View source for Gender-Neutral Narrator

{{trope}}
The [[Narrator]] is a common character type in stage shows. And frequently, the narrator's gender will be unspecified and irrelevant to the story. This trope is for those characters.

{{examples}}

* The Leading Player from ''[[Pippin]]'' is perhaps the most well-known version.
* The Stage Manager from ''[[Our Town]]''.
* Despite only being in the first and last scenes, the actor in A.R. Gurney ''Richard Cory'' serves a narrator-like purpose and is not of a specified gender.
* The Chorus from ''[[Henry V]]''.
* The Balladeer from ''[[Assassins (theatre)|Assassins]]'', apart from being referenced as 'boy' once by Booth, could be played as female.
** Only in the original staging. The revival, and most touring companies thereafter, require the Balladeer to be male {{spoiler|because he's actually Lee Harvey Oswald.}}
** Same goes for The Narrator in ''[[Blood Brothers (theatre)|Blood Brothers]]''.
* The Cat in the Hat in ''[[Seussical]]''.
* The Narrator in [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s ''[[Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]]'' is an interesting example: as written, the character has no specific gender, but is now always played by a woman to amend for the complete lack of female characters (other than Potiphar's Wife).
* Not necessarily the narrator of the story, but the Book Voice of J. Pierrepont Finch's book ''[[How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying]]'' in the musical of the same name could arguably fit this trope; in most of the productions it's usually a male.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Theater]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Wicks]]
[[Category:Gender Neutral Narrator]]