The Sunday Giveaway: Two tickets to 39 Steps Off Broadway!
Remember that time when 39 Steps was on Broadway? And then remember that time it was Off Broadway?
And then remember that time it came back?
That time is right now, because 39 Steps is currently playing Off Broadway (again) at the Union Square Theatre.
Why does it keep coming back?
Well, have you ever heard of Occam’s Razor? It’s a principle that basically means the simplest answer is the right one.
And in this case, the simplest answer to why 39 Steps keeps steppin’ back on a NY stage is that . . . well . . . people like it. (Occam!)
You haven’t seen it? But you want to see it?
I’ve got two tickets for one reader to see these 4 actors playing 150 roles in this Hitchcockian thriller . . . and here’s how you win:
One actor playing more than one role is one of the coolest theatrical tricks in the Broadway toolbox. The device is used in everything from Gentleman’s Guide to the Alan Cumming Macbeth I produced to Love! Valour! Compassion!
But maybe other shows could get this treatment? What would you like to see done with one person playing multiple or all the roles? A West Side Story with a Maria who is also the Anita? Or a Sweeney where Tobias is also Johanna?
Give me an idea in the comments below, the crazier the better (isn’t that where great theater begins?) and one of you will win.
Good luck!
(Got a comment? I love ‘em, so comment below! Email Subscribers, click here then scroll down to say what’s on your mind!)
– – – – –
FUN STUFF:
– Listen to Podcast Episode #28 with Victoria Bailey, the Executive Director of TDF! Click here.
– Like the blog? Like me on Facebook! Click here.
Jean Valjean and Javet…maybe one is a puppet.
A one man Oleanna……though Mamet didn’t even like the gender changing.
Driving Miss Daisy……Hoake and Daisy.
Looking forward to other comments
I’d love to see a musical where one person plays all the Kardashians, but since no one has written that yet, I think Evita where Che also plays Eva could be crazy!
A one man “Curious Incident…” Where all the characters are played by Christopher inside his head
Equus where one actor plays Alan, Dr. Dysart AND the horse! Talk about a psychological drama…
Re: The Fantastiks. I think it would be interesting to have El Gallo (the narrator) play Matt and Matt’s father.
I don’t know about anybody else, but I think it would be pretty mind blowing to see someone play both Elphaba and Galinda in Wicked………anyone?
One actor plays both Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan in “Carousel” as Julie sings “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to the dying Billy.
what about a raisin in the sun where the Youngers women are all one woman. It would make the way that walter regarded them interesting.
The Last Five Years. Let’s bring it from a 2 person cast to a 1 person show!
How wonderful would it be to see It’s a Wonderful Life!! From Potter to Zuzu, George, Mary, Clarence et al!
My Mom is sending in MY name ’cause she knows that my hubby and I LOVE this kind of show!
Phantom of the Opera as a quartet.
South Pacific – the white actors are played by a single actor of color in each gender, Bloody Mary and Liat are played by white actors. OK, you said crazy, right?
Sister Sarah/Miss Adelaide in GUYS AND DOLLS. Or for that matter, Sky Masterson/Miss Adelaide. That would be more interesting.
Jesus Christ Superstar with a split role of Jesus/Judas!!! Would bring some interesting new meaning to the show.
It’d be hard to do, but Mamma Mia with all the dads played by one actor!
Matilda with Miss Trunchbull/Mr. Wormwood/Rudolpho/The Escape Artist — it might have to be rejiggered a little to reblock the scenes where Mr. Wormwood and Rudolpho are currently together. You might even be able to add in The Doctor with some clever updates.
A Little Night Music with one man and one woman playing all the men and all the women, respectively. I’d love to see the herculean task that would be A Weekend in the Country!
Perfect Crime is already a small cast but have one actor play all the male roles.
Seven brides for Seven Bothers: all the brides played by one woman with costume/wig changes, and all the brothers played by one actor with scarf changes. Quick action for sure!
How about Tracy and Edna Turnbull played by the same “person.” Could be interesting and fun!
“Like mother, like daughter!”
Why not revive that notorious musical flop, Gone With the Wind, with a cast of six!
I’d like to see Wicked with the same man playing The Wizard and Mme Morrible. Maybe Harvey Fierstein.
I can imagine that a one-man Quixote in Man of La Mancha might actually work.
CHICAGO–in which Roxie and Velma are played by the same performer. In this revisal, one is revealed to be the imaginary psychotic doppleganger of the other.
We love doing shows with actors playing multiple roles, we do a one-man Christmas Carol in Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown each December and last summer did the wonderful play Travels with My Aunt. If you want to see another great example, go to Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and see Eric Tucker’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Very well done. I loved it. Melinda
Follies – One woman plays both Phyllis and Sally and one man plays both Buddy and Ben.
A production of Cabaret where the actor playing the Emcee plays all the roles. Spoilers ahead for Cabaret. While there are many interpretations of the end of Cabaret my personal favorite is that it all existed inside the Emcee’s (actually a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp) head. So by having the Emcee play all the roles it further developes this interpretation as well as just being entertaining.
I’d love to see “Gypsy!” as a one-woman show. Mama Rose would play all the characters, especially Baby June and Louise. She’d get a chance to “strut her stuff”.
I’d also love to see “Sunday in the Park with George” where George is played by the same actress playing Dot.
How about ANNIE with one actor playing both Miss Hannigan and Daddy Warbucks? Who knows what psychological insights that might bring to light?
HANDS DOWN Into the Woods
Producers, Producers! You keep wanting to cut cast sizes!
What’s already been done: The Syringa Tree. Off Broadway. One actress brilliantly played about 24 roles with a riveting script. Stones in Their Pockets – Broadway. Cast of 2 men played an entire village and a group of actors filming a movie.
New possibilities:
The Producers. Imagine one actor do both Bialystock and Bloom!
The Audience – same actress playing the Queen and Margaret Thatcher!
Wolf Hall – one actor playing Henry and all his wives! You know, if this was framed in a psychoanalyst’s office, …
Noises Off! Three Actors
Of course, either one man — principally the George character — or one woman – principally the Martha character– doing the other three parts of Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”
P.S. In alternating performances you could do the George character and the next night the Martha character — thus potentially selling two different night’s tickets to the same theatre goer.
A One Woman “Next to Normal” would be powerful.
I’m thinking of Stephen Fry doing “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”!
Has to be Estragon and Vladimir — Waiting for Godot.
RENT where Joanne and Maureen also play Collins and Angel.