In the past decade, it's become the norm to have a role that was traditionally cast as one gender to be played in a revival by another gender. Think of the times there's been a female actor playing Prospero in The Tempest or the bachelor Bobby from Company becoming the bachelorette Bobbie in the 2021 revival. But it's especially exciting when one role is played by multiple genders in the same production.
With the title role in Broadway's Oh, Mary! going from gender non-conforming Cole Escola to cis woman Betty Gilpin and, soon, cis man Tituss Burgess, 半岛体育 has been wondering: how often does Broadway mix up gender when recasting roles? After digging through the annals of the 半岛体育 Vault and other resources, we can say the answer is a lot!
Here are nine other times actors brought a gender-bending twist during a show鈥檚 run on Broadway.
1. Ryann Redmond in Frozen
Disney's smash hit animated film Frozen coming to the stage meant finding a live performer to take on the role of sidekick Olaf the snowman. The Book of Mormon and Gutenberg! star Josh Gad voiced the fan favorite role in the animated film, and the Broadway version originally starred Greg Hildreth in the part, which he performed visibly onstage while operating an adorable Olaf puppet. But despite the needlessly gendered name, clearly Disney wondered if snowmen had to be played by men, because when Hildreth left the show, he was succeeded by Ryann Redmond in the role, though the character continued to use he/him pronouns. Redmond stayed with the production for about a year before herself being succeeded by Chad Burris, proving that Disney was willing to go in any direction with the role as long as the performer was up to the challenge.
2. Lillias White in Hadestown
Andr茅 De Shields won a Tony Award creating the role of mischievous Hermes in Ana茂s Mitchell's Hadestown, but the production has since decided to prioritize flair over gender with the role, casting both men and women when finding replacements. That trend kicked off with Lillias White in 2022, who has since played multiple runs in the part. Other replacements have included Daniel Breaker, original The Wiz star Stephanie Mills, Jon Jon Briones, and T. Oliver Reid. But Hermes isn't the only area where Hadestown is comfortable shaking things up with the gender of its cast. When the wrong combo of actors were unable to perform one night in 2022 leaving the production without a full set of Fates, then-swing and dance captain Reid jumped into action to save the day, playing one of the usually-female Fates. When he told us about it at the time, he called his take on the character "Auntie Fate."
3. June Squibb in Waitress
June Squibb was no stranger to Broadway when she joined the original run of Sara Bareilles' Waitress in 2018. Her storied career鈥攎ost of which has been on screen, including her Oscar nominated turn in 2014's Nebraska鈥攊ncludes stage performances in the original production of Gypsy, The Happy Time, Gorey Stories, and Sacrilege. But what was notable about her star turn in Waitress was the role she played. Kindly diner owner Joe, somewhat the heart at the center of the Tony nominated musical, was first played by Dakin Matthews. When Squibb joined, the role became Josie, with the character going from a curmudgeonly man to a woman. As of the time of publication, the performance is still Squibb's most recent on the Main Stem.
4. Mary Tyler Moore and James Naughton in Whose Life Is It Anyway?
When TV star Mary Tyler Moore opened on Broadway in Whose Life is it Anyway?, the production was technically considered a new revival, but given that it began performances three months following the original Broadway production鈥檚 closing night, it was really just a replacement cast after a brief hiatus. The physical design and direction didn鈥檛 change between these openings, but the stars鈥攁nd their genders鈥攄id. The original production, which opened in April 1979, starred Tom Conti (in a Tony-winning performance) as paralyzed sculptor Ken Harrison and Jean Marsh as his doctor. When it re-opened in February 1980, Mary Tyler Moore was Claire Harrison, with James Naughton co-starring as her male doctor. The play went on to run for an additional 96 performances with Moore and Naughton, closing in May 1980.
5. Jennifer Holliday, Darlene Love, and Mary Bond Davis in Grease
Kinky Boots Tony winner Billy Porter made a big splash early in his career playing Teen Angel in a 1994 Broadway revival of Grease. Teen Angel is, essentially, a specialty spot within Grease, singing 鈥淏eauty School Drop-Out鈥� and appearing briefly in the show鈥檚 finale. This made the role perfect for big-name star replacements, which included Chubby Checker and Al Jarreau. However, the show鈥檚 producers also turned to female talent when casting Teen Angel replacements, giving Dreamgirls Tony winner Jennifer Holliday a stint in the role, as well as legendary studio singer Darlene Love and Mary Bond Davis, who would go on to create the role of Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray.
6. Whoopi Goldberg in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Nathan Lane won his first Tony Award playing Pseudolus in the 1996 Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim, Burt Shevelove, and Larry Gelbart鈥檚 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, leaving giant shoes to fill when he completed his run. In stepped Whoopi Goldberg, at the peak of her fame鈥攕he was already an Oscar winner for Ghost and had starred in such box office winners as Sister Act and The Lion King鈥攖o play Pseudolus, originally cast as male. Goldberg played the role as a woman, and was also noted for adding some of her own ad-libbed lines throughout. As she told 半岛体育 last year: "Stephen Sondheim okayed it, so I felt pretty good. He understood that it鈥檚 not always the voice鈥攊t鈥檚 the intention.鈥�
7. Rosie O鈥橠onnell and Cathy Rigby in Seussical
When Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens鈥� ode to beloved children鈥檚 author Dr. Seuss struggled to find an audience early in its run in 2000, producers decided to try a starry replacement. They cast comedian and talk show host Rosie O鈥橠onnell, who had become a noted Broadway fan and cheerleader after she welcomed an unprecedented amount of productions to perform on her popular daytime talk show. O鈥橠onnell replaced David Shiner as The Cat in the Hat about a month into the run, and she was succeeded by Cathy Rigby, who then played the role in the show鈥檚 national tour. This particular gender-switch has lived on with the show; theatre companies producing Seussical today have the option of licensing versions of the show with keys chosen for a male or female Cat in the Hat.
8. Melissa Etheridge in American Idiot
When Grammy-winning band Green Day teamed with director Michael Mayer to adapt their 2004 album American Idiot into a stage musical in 2010, the role of St. Jimmy was created as a force of nature, a rock star-like drug dealer who turns out to later be the manifestation of another character鈥檚 inner demons. That rock star quality made it the perfect slot to insert Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong, who replaced original star Tony Vincent in the role. Armstrong鈥檚 prior engagements meant he could only perform in the show off and on, so producers brought in another rock star, Melissa Etheridge, to fill in for one of Armstrong鈥檚 off weeks. Etheridge sang Green Day songs like 鈥淟ast Night on Earth,鈥� 鈥淜now Your Enemy,鈥� and 鈥淟ast of the American Girls.鈥�
9. Rodrick Covington in Once On This Island
Tony-nominated director Michael Arden switched the genders of two of Once On This Island鈥檚 gods when first casting his 2017 revival production at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Non-binary and gender fluid Alex Newell played Asaka, a role created in the 1990 original production by Kecia Lewis. Merle Dandridge opened the production as Papa Ge, a role created by Eric Riley in the original production. When Dandridge left the production, replacements have included other cis female actors, such as American Idol star Tamyra Gray, and cis male actors, including Rodrick Covington who took over the role full-time after serving as an understudy in the original company.
Bonus: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which centers on a transgender rockstar, originally starred the show鈥檚 book writer John Cameron Mitchell when it opened Off-Broadway. Mitchell is a cis male actor, and most replacements in the role have also been cis men, but not always. Former Brat Pack member Ally Sheedy replaced in the role during the original Off-Broadway run, and Lena Hall, a Tony winner for her performance as Yitzhak in the first Broadway production of Hedwig, played Hedwig during that production鈥檚 national tour.
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