[osugirlinpa]

Have you ever seen girls playing guys? I got the part of Benny Southstreet, and this will be a challenge.

[JelliclePat]

Several years ago, I saw a production of 'Man of La Mancha' at a local college in which a girl was cast as Sancho Panza. The only thing that gave her away was that she had a little trouble on the very lowest notes of her songs.

My advice to you is to start observing the men around you - how they walk, how they talk, their body language, etc. Scientifically speaking, men and women walk differently because of the difference in pelvic spread. You might consider using a slightly duck-footed walk (toes turned out a bit). Also, ask your director for ideas on how to avoid being readily recognizable as a girl playing a boy.

Just remember: you'll be in good company. Whoopie Goldberg and Joanne Worley both played Pseudolus, and let's not forget Mary Martin as Peter Pan...

Let us know how rehearsals go...

[thoroughly_modern]

In the eighth grade I was cast as a (male) crapshooter . It was actually quite fun!! I haven't heard of male leads being played by females, but I'm sure you are fabulous enough to pull it off.

[MsDivaKate]

I also have never seen the male gamblers with lines/songs played by women before, except I did see a school in which Big Jule was played by a girl and the role was played as a female, but I didn't really care for that.

Arvide (Sarah's uncle) is routinely cast as a female by high school productions it seems (my own included). So it does happen.

Most schools will also use girls as crapshooters to assist the guys in dancing during Crapshooters Ballet and Luck Be A Lady.


As someone said, study the guys around you to try and pick up on some of their mannerisms and try to find a. safe. lower place in your voice from which to speak, if you're playing the role to be a male and not switching genders for the character entirely. Your director who cast you should be able to give you some other pointers on how he/she specifically would like you to play the role. In fact, they should be the first person you approach with this question for tips and suggestions as it is their vision you have to fulfill.

[JelliclePat]

Community and school productions seem to have a chronic lack of men turning out for auditions, so cross-casting is common. This is not usually a problem as long as the gender of the character is retained.

I've thought of a couple more examples. The touring groups for the Capitol Steps comedy group consist of five performers - 3 men and 2 women. This means that there are often times when cross-casting is mandatory while other performers change for their next bits. For instance, Elaina Newport as Jim Lehrer in the Candidates Joke-Telling Debate and Ann Johnson as Kim Jong Il in 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Korea?'

Even in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, a number of performers in the Multiplying Santas routine are women. Of course, this is mostly danced, but the principal is the same. It's hard to tell them apart in the theater; you only notice it in the souvenir program.

So, as Benny, you're in good company. Keep us up to date, please!

[TR_Wolf]

I dont usually like females playing male parts, because they're usually as obvious as males playing female parts.

HOWEVER, in a few shows I've seen characters re-named slightly so they can be females, ie:

Mr Briggs in Our Day Out became Mrs Briggs
Big Jule in Guys and Dolls became Big Jane
and
Monsieur D'arque in Beauty and the Beast became Madame D'arque.

[happyguava]

"Big Jule" could still be a female. Or maybe "Big Jules"

I was a male crapshooter in year 7. As MisDivaKate said, none of our guys could dance. So about 15 of us, I think, had to be guys. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The main difficulty was getting the drawn-on moustaches off in time to be girls in Havana

[Loveisafire69]

When i did this show 4 years ago, there were only 2 guys in the whole show. Even so, the show was great! This was a middle school production, so of course no guys would really want to sing...you know what i mean? But we worked with what we had. I think it is okay for girls to play as guys, but yes, it is noticable.

Previous Parts:
Star-to-be: Annie
Sarah Brown: Guys and Dolls
Pink Lady: Grease

[Eponine93]

I sort of like the idea of Big Jule being Big Julie and Angie the Ox remaining male, or vice versa. Otherwise, the conclusion I have drawn in my sick middle school mind is that the two have a thing for each other. Although it may just be the actors (out of the four guys I know who have played the roles, all were pretty feminine)

Oh and I LOVED being a very manly crapshooter in Guys and Dolls, even though I'm one of the girliest girls you'll ever meet. Playing guys is so much fun!

[BroadwayBeast]

I have seen many a production where there is cross gender casting. I saw Godspell with a female Jesus. I saw Joseph with females as the brothers. Dont worry you'll pull it off. Prolly just use a fedora and some duck tape.

[Salome]

there is nothing i hate more than Guys and DIolls productions using a female Arvide and girls in the crapshooters dance.

[jonj120893]

Once on youtube, I saw a school with a female Sky...

[sienakai]

My skool is having a 3 night production, june 6,7,8, 2007. Ima grl n im playin benny. We have guys singing, n grls being crapshooters. we all look like dudes, n we got hats on n stuff, so we look good. And grls can b guys, but guys can never b grls.

[phantomphan85]

[Maniacbob]

yeah when we did it we didnt have quite enough guys for the crapshooters
So in the crapshooters dance and oldest established we had i think 3 girls dressed up as guys
it worked pretty well
and if it looked out of place it wasnt nearly as noticeable as me (Brannigan dressed as another crapshooter) standing beside Arvide (also dressed as another crapshooter) in the crapshooters and dance and then us also in Oldest Established
it was humorous and nobody really noticed too much

[The Drama Queen]

In the production I was just in the only gender-switched role was Brannigan, and she played the part as a female and it worked fine. What I don't understand is that if you obviously don't have enough guys to do the show, why do it? There are plenty of other shows out there that call for less than 14 guys.

[phantomphan85]

I see what you mean. I don't know why we're doing this show when we barely have enough males, but on the other hand I'm not complaining because it got me my first lead!

[Mara]

I played in a production done by a girls school in conjuction with a guys school. As a result there were like 10 boys, most of whom couldn't sing.
Benny, Nicely and Rusty were all played by girls (very well, but songs were transposed and it was noticeable) and Big Jule was a girl. Arvide was a guy but all the chorus were girls. It was a good production but it definitely detracts from the overall appeal.

[Maniacbob]

I think depending on what parts your changing
Parts like Brannigan and Arvide would totally work
These parts arent gender typical, having them be men works better to the time but can be done easily and well
I think you could have your crapshooters trade as well
Changing Benny or Nicely could work but I dont think it would work nearly as well
It depends really on how its done
Sky and Nathan just wouldnt work imo
Nor Big Jule although that might be mildly humourous I think no

[phantomphan85]

I don't know, I think that Big Jule could quite easily be a female, but would have to be played very butch, kind of like Mama in Chicago.

[lilmissgiggles42]

Due to lack of female roles and the abundance of girls, Arvide in our show is now 'Abigail'. Sarah/Adelaide/General/Abigail (even Mimi for some strange reason...Agatha is only single casted) are all double casted. All the rest of the parts are luckily still male. We actually had an unexpected amount of Guys (which unfortunately meant a depleted orchestra) who can pull off the crap shooters dance. (Though it's a very easy dance. )