History Main / OriginalCastPrecedent

** [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] with Thénardier. Alun Armstrong debuted the role in London with a cockney accent, and this has been the standard ever since in British productions. However, the more famous recording is the Original Broadway Cast version, which has Leo Burmester perform the role in his American accent, while attempting an upper-class British accent in front of his guests at the inn. The film has Sacha Baron Cohen drawing from elements of both, with cockney being his default, and putting on a French accent in front of the guests.

** The Teen Angel and Johnny Casino are usually played by the same actor, as Alan Paul played both in the original Broadway production. Exceptions to the rule include Johnny Casino being written out of some stagings, so that the actor for Vince Fontaine will instead double the part for the Teen Angel.
** Danny is almost always a brunet, as are the rest of the Burger Palace Boys. However, sometimes a blond will be cast in one of the roles, or sometimes one character will receive a RaceLift (as with one actor for Doody in the '94 Broadway revival).
** Rizzo is generally black-haired, while Frenchy is almost always a redhead, Marty is a blonde, and Jan has brown hair. The '94 production averted this at first, by having Megan Mullally play a brunette Marty and Jessica Stone play Frenchy as a blonde.
** Sandy herself is nearly always played by a blonde actress, or the actress will be given a blonde wig. This in part was due to the popularity of Olivia Newton-John's portrayal in the film adaptation, although the real-life inspiration for Sandy's character was also a blonde. Although in both the '72 and 2007 Broadway productions, the initial actresses for Sandy were allowed to keep their dark hair.

* Though the casting calls of ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' simply say that every actor (with the exception of the one playing King George III) should be non-white, most productions match up exactly with the ethnicities of the original Broadway cast (predominantly black, with Latino men as Hamilton and Laurens and an Asian woman as Eliza), though this is far from universal.

** Cosette, a brunette in the book, was always given a brown wig throughout the musical's first two, regardless of the hair colour of the actress. However, there have been a few blonde Cosettes, such as Katie Hall in the 25th Anniversary Concert (although she too wore a dark wig when she played the role at the Queen's Theatre) and Creator/AmandaSeyfried in the film adaptation. In recent years, blonde Cosettes have become much more common onstage.

* ''Theatre/LaTraviata'': Not "original cast" precedent, per se, but "real-life inspiration and source material" precedent. Violetta is almost always portrayed with dark hair, her costumes are usually either white or black (although some productions make her a LadyInRed instead), and the flower she gives to Alfredo in Act I is almost always a camellia. This is because the opera is based on the novel and play ''The Lady of the Camellias," which in turn were [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory inspired]] by the real French courtesan Marie Duplessis, a famous RavenHairIvorySkin beauty who usually did wear either white or black to compliment her coloring.

* ''Theatre/LaTraviata'': Not "original cast" precedent, per se, but "real-life inspiration and source material" precedent. Violetta is almost always portrayed with dark hair, her costumes are usually either white or black (although some productions make her a LadyInRed instead), and the flower she gives to Alfredo in Act I is almost always a camellia. This is because the opera is based on the novel and play ''The Lady of the Camellias," which in turn were [[VeryLoselyBasedOnATrueStory inspired]] by the real French courtesan Marie Duplessis, a famous RavenHairIvorySkin beauty who usually did wear either white or black to compliment her coloring.

** Audrey is nearly always blonde, or given a blonde wig, thanks to her character intro in the script (though not the actual dialogue) describing her as "bleached-blonde," and to Ellen Greene's iconic portrayal onstage and in the film version. Though ironically enough, Greene herself is naturally a brunette and wore a wig when she played the role. The most recent off-Broadway revival of the show averted this tradition by making Audrey a redhead instead.

* Emile de Becque from ''Theatre/SouthPacific'' is almost always played by an Italian operatic baritone; for instance, Ezio Pinza, Rossano Brazzi, and Paulo Szot. Brazzi, although [[NonSingingVoice dubbed]] by Georgio Tozzi (operatic tenor!), still checked off 'Italian'. Which is interesting, as de Becque is ostensibly ''French''.

** Audrey is nearly always blonde, or given a blonde wig, thanks to Ellen Greene's iconic portrayal. Though ironically enough, Greene herself is naturally a brunette and wore a wig when she played the role.

** Nicely-Nicely Johnson tends to be heavyset, thanks to Stubby Kaye in the film version.

* 'Not a case of ''original'' cast precedent, but the 1991 London revival of ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'' has been very influential on later productions, especially because the 1999 film version was directly based on it:

* 'Not a case of ''original'' cast precedent, but ever since the 1991 London revival of ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat, the part of Judah, who sings "Benjamin Calypso," has almost always been cast with a black actor, [[ColorblindCasting regardless of whether or not any of his onstage "brothers" or his onstage "father" are black.]] This is probably because it's less offensive for a black actor to affect the Afro-Caribbean accent the song requires than it would be for a non-black actor. That same revival also set a precedent for Jacob and Potiphar to be played by the same actor.