Gender-flipping in plays

I was thinking about the rumor that Edward Albee wrote "Virginia Woolf?" about a gay couple, and how cool that version would be. Have you ever seen a play where a character was played by an actor of the opposite sex for which it was intended?

Orlando
• Who's Life Is It Anyways?

• I saw "The Female Odd Couple" on Broadway with Rita Moreno as Olive Madison and Sally Struthers as Florence Unger. You'd think I were making that up, but I'm not. It was as awful as it sounds.

• The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

• Are you just taunting the grammar trolls (R1)? Did you mean "Whose Life Is It Anyway?"

  Tom%20Conti%20and%20MTM

• he said that rumour wasn't true, OP

• Ooh, #3- that sounds provocative, tell us about it. Was the main character still named Sissy?

• I defy anyone to make sense of George and Martha as a gay couple beyond the fact that they're bitchy and verbally slash at one another. The play makes no sense if you have two men play those roles.

• R7, the imaginary child, the drinking, the sexually promiscuous partner....

• OP, they already have -- it's called "Boys in the Band."

  hehe

• Turning...

• Whenever "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" comes on, I think how much better it would be with an all-male cast.

• [quote]the imaginary child, the drinking, the sexually promiscuous partner.... Do you really think these are somehow traits of gay couples? How sad for you!

• A gay couple in the early '60s would have more cause to invent an imaginary child than a straight couple. The play makes sense with a male couple, living a staid, boring academic lifestyle that at one time might've seemed progressive and promising but now clearly only exists because the one partner's father is the dean.

• Didn't Albee forbid any all male version of WAOVW? He was quite firm about that.

• Trinity Rep in Providence performed "A Christmas Carol" with a female Scrooge. I guess it was good. Couldn't get tix.

• The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, r11, yes, definitely! The Contessa made 'arrangements' for the Barron Waldheim, which was really pretty amazing at the time.

• Sure. Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest is often played by a man, most recently to great acclaim by Brian Bedford on Broadway. Hamlet has frequently been played by actresses. But those are examples of drag. You seem to be asking about a part written for a man being played by a woman as a woman, or vice versa. Like Mary Tyler Moore when she took over in Who's Life Is It Anyway? or Whoopi when she took over in Forum or the Moreno/Struthers teaming in The Odd Couple.

• Harvey Korman thrilled as "Hedley Gabler" at the Sacramento Playhouse!

• [quote]Ooh, #3- that sounds provocative, tell us about it. Was the main character still named Sissy? I think The Witch of Capri in the play was originally written for a woman but is sometimes played by a man.

• Noel Coward was a fabulous Witch of Capri in the movie version.

• Marlo Thomas did It's a Wonderful Life as a female lead I don't know why. The original movie speaks to men and women.

• Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf is one of the most miserable films I've ever had to sit through. If the point of the play was that unhappy alcoholics are not nice people, then I believe it was hammered home adequately.

• Theatrical dramatics aren't for everyone. Personally, WAoVW is much like a fantastic opera to me.

• #22, "Can't Stop The Music" is on the afternoon movie at 3pm. You won't have to think about anything, or get sad.

  Ugh

• I love r24!

• "Harvey Korman thrilled as "Hedley Gabler" at the Sacramento Playhouse!" thanks, r18, you made my week!