Playing Against Type/Theatre

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Examples of Playing Against Type in Theatre include:

• Michael Crawford, prior to the mid-80s, had been cast almost exclusively in bumbling, comic roles. Then he put on a mask and a cape...
  • Compare Crawford in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, where he plays an Idiot Hero who even bumbles when he sings, to the Phantom. Wow.
• Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter in Equus, to much acclaim.
  • And again in the 2011 revival of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Who knew Dan Rad could sing and dance and do an excellent Camp Gay?
• Two-time Tony Award winner John Cullum started out playing Shakespeare in New York, was in the original cast of Camelot, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, On The Twentieth Century, and Shenandoah. Then he was in Urinetown. He was understandably baffled the first time he read the script.
• Ian McKellen gave a monologue while hosting Saturday Night Live where he talked about his experiences in a theatre troupe with Anthony Hopkins and Maggie Smith. He ended with: "Who would have thought that Tony Hopkins would be known as a man who eats people's faces, Maggie Smith would be known as the Harry Potter lady, and I would be an action figure?"
• Christy Carlson Romano took the role of Kate/Lucy in Avenue Q. There is something a bit jarring in hearing Kim Possible cry "f*ck, it sucks to be me".
• Andrea McArdle, the original Annie, has returned to show business and now plays the nasty Miss Hannigan.
• In 1980, David Bowie -- he of the sultry voice, smooth onstage moves, and cool persona -- made his Broadway debut as the title character in The Elephant Man. Beyond the role being that of The Grotesque, it is a notorious challenge for an actor, since the script's instructions dictate that he must rely on twisted body language and vocal distortion rather than makeup to convey his severe deformities, but Bowie got excellent reviews.
• Laurence Fishburne, known for playing serious, stoic types, played the title role in Thurgood, a one-man-play about Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, who was something of a Boisterous Bruiser.
• The otherwise light-hearted Opal Peachey plays a naughty leather-clad character in Modern Luv.

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