The Top 9 Roles I'd Drop Anything to Play

I'm coming to terms with not acting all the time, and I know that somewhere in my future I will again - on some little community stage somewhere. And that's ok with me. But there are a few roles, that I swear, if given the chance, I'd drop anything to play.

9 - Louise from Stage Door by Edna Ferber

I had the chance to play this in high school, but didn't because I was auditioning for college programs and, like any high school senior, doing way more than I should have. Louise is a budding actress in the 1930s, relocated from a small town to a boarding house in NYC with a million other girls, trying to find her big break. I love Louise's courage, and her dedication to the stage. The way she's willing to step down, and let the play go on without her.

Best Quote: "I suppose that's the kind of girl I am - you know - rather live in a garret with her true love than dwell in a palace with old moneybags."

8 - Isabella from Measure for Measure

I think she's the only ingenue in Shakespeare that doesn't get tripped up by a man. She's a nun, and comes into play when her brother is sentenced to death for sleeping with his fiancee before they are engaged (the duke "left" only to go undercover and spy on the people, leaving a fanatic in charge - a fanatic who tries to get Isabella to sleep with him to pardon her brother). She sticks to her guns, and sticks to God, which makes this part really difficult to play now.

7 - Lola from Damn Yankees

I did get to play this part in high school, and it is probably the most fun I have ever had working on a production. Joe Hardy sells his soul to the devil in order to get his team to win the World Series, and Lola is the devil's temptress brought in to distract Joe when he begins to miss his wife. Lola's got some fierce dance numbers (which maybe once in my life I could've pulled off), and a really complicated character. Eventually, she falls for Joe, and helps him get out of his deal with the devil. When we played it, my Joe was Mormon, and our stage kiss was his first kiss ever. My second...so I guess we're almost even!

6 - Ophelia from Hamlet

Hamlet is pretty much my favorite play ever, and every time I read it I find something new. I played Ophelia in college, and had a blast, but I know there were many things I wasn't able to achieve in the rehearsal process and in production. I think it's easy to play Ophelia as passive and meek, but I think if she were just that, she never would have gone mad. She would've just been depressed. Her madness (I believe) comes from some force of will that is smothered by her environment. And no, I won't tell you whether or not I think she kills herself.

5 - Millie from Thoroughly Modern Millie

Small town girl, rolls up in NYC, looking not for love or fame, but money. Her goal is to get a job as a secretary and marry her boss, marry up, and live every day the high and fancy life. This was the first modern musical I fell in love with, and I remember when I went to see it in 2002, I started to tear up at the Overture (curtain hadn't even opened yet.) It's campy, it's silly, but it still resonates somehow.

Favorite Quotes: "Burn the bridge, bet the store, baby's comin' home, no more...not for the life of me!" and "Pin my future on a green glass love..."

4 - Lady Macbeth from Macbeth

Power. Madness. War. Passion. Need I say more? It's every actress' dream (I'm convinced), and hey, I haven't passed the age to play this one yet!

3 - Catherine from Proof by David Auburn

As the play opens, we see Catherine talking to her father. As the scene goes on, we realize her father has passed away a few days before. In her father's last years, his mathematical genius deteriorated into madness, and with Catherine's intellectual gift may come the same curse. The play is her struggling against visions of her father, and her own fears about her future, as well as solving a mathematical proof that many years of mathematicians could not solve. I love this play and I love this role. I get her connection to her father, and her feelings of isolation.

2 - Eurydice in Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl

Every time I read this play I cry. When I saw this play, I cried. It's beautiful. I played Eurydice in a play about various myths in college, and in my research came across this piece by Sarah Ruhl. It's a re-invention of the story. We see Eurydice in the Underworld, where she struggles to regain her memories of her life before, with her relationship with Orpheus (her true love and a renowned musician) and with her father (a man who cares very deeply for her). We see the two men send letters to her in the Underworld, and Eurydice try and deal with being where she is - and whether or not she chooses to keep these memories and long for them, or forget them and be happy. The prose is elegant (and terribly difficult to act).

1 - Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut from Avenue Q

Still such a good show, and I think it would be amazing to be in. Kate is a kindergarden teacher living on Avenue Q when Princeton shows up and steals her heart. The actress who plays Kate also plays Lucy, the stripper at the local bar who seduces Princeton. Not only would it be killer to alternate between these two opposing characters, but you get to manipulate puppets onstage, and sing some pretty bomb songs.

Favorite Quotes: "Yeah, they're real." - Lucy and "You never know til you've reached the top if it was worth the uphill climb. There's a fine fine line between love, and a waste of your time." - Kate

Don't get me wrong, there are a MILLION other roles I'd love to play, but these are the ones that really get to me, and really have a hook.