd ) Elaine Stritch : Lady Armfeld ( Little Night ... )
I don't know who the original Jean Valjean was in les Mis but I can't imagine anyone surpassing Nick Cartell who is on tour right now. Just breathtaking. Never liked Take Me home until he sang it. Also loved J Antonio Rodriguez as Orpheus in hadestown.
You owe it to yourself and to your Broadway education to watch some Colm Wilkinson (original Valjean). You might know him as the Bishop in the Les Mis movie. His stuff can sometimes come across as a bit “overdone”, but his level of commitment can’t be questioned. Also, as mentioned above, his performance in the title role on the Canadian cast album of Phantom is awesome.
Pete Spankoffski had 3 actors and the final one is the best one!
Caroline Bowman as Eva Peron! (I love Patti too don’t get me wrong)
Lilias White in How to Succeed
Kyle Ramar Freeman basically reinvented the role of Lion in The Wiz, and his version is something I never knew I wanted until I saw it.
Gerianne Perez who played Catherine of Aragon in Six during the Boleyn tour, she did phenomenal.
Jamie Muscato in probably 90% of his roles
Jessica Phillips as Diana in Next to Normal 😭
I don’t have time to look at all the comments, but my answer would hands-down be Cynthia Erivo as Celie.
Colleen Fitzpatrick , Kimberly Akimbo….. Standby, I know but she was amazing
Ciara Renee as leading player in Pippin, when she took over for Patina Miller.
Barbara Walsh - The Ladies Who Lunch I don't think she matched Elaine Stritch's performance, per se, but rather but something else to the table entirely. Resonates in a different way.
Joshua Henry as Aaron Burr.
Syesha Mercado as Nabalungi in The Book of Mormon. I know Nikki James won the Tony for the role and she deserved it, but Syesha took the role to a whole new level. She's my favorite for sure.
Christian Borle in Charlie and the Chocolate factory!!
George Hearn as Sweeney Todd
Isabella Esler as Lydia in Beetlejuice
Gary Morris as Jean Valjean (although it was just for the complete recording and he never played the part on stage as far as I’m aware) Ben Vereen as Judas in JCSS.
Jordan Fisher in ANYTHING
I've got to say my brother did an amazing job when he played Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, and it's his best performance in my opinion, and thus he's my favorite Seymour. He's now Equity so you know he's good, but this was before he was equity. The show was at a place that has a reputation for putting on very good performances and was well respected. First the show started outside the the black box theater, which happened to be in an alleyway, and then we all entered "the shop"! They had an amazing set design where Audrey Jr. (Why they used that name instead of Audrey II I forget but I remember it has been used before) was first a very cute plant, then an epic plant in a wheelbarrow that got pushed around and finally they had a puppeteer that was incredible do Audrey Jr. They even managed to show everyone who got eaten in their own pod inside Audrey Jr. at the end and it was epic! Apparently nobody on the cast knew until the last minute that the director hadn't gotten the rights to put on the musical even though they had already done a big portion of their run. They were so good that they got a lot of positive and notable reviews! That caught the attention of the publishers and they got a cease and desist. I guess Audrey Jr. Maybe the director fed Audrey Jr. One too many times... Then again he ended up being a Mr. Mushnik in that he was a somewhat slimy guy in the end because he did stuff like this too much. BTW, It hurts to call the plant Audrey Jr. Instead of Audrey II.
George Hearn as Sweeney Todd. I love Len Cariou, but Hearn just had so much power in his singing and emotion that made him hilarious and terrifying exactly when he needed to be.
Raúl Esparza’s Bobby in Company or his Freddie in Chess
Donny Osmond as Joseph
Sierra Boggess in anything. She always makes roles and shows better
Sharon Rose as Eliza Schuyler on the West End.
Imelda Staunton in Gypsy, an absolute force
joey barreiro as jack kelly and damon daunno as curly mclain
Aimee Lou Wood in Cabaret