Gender In Musical Theatre

snapdragonfly
Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:27:17 +0000

Of course out here in east Texas where the men are men, (eyes rolling) in our little local productions, the requirements for a male to be cast consist mainly of a) they showed up at the audition b) they are breathing c) they are within two decades of the age range. One with actual talent is a rock star.

Same with dancers. There is a boy about 5 years older than my daughter who, along with his sister, went to our dance studio, and as soon as he was old enough he was in the community ballet Nutcracker, every year for several years. He is good looking, very smart, and a decent enough dancer; he was interviewed by the paper one year and they asked him how it was to, er, be involved in, you know…dance…maybe not such a MASCULINE sort of activity if you catch our drift…he laughed and said he was surrounded by BEAUTIFUL girls in tights all day long and he absolutely adored dance.

He then went on to get a full ride at a good school intending to be pre med and then changed his mind and joined the Marines. lol. The dahnsing Mahrine.

He is still a huge celebrity when he comes home and every girl in our studio claims him as a big brother. Looking back I wish I’d put my son in dance too; he has musical talent and is fairly graceful, I bet he’d have liked it. He probably could have acted if he wanted, he can mimic and do really good impressions but it wasn’t anything that ever occurred to him.

He’s going for nursing now but I think I might suggest he try out for one of the plays some time, just because I think it’s a great experience for a guy.