Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Wordy Nerdy

Home
Family, Parenting and Religion
Boy Parts vs. Girl Parts–More on Gender and Justice

Boy Parts vs. Girl Parts–More on Gender and Justice

Last updated on: October 10, 2011 at 8:39 pm by Kathy Tuan-MacLean

Boy Parts vs. Girl Parts–More on Gender and Justice 2011-10-10T20:39:00-04:00 Kathy Tuan-MacLean

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

All right, I know what you thought I was going to write on. . . but. . .

On Thursday, Kai-Kai called me at 5:30 with the great news, “Ren got Little Jake!” Little Jake is Annie (in Annie Get Your Gun)’s little brother. It’s probably the best role he, as a 6th grader, could have gotten.

“Wow!” I said. “What did you get?”

“Frieda, Wilson’s wife, it’s an OK part, but Ren got Little Jake!”

Later, when they got home, Ren was exultant. “I’ve got 23 lines! Kai has 17.”

My two younger kids tried out a couple of weeks ago for “Annie Get your Gun” (read here for how the family reacted to watching the movie), but the first weeks of rehearsal were basically ongoing auditions.

Alfred Doolittle

I was thrilled that Kai’s first response to hearing their roles was to call me with the good news about Ren, but all the same, it’s hard.

Last week I wrote on toilet paper, equality and justice, where I argued that life isn’t fair and sometimes for good reasons–that boys’ needs for toilet paper and girls’ needs for toilet paper are just different and it’s OK to treat them differently. But today, I’m writing about the other side.

Boy parts are just better than girl parts and it’s just wrong.

Daddy Warbucks

Last year the middle school production was Annie, the year before My Fair Lady. My Fair Lady has one (count it, just one) juicy role for one lucky girl (Eliza Doolittle), but has 4 great boy parts, each with at least one solo (Henry Higgins, Pickering, Freddie Eynsford-Hill and Eliza’s dad). Annie has several great girl roles, but also provides at least 2 plum boy parts–Daddie Warbucks and Rooster.

Rooster

IMHO, my kids are about equal in their acting and singing talent. When Kai was in 6th grade, she got a terrific role as the shopkeeper with 7 lines and a solo verse for the song “Candy Man” in the elementary school musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. For a girl, who had just tried out for her first play, she super scored.

Ren, in his first outing as a 5th grader, played Robert, steward to the king, in Sleeping Beauty. Robert had 24 lines.

Henry Higgins

What makes it all more challenging is that there are about twice as many girls in these plays as boys, and frankly, the girl talent way exceeds the boy talent. The 2 girls who alternated playing Eliza could have been on Broadway.

However, it’s funny how my perspective shifts. As Kai-Kai’s mom, I feel outraged that musicals provide excellent boy parts while shafting the girls. What’s wrong with our society? What’s going on here? We should change as many boy parts as we can into girl parts so we can not only get some justice, but also watch a better show!

Freddie Eynsford-Hill

But when I’m Ren-Ren’s mom, I’m secretly glad he gets a leg up–that his demographics get him better parts, even if his talent doesn’t. Because I’m really just a stage mother who wants to see her son shine and get opportunities to feel good about his own performance.

All to say, it’s not surprising there’s no justice in musical theatre (or the world)–clearly there’s no justice in me.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 4, 2011

Mike Chang, Glee and The Asian "F"

Next Post

October 13, 2011 The Proof of My Love

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2015 November 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 October 2010 May 2010 April 2010 February 2010 January 2010 October 2009 September 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian group believes in the doctrine of purgatory?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Methodists Catholics Baptists Pentecostals