History Main / AltoVillainess

* Somewhat surprisingly, opera tends to avert this trope more often than not, partially because the pitch of the voice is perhaps more commonly correlated to a character's age than to their moral alignment, and also because sopranos tend to hog most of the bigger female roles. Some of the most notable evil or borderline evil female roles - the Queen of the Night from ''The Magic Flute'', Lady Macbeth from Verdi's ''Macbeth'', Puccini's ''Turandot'', Alban Berg's ''Lulu'', and Katerina from Shostakovich's ''Lady Macbeth of Mzensk'' - thus are soprano parts. However, Bizet's femme fatale Carmen was originally scored for a mezzo, but has also often been performed as an alto (or a soprano) and thus usually has a deeper voice than her foil, the angelic Micaela.

* Ursula the sea witch the main antagonist in ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', voiced by Pat Carroll.

* Madame Morrible from ''{{Theatre/Wicked}}''.

* Mother Gothel from Disney's ''{{Tangled}}''.

* Winnie from ''Film/HocusPocus''.

* Ursula from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''.

A subtrope of EvilSoundsDeep. In musical theatre, opera, etc., the main hero will often be [[TenorBoy tenor]] if male or [[TheSoprano soprano]] if female. If the villain is female, however, she will often sing alto. This is quite often the case if the villainess is LargeAndInCharge.

* Madame Morrible from ''{{Theatre/Wicked}}''
* Miss Hannigan from ''{{Annie}}''
* Mayoress Cora Hoover Hooper in ''AnyoneCanWhistle''
* Mrs. Lovett in ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''

* The Killer Queen from WeWillRockYou

* Winnie from ''Film/HocusPocus''

* Katrina Stoneheart from the 1980s PoundPuppies series (who was voiced by the same actress as Ursula).

* Audrey II from ''LittleShopOfHorrors''. Though voiced by a man, she does refer to herself as a mother.

* Winnie from ''HocusPocus''

* Mrs. Lovett in ''SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''

* Lucy from ''Theatre/{{Thirteen}}''.
* Madame Morrible from ''{{Wicked}}''

* Mrs. Lovett in ''SweeneyTodd''

A subtrope of EvilSoundsDeep. In musical theatre, opera, etc. the main protagonist will often be [[TenorBoy tenor]] if male or [[TheSoprano soprano]] if female. If the villain is female, however, she will often sing alto. This is quite often the case if the villainess is LargeandinCharge.

* Lucy from ''{{13}}''.

[[AC: Western Animation]]

* Madame Morrible from ''Theatre/Wicked''

A subtrope of EvilSoundsDeep. In musical theatre, opera, etc. the main protagonist will often be [[TenorBoy tenor]] if male or [[TheSoprano soprano]] if female. If the villain is female, however, she will often sing alto.

* Mother Gothel from Disney's {{Tangled}}

* Mother Gothel from ''Disney/Tangled''.

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[[folder:Theatre]]
* Mrs. Meers from ThoroughlyModernMillie

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* Ursula from TheLittleMermaid

A subtrope of EvilSoundsDeep. In musical theatre, opera, etc. the main protagonist will often be [[TenorBoy tenor]] if male or Soprano if female. If the villain is female, however, she will often sing alto.