As a theater geek, one topic I like to discuss with other theater geeks are dream roles. It's pretty self explanatory, but for those of you who don't know, when a theater geek refers to a dream role, they are talking about a character in a show that they would love to play, a role they might trade a limb to play just once (okay that's perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but you get what I'm saying?). Most people I talk to, when they talk about a dream role, the character comes from a musical, but there are plenty of people who have characters from strait plays that they would also love to play.
I love talking about dream roles with fellow theater geeks, not only because it's just fun, but because it can say a lot about them. I like to find out the reason why they want to play this character. Some want to play a character because they have a deep emotional connection to them, or the character would be a great challenge to take one, whether vocally or acting wise, or the character would just be plain fun to play.
From what I've discovered, we all have different kinds of dream roles as well. The first kind, and the kind we're most likely to share if asked what our dream roles are, are the realistic ones. These are the roles that we could realistically play, whether right now, or in the near or far future. Also, when someone thinks of a role they could realistically play, it would be a character that fits into their casting type.
For me, my top three dream roles (as of right now at least) are Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Christine from Phantom of the Opera and Anya from Anastasia. They all come from musicals and I realistically play them. I can sing their parts, and they fall into my casting type. A lot of my dreams roles are ingenue/heroine types since I can play that. And in most musicals, those roles are sopranos, which is my vocal range.
The other kind of dream roles we have are ones that realistically, we probably would never play, whether it's because of our age, gender, casting type, or vocal ability. For example, I would love to play Elsa in Frozen, but some of her notes are a bit low for me and wouldn't sound right coming out of my throat. A dream role I had when I was younger is Young Nala in the Lion King. I don't know why, but for some reason I've always loved Young Nala more than adult Nala. Young Nala is typically played by a kid around ten-years-old, so I think I've missed my shot since I'm not 21-years-old. I also have my list of roles that I can't play because I'm female, like Che from Evita, or Marius from Les Miserables.
Dream roles are fun to discuss because it can reveal what kind of a performer someone is, what they're comfortable playing or maybe what they want to challenge themselves to play one day. It's no accident that my top three dream roles are leading ladies. I've mostly been in the ensemble or played supporting roles (which I love doing), but I would love to take on the challenge of being a leading lady at least once in my life. It would be difficult but also really rewarding. I'm an English major so I love to break down an analysis characters.
Plus, it's really fun to cast you and your friends into musicals and plays because unlike movies, they can be done again and again by different cast. So realistically, a stage dream role could one day be a reality.
