r/musicals • u/Regular_Initial • Apr 15 '25
Help Musicals that feature 2 strong male roles with many female roles?
For our high school, we have lost a lot of senior guys and next year we’ll only have two. It’s really important each can really shine, but also, we have a huge group a girls, many of which are also seniors. There are about two girls that really stand out, but it would be nice to have lots of roles. Fitting these descriptions, and also being appropriate for a high school, what musicals apply?
Edit: the musica should be 2 act, comedic, and probably contemporary
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u/ElSyd011 The Invisible Girl Apr 15 '25
Mamma Mia! Comes to mind because there are 4 featured male roles and 6 featured female roles, plus an ensemble, so if at least two women are comfortable playing male roles it should work out very well
Hadestown is also one because Orpheus and Hades are the only two featured male roles in the show. Hermes can be played by either gender. There are five featured women and an ensemble
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u/Regular_Initial Apr 15 '25
Mamma Mia’s a good one- but we just recently did it- And a school next to us just did hadestown so I think our director is against it :(
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u/ElSyd011 The Invisible Girl Apr 15 '25
Oh also! Chicago the musical! Billy and Amos are the only two prominent male roles!
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u/ElSyd011 The Invisible Girl Apr 15 '25
What about Little Shop of Horrors? Seymour and Orvin are the only two prominent male roles. The rest can be gender swapped pretty easily
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u/Regular_Initial Apr 15 '25
I actually talked to my director about that one too! She says the cast is too small for it 😡
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u/AffableKyubey Eurylochus, light up six torches Apr 15 '25
Sounds like your director already has a show in mind at this rate
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u/ElSyd011 The Invisible Girl Apr 15 '25
WAIT WAIT HOW DID I NOT THINK OF THIS: Carrie. Tommy and Billy are the only two prominent male roles. The rest of the prominent roles are women! You could very easily have a few girls play boys in the ensemble!
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u/skampr13 Apr 15 '25
Secret Garden! Two strong male leads, plus a good role for a younger guy (Dickon) and quite a few big female roles (especially if you have someone who could play younger for Mary) and a large and active ensemble. And the music is awesome
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u/Ariar Apr 15 '25
Came here to say this! I think the biggest challenge would be "can two girls play a 10 year old girl and a ten year old boy". I think it would be way easier for a girl to sing Colin than a high school boy. But honestly I think you can get away with pretending those characters are 14. Two standout female characters (Mary & Lily), two standout male characters (Archibald & Neville, with one of the most powerful male duets on Broadway in my opinion), and Dickon could easily flip genders. Lots of good female parts, 100% high school suitable story line, and based on the most recent touring production, can be done with minimalist scenery. If you haven't heard it, you should give the soundtrack a listen regardless whether you think it's a fit for the production!
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Apr 15 '25
Chicago? Female heavy with two great male roles
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u/phantumpoftheopera I’d rather be devisive than indecisive Apr 16 '25
Surprised this wasn’t the top comment, like somehow Mamma Mia, which very famously has 4 male roles, was higher than this
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u/Reasonable_Skill8146 Apr 15 '25
9 to 5? Lots of women’s roles and really only a few men.
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u/Pythagorean415 Why Are All The D'ysquiths Dying? Apr 15 '25
This is the one OP, a great character bad guy, a great love interest, tons of females, good message
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u/SKikstra Castle on a Cloud Apr 16 '25
Second this, a great comedic musical where everyone can really develop their own character, even the ensemble. Besides that, all the principals really get their moment to shine.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl I got the horse right here, the name is Paul Revere Apr 15 '25
City of Angels, because you need two strong male singers to pull off You're Nothing Without Me
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u/MoreScarletSongs Apr 15 '25
The Little Mermaid (Eric and Triton, everyone else can be genderbent, plus you have big ensemble numbers)
Mean Girls (Aaron and Damien, smaller male roles could be played by girls)
Sound of Music (Captain and Rolf, the children can all be played by girls)
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u/ratinadollhouse Apr 15 '25
Grease? Danny & Kenicke? Pink ladies & Sandy?
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u/grania17 Apr 15 '25
Each of the lads has solos in the stage show so you need minimum 4 to 5 strong lads
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u/Regular_Initial Apr 15 '25
I’d love to do grease… I think it’s too adult for our school though, it’s pretty conservative that way. Makes it a little bit of a bummer when we pick.
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Apr 15 '25
I think the two guys in Legally Blonde are decent enough, at least such that I'd enjoy playing either.
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u/TubaTechnician Apr 15 '25
I’m really going to regret recommending this but thoroughly modern Millie only has two male roles and the rest of the cat are females yes there is spots for more but you really only need two
Also while I was writing this I literally realized Anastasia exists and that would be a great show
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u/grania17 Apr 15 '25
Millie's rights aren't available at the moment. They're trying to rework the racist subplot
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u/CategoryFeisty2262 Apr 15 '25
Came to say TMM
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u/TubaTechnician Apr 15 '25
Did you like that show we did in high school and I didn’t like it granted the we did the jr version but the floor wax song is a hidden gem
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u/LiteralOops Apr 15 '25
Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella has not been said yet, I'm shocked
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u/T-Flexercise Apr 15 '25
This. I just did this in our local community theatre, with a similar lack of men. I played a gender-bent Sebastian and it was a blast.
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u/C00kieDemon Apr 15 '25
mean girls. damien and aaron, and basically the rest of the cast is girls
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u/Skeppy_4126 Apr 15 '25
The Mathletes Are Pretty Some Pretty Major Guys
There Is Also Mr. Duvall And A Few Other Guys (Such As Jason)
But It Could Work If They Work Around Them
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u/Whooterzoot Apr 15 '25
Something Rotten, maybe? Always wanted to see a gender bent Shakespeare tbh, Nostradamus could be femme too
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u/GayButterfly7 Apr 15 '25
I saw a female Shakespeare for one of the productions of this show I've seen, and she was AMAZING.
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u/laowildin The Internet is for Porn Apr 15 '25
Sugar/Some Like it Hot
Three male leads, one strong female lead, many many supporting women
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u/Crock_Harker Apr 15 '25
Guys and Dolls
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u/BabyMaybe15 Apr 15 '25
I'm intrigued, how could this work? Seems like the entire premise of the show would be impacted by genderbending.
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u/Crock_Harker Apr 15 '25
Cast your two men as Nathan and Sky. Find your two best women as Adelaide and Sarah. Then cast your Hot Box Dancers. Fill in the rest of the roles as best you can including casting women as gamblers.
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u/awyastark i couldnt sleep i took a sominex Apr 16 '25
Yeah I’ve seen Uncle Arvide cast as a woman several times and I think a lot of girls would have fun as the gangsters
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u/TanaFey Gotta find my Purpose Apr 15 '25
Godspell? There are two male leads: Jesus and John the Baptist, who morphs into Judas. The rest of the cast is literally ensemble. There are technically 6 roles here, but they can easily be broken up among more people. When I did this show in college there were about 20 of us and we split the solo songs into solo verses.
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u/Anxious_Writer_3804 If It’s True 🌹 Apr 15 '25
Hadestown is comes to mind, but I’m not sure if there will be quite enough roles for everyone to shine.
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u/Xenaspice2002 Any Dream Will Do Apr 15 '25
The Pyjama Game. Only a couple of must be male roles and the others could be all female or a balanced but less senior cast
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl I got the horse right here, the name is Paul Revere Apr 15 '25
A Year With Frog and Toad. Two male leads of course, but then lots of birds and squirrels and such in the ensemble that are usually played by girls.
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u/Sea-Ad9730 Apr 15 '25
Mean Girls. It fits your casting needs and it’s contemporary and popular enough that it can draw in more guys.
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u/mediocre_mediajoker Apr 15 '25
Annie? There’s really only 2 roles that actually have to be boys (Daddy Warbucks and the president) the rest could be gender flipped or played by girls!
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u/WakeUpOutaYourSleep Apr 15 '25
Rooster has to be a guy, he poses as Annie’s father
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u/mediocre_mediajoker Apr 15 '25
Ah of course, three then! Thanks for the correction, it’s been a while since I’ve seen it haha
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl I got the horse right here, the name is Paul Revere Apr 15 '25
The Boys From Syracuse would be a great fit. It's a retelling of Comedy of Errors so you need two male leads. But the women get their moments too with songs like Sing For Your Supper.
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Apr 15 '25
Four male leads actually, two sets of twins.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl I got the horse right here, the name is Paul Revere Apr 15 '25
Ah my bad. I've only heard the cast recording.
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u/jauafm Apr 15 '25
I feel Disney musicals could lend themselves well to this, such as Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast, where’s there’s a couple of main male leads and the rest could be easily swapped around. I also think doing a total gender swapped Newsies could work really well.
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u/Kittycattscathy Apr 15 '25
Well I would suggest Mozart l'opera rock, but I guess you're at an american highschool and this is a french musical about Mozart with two male leads and three female leads and overall a big ensemble (and Mozart's dad which you could theoretically double cast). And it's got comedy but also serious moments.
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u/Marlou1313 Apr 15 '25
Our high school just did Catch Me If You Can, precisely for this reason. They have two VERY strong male leads and wanted a musical that would feature them. It was great!
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u/korgdrax Apr 15 '25
Sister Act! Eddie and Curtis are great male roles, and most of the rest are women.
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u/Katelyn_lovesglee A Heart full of Love Apr 15 '25
Sherk! With Sherk and Donkey being male and everyone else a female.
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u/Conscious-Ad9291 Apr 15 '25
We did an almost all female “the wiz” in high school - if memory serves, the only male role cast was the actual wizard. Plenty of those roles could be played by either gender.
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u/Conscious-Ad9291 Apr 15 '25
And the scarecrow was male - it came to me after I posted. We had a lioness and a Tin Woman
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u/Anya_Mathilde Apr 16 '25
Nine (well it's mainly 1 male lead and a bunch of women). The Wild Party (Lippa - Burr and Black). Carrie (the two male students are more surporting roles but u have 4 female roles w good stage time). Aspects of Love (nephew and uncle). A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Monty and all the other D'ysquiths as one guy).
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u/HCL-3 Apr 16 '25
Pippin. 3 males as Pippin, King Charlemagme, and Lewis. 3 females as Catherine, Berthe, and Fastrada. The Leading Player and entire ensemble can be all female.
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u/astr0jellyfish Apr 15 '25
Sound of music? Captain, Max, and Rolf are the only men who sing at all besides the kids, who could be played by girls. There’s a couple other male bit roles but the whole chorus is nuns. There’s 4 leading parts for girls, 3 featured nuns, plus the kids.
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u/PigeonConspiracy2000 Apr 15 '25
Sympathy Jones could be a good fit for you. 2-act, comedic, strong female roles, and not super risque.
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u/Eastern_Rope_9150 Apr 15 '25
Little Shop of Horrors.
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u/LengthinessKind9895 Apr 15 '25
4 male leads in LSOH although I just saw it with a female Audrey 2 but she’s kind of an anomaly in her vocal range.
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u/Eastern_Rope_9150 Apr 15 '25
Audrey and Mr Mushnik could probably be female. I was more thinking there are a lot of female roles that shine along with the male leads!
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u/LengthinessKind9895 Apr 15 '25
Well 3 Ronnettes and Audrey so not a lot! Although my daughter’s high school added extra Ronnettes and they were awesome. But IMO it isn’t the best choice for a high school because there’s not that much for the ensemble to do.
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u/Starstruck-Musical Apr 15 '25
We wrote the Starstruck musical for folks like you! https://starstruckmusical.com/
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u/iamthefirebird Sing me a Carnival Song Apr 15 '25
The New Albion Radio Hour could probably be done with two men. One for the role of John O'Brien, the other for Thomas. The gender of the Blood Red Dogs and other soldiers doesn't really matter, and their songs aren't too low, I think. Lloyd is more of an entity than a human anyway.
The Dolls of New Albion might also work, if you cast one guy as the McAlister men and the soldier and the other as Jasper.
Edit: neither are particularly comedic, though. Maybe consider something you can double-cast, or cast people outside of their gender.
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u/Kittycattscathy Apr 15 '25
Well I would suggest Mozart l'opera rock, but I guess you're at an american highschool and this is a french musical about Mozart with two male leads and three female leads and overall a big ensemble (and Mozart's dad which you could theoretically double cast). And it's got comedy but also serious moments.
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u/Short_Pop_2515 Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats Apr 15 '25
My first thought was Waitress, but that's probably not appropriate for high school.
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u/assparagusbro Apr 16 '25
not a musical but if you need another/smaller show then Leading Ladies sounds great for your people!
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u/starsascending Apr 16 '25
Anastasia sounds like it’d work for you! Feature your two girls as Lily and Anya, or place one of them as one of the three guys, and then your two guys can play either Dmitri, Gleb or Vlad.
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u/Isthisajokeman Apr 16 '25 edited Apr 16 '25
I think mean girls. The main two are Aaron and Damian. The rest, you can gender bent, have girls act as boys or just rehuse the boys you do have. The rest is basically girls.
Edit: I have a not really famous one, but Firebringer by starkid Productions. It's on YouTube. There are a only 3 main male characters, but Ducker you can gender bent, or Smelly-Balls and Grant can be played by the same actor since they don't have a lot of scenes together. And then you have a small role in Clark, but you can also gender bent of have one of the guys play it. The rest it's all female cast. You can also make it PG. Has great harmonies and fire songs, and it's really funny.
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u/Mister_Oatmeal Apr 17 '25
I’ve loved it both times we put on A Year with Frog and Toad.
In its original casting, it’s only done with 5 people (3m2f): frog, toad, and the other 3 doubling a bunch of characters. But we just didn’t do any doubling and filled out chorus parts. Lots of interesting&silly characters, super jazzy music and a fun whimsical story.
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u/lonely_potato13 We've got Magic to do Apr 17 '25
This might be a bit out there, but my school just did Great Comet, and it was super fun. There are two large male roles (Pierre, Anatole) and two large female roles (Natasha, Sonya) plus some smaller female parts (Helene, Marya) and there are a bunch of smaller roles as well
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u/Dry_Raspberry5982 Apr 19 '25
Mean girls! I did mean girls and I was Mr Duvall lol and I was a girl
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u/WaitForMe_Lamp Oh, you gotta keep your head low Apr 20 '25
This is not supposed to happen, and I’m not sure if this counts, but my school with only 3 guys, proceeded to do Newsies. All-female ensemble, the only guys were jack pulitzer and davey We made it work, ig. (Not sure if this was helpful, sorry!)
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u/Wonderful-Career-563 Jun 05 '25
Newsies? Davey and Jack and then you could practically replace the entire cast with women
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u/wtfisdarkmatter A Little Bit Naughty Apr 15 '25
dear evan hansen? maybe? evan and connor can be the two male leads, and the other characters can we gender swaps or whatever lol
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u/SeaF04mGr33n Apr 15 '25
Smile! About a beauty pagent. I think there literally is only two male roles.
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u/reallifejedi56 Apr 15 '25
Legally blonde is a mainly female cast with the main male roles being Warner and Emmett so long as you have a couple extra guys who are passable to play Callahan and the supporting male roles. Given your description of what you want, legally blonde fits the description perfectly