[jd682]

So im directing a school production of Pippin and just had auditions.

There was a poor turn out of talented male performers. The best auditioner was a male with significant dancing, and singing skills....an obvious Leading Player...but I have nobody to play Pippin

I was wondering if anyone has ever been in or seen a production where Pippin was played by a female? She would be playing a male role.

I dont know if I should sacrifice this gentlemen's leading player just to fill the role of Pippin. I could always cast a female as the L.P. but I cannot think of anyone as talented and dynamic.

Thoughts???

[broadwaygal89]

Actually, I did this *very* intensive Broadway workshop last year where we put on Pippin in a week. Obviously there were a huge amount of cuts made, most notably no Fastrada, at all. Because there were no male actors who could conceivably sing Pippin's part, Pippin was cast as a girl. She was about 17, I think, and extremely talented and in general, it really worked. Then again, almost the entire cast was female because of sheer lack of male talent, so we had a contralto (me!) playing Charlemagne as well. Good luck!

[The_Right_Track]

How did it turn out? What did you do jd682?

[jd682]

SO the show turned out great! I decided to use a girl for Pippin and after weeks of rehearsal and headaches she was actually convincing as a guy. We spent a lot of time working on her posture and body language as well as her voice. The Catherine scenes took the most time to perfect because of the two actress' comfort levels.
All in all I was pleased with the decision and would consider cross-gender casting again (only if necessary.)

[MsDivaKate]

My only question is this, if there was the female talent enough so that the role of Pippin was performed by a girl, was there not enough talent so that the role of the leading player could be portrayed by a girl and then the guy used to play the LP could have been Pippin??

I'm very on the line about cross-gender casting in situations like these. If the talent is not available to perform a certain show, why not select a show that better fits your talent pool? There are some shows and some roles where the gender isn't really defined, but here it clearly is. Even if the girl was still playing Pippin as a male, did that not raise flags of question amongst parents?

Also perhaps you should have better thought of your student resources BEFORE selecting your show or had a back up plan in effect, should the turn out have been less than desirable. However, congratulations to you for having things turn out so nicely. You were lucky.

[Gazelle]

Well personally I really respect that you did not want to sacrifice the best Player to fill another spot. If I were the one going for TLP but had to be Pippin knowing it was just because I was the only one who could, I would not be happy one bit.
I'm really glad you took that chance in the casting that you did, because it turned out perfectly for the production.

[pish123c]

Pick a different show.

[Salome]

I chaned my tune about a female Leading Player..but a female Pippin. no way. dsoesnjt cut it. simple reasonm is..the only way i condone cross gender casting is

a) the role is played as a female instead of a male and it makes sense in the context of the play.

b) its the kind of show that can utilize a "britches part".

[Monsieur D'Arque]

I'd say Male Pippin, Female Leading Player.

But what about Spelling bee, Salome? Foreign productions inexplicably use a britches take on the show by casting women as William Barfee...

[Carol]

I think Pippin's composer Stephen Schwartz would agree. Here's a link to his discussion forum where he talks about this.

http://www.stephenschwartz.com//ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=archives&Number=277&Forum=All_Forums&Words=leading%20player%20%20female&Match=And&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=277&Search=true#Post277