Once a year the Broadway community comes together to present a show at MCC Theater called Miscast. The concept is simple: actors take on roles in which they would never be cast. Usually this means that men take on female roles and vice-versa. This year’s gala took place on Monday in New York.
The best way to make this concept clear is through this clip of Gavin Lee, Ethan Slater and Wesley Taylor, all cast members from SpongeBob Square Pants: The Musical, perform “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” from Stephen Sondheim’s Company. In the show, three different woman who have all dated the central character, Bobby, sing about how difficult Bobby is to date.
One of the most talked about shows in New York this season is The Band’s Visit. For Miscast, Katrina Lenk, who plays the love interest in The Band’s Visit, takes on the role of Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof. And if singing isn’t enough, she also plays the violin.
This year Jeremy Jordan, perhaps best known for his television role on Supergirl, but who also made a splash on Broadway in Newsies and Bonnie and Clyde, performed “She Used to Be Mine” from Waitress. (By the way, Waitress will be at the Pantages Theatre this August.)
Much like Donna McKechnie, who had to be both singer and dancer, Robert Fairchild (who starred in An American In Paris on Broadway) took on the role of Cassie in A Chorus Line for his version of “The Music and the Mirror.”
What’s exciting about a show like this is not only do you get to see some of Broadway’s finest talent take on material they would never otherwise have a chance to do, you get to really see the quality of song shine through. If “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” can be equally effective performed by three women or three men, then you have a very good idea how well the song has been constructed.
MCC Theater has been doing this for several years and here are some other highlights from past years:
Lin-Manuel Miranda (you know who he is) and Raúl Esparza (Company) perform “A Boy Like That” from West Side Story:
Carmen Cusack, who recently performed at the Ahmanson in her Tony-nominated role in Bright Star gets to play royalty as she performs “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton:
Ben Platt, who won a Tony Award for his performance in Dear Evan Hansen, performs “The Man That Got Away ” from the film A Star Is Born (the Judy Garland version). Dear Evan Hansen will be at the Ahmanson Theatre beginning in October.)
And one of my personal favorites is Norbert Leo Butz (two-time Tony Award winner for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Catch Me If You Can) taking over the role of Effie White in Dreamgirls.
Here in Los Angeles we may not have the same volume of ongoing performances as New York, but we certainly have the talent pool to make a show like this happen here. And we should. Why should New York have all the fun?