to boycott Matilda the musical on principle because it gives one of the few great female acting roles to a man.

[Bodicea]

There are so few great female characters as it is and there especially aren’t many that aren’t the pretty young thing, token love interest role. It has really annoyed me.

Why do people keep mentioning panto? This isn't a panto!

YANBU OP. I felt that when Lilly Savage got cast as Miss Hannigan in the stage version of Annie. And she wasn't even good!

But I do like Lilly Savage usually.

Why do people keep mentioning panto? This isn't a panto!

I also mentioned ballet! Sorry if I’ve sent your blood pressure through the roof .

Why do people keep mentioning panto? This isn't a panto! Because pantomime is NOT just the Christmas panto many people seem to think it is!

And Matilda IS in the pantomime tradition! From Roman mime through commedia dell'arte to Grimaldi and on...

And again the recurring theme-shut up, women. Move over, women. 'Twas ever thus.

We've been doing it for years.
La Cage aux Folles
Panto - principal boy, ugly sisters, Widow Twanky
Nancy Cartwright voicing Bart Simpson
Bob Peterson as Roz in Monsters Inc
Alec Guinness in Kind Heart and Coronets
Tilda Swinton in Orlando
Brendan O'Carrol l in Mrs Brown
and William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davidson, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who.

YABVU

Tilda Swinton also plays (the archangel) Gabriel in Constantine.

In what universe is Miss Trunchball one of the 'few good acting roles for women'?

I guess Rafiki, The Witch in Into the Woods & Eponine and Fantine are all irrelevant?

Suppose all the female dominated casts of Mamma Mia, Hairspray and Wicked are all irrelevant because they all happen to have love interests too despite being complete characters in their own right with their own complete storylines and opinions?

What a silly thing to be offended about, OP.

Oh and Alanis Morisette is God in Dogma.

Curious whatever you want to say, it's a musical. It's of the musical genre.

It's not a panto.

It just seems a shame that because the role doesn’t fit into the standard stereotype of a feminine woman that they thought it would be hilarious if it was played by a man.

This is the point. It is deeply sexist.

Quicker I don't get the relevance of Doctor Who.

I'm not sure why you're getting so exercised about this now, given it's been a man in the role since about 2011.

As for Miss Hannigan, in stage she's been variously played by Miranda Hart, Lesley Joseph, Craig Revel Whatshisface and Paul O'Grady (amongst others). A fairly even balance. Paul O'Grady was my favourite.

It's clearly a woman's role!

Also, I don't think Orlando could be played convincingly by a man, as he changes sex.

So boycott it if you like. The result will be:

-You'll miss out on a fab musical, one of the best on at the moment
-No-one will give a stuff about your 'boycott' because it's ridiculous

I saw a woman play Mercutio in a recent Romeo and Juliet RSC production. Ruined the role. However, doesn't mean to say a better female actor couldn't have done it. Audience comments afterwards were that it was done to make a point. Sadly, the point didn't work in this case. I would add, just in case it sounds like I don't agree with women playing male parts and visa versa, that I agree with recent press comments (I think it was Scarlett Johannson) who says acting and watching plays is about suspending your disbelief, and straight people can play gay roles, bi roles, the other sex etc, and again, visa versa. Surely it's about the best actor for the job?

As for Miss Hannigan, in stage she's been variously played by Miranda Hart, Lesley Joseph, Craig Revel Whatshisface and Paul O'Grady (amongst others). A fairly even balance. Paul O'Grady was my favourite.

But that's all very recent, the original was a bitter woman, whose best years had passed her by. Even Cameron Diaz in the remake got it spot on. It's more nuanced than getting her to be a bloke.

Fuck me, how ridiculous.

It's fantasy. Absolutely agree that watching theatre is about suspending your disbelief. They have cast black and Asian Matildas when the actors playing her biological parents were Caucasian, and quite rightly nobody objected. I'm a convinced feminist but even i can't agree that this is a patriarchal decision. The character is meant to be huge and imposing. The music is written by Minchin to be sung in a key that is most suitable for a male voice. The Matildas have to be under 4 foot 3 and waif-like in build. The juxtaposition of tiny girl (hero) and towering villain contributes to the theatre of it all. I think you're being a bit precious, frankly.

I don't think people were saying Matilda is pantomime - simply that there has long been a theatrical tradition of men playing women and vice versa.

As pp have said the whole point of theatre/art is not to represent the world exactly but to reimagine it, to reveal it through a different lens, to amuse to provoke thought, etc etc.

If OP doesn't get that she should avoid Shakespeare as others have said, along with much classical drama, many films and oddly many novels in which men write as women and women write as men.

"Few great acting roles for women"

😂

Baffling. Assertion doesn't even fit in a solely musical based remit.
The guy I saw in it was probably the best thing about a musical I found extremely overrated in general

And there's a very GC message right at the start I thought too.

Ajas I haven't said it is a panto but that it is in the age old pantomime tradition. There's a huge difference!

Shocked by how many 'believe' Matilda a pantomime!

The lengths some go to in order to dismiss women highlighting & protesting sexual inequality would be funny if not a significant part of the problem.

You’d miss out on a fantastic musical and literally, nobody would care about your one woman boycott.

I agree, it was as though the producers thought we won't find any mere female able to personify the evil, it'll have to be a man. It's a fantastic role.