History Main / OriginalCastPrecedent

* Nathan Lane [[TropeCodifier codified]] the performance of [[Film/TheProducers Max Bialystock]], so much so that in a brief [[BreakingTheFourthWall Fourth Wall-breaking moment]] in "Betrayed," Max will pull out a ''Playbill'' and remark "He's good, but he's no Lane!".

* In most productions of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', the Jets tend to wear blue and yellow clothing while the Sharks wear red and purple. The most recent Broadway revival bucked this trend by having the Jets wear green and orange instead.

** The majority of Eponines have had dark hair, despite that Hugo himself is not very consistent on Eponine's hair color, describing her first as having "chestnut/auburn" colored hair before later referring to her as having "a blonde and lymphatic pallor." (although the latter line probably doesn't refer to her hair, but means she has a yellowish complexion). This is probably set by original Eponine, Frances Ruffelle and reinforced by notable 10th Anniversary Concert Cast Eponine, Lea Salonga, and 25th Anniversary, Creator/SamanthaBarks. In fact, Megan Lawrence, a blonde Eponine on Broadway, commented once to an interviewer that she never thought she'd get to play Eponine ''because'' she was a blonde.

** Fantine is almost always blonde, in keeping with how she's described in the novel, unless the actress is a woman of color. A natural brunette (such as the original, Creator/PattiLuPone) will usually wear a blonde wig. There have been a few exceptions – most notably Anne Hathaway's brown-haired Fantine in the film version – but in general, if the actress is white, her Fantine will be blonde.

* The ''Theatre/{{Peter Pan|1954}}'' musical inherits the traditions associated with Peter and Hook, and adds one of its own: the role of Eliza, the maid, is typically doubled with that of Tiger Lily.

** The original book's illustrations depicted Alice as blonde, even though the real-life Alice Liddell was dark-haired. Most adaptations follow the illustrations in making Alice blonde and blue-eyed.
** And for ''Alice In Wonderland'' in general, the main time when you ''do'' see a dark-haired Alice is when the story's been [[{{Grimmification}} Grimmified]]. (Though this isn't done in ''every'' dark retelling. Just a lot of them.) Perhaps this is because it makes her look more like a goth. A notable exception to this tradition is a musical film adaptation from the early '70s which featured Creator/DudleyMoore.

** The majority of Eponines have had dark hair, despite that Hugo himself is not very consistent on Eponine's hair color, describing her first as having "chestnut/auburn" colored hair before later referring to her as having "a blonde and lymphatic pallor.". This is probably set by original Eponine, Frances Ruffelle and reinforced by notable 10th Anniversary Concert Cast Eponine, Lea Salonga, and 25th Anniversary, Creator/SamanthaBarks. In fact, Megan Lawrence, a blonde Eponine on Broadway, commented once to an interviewer that she never thought she'd get to play Eponine ''because'' she was a blonde.
** Cosette, a brunette in the book, is always given a brown wig, 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.

* ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'':

* You'd be hard-pressed to find a production of ''Theatre/ShrekTheMusical'' that doesn't cast a black actor as Donkey, despite the character being non-human. Of course, Eddie Murphy originated the role in [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} the film]], so audiences have just come to expect Donkey to be black.

* Has there ever been a production of ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}'' with an Arthur who could sing? The original Arthur was Creator/RichardBurton, and Creator/RichardHarris played the role in the movie and later on stage. Indeed, it's a tradition for any big budget version of ''Camelot'' to have Arthur played by a respectable movie star with little or no singing experience (Burton, Harris, Laurence Harvey, Gabriel Byrne, Michael York) or someone who made their theatre career singing that way (Jeremy Irons). A rare exception was Robert Goulet -- the original Broadway cast's Lancelot -- playing Arthur in a touring production ca. 1998-1999.

* You'd be hard-pressed to find a production of ''Theatre/ShrekTheMusical'': that doesn't cast a black actor as Donkey, despite the character being non-human. Of course, Eddie Murphy originated the role in [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} the film]], so audiences have just come to expect Donkey to be black.

* You'd be hard-pressed to find a production of ''Theatre/ShrekTheMusical'': that doesn't cast a black actor as Donkey, despite the character being non-human. Of course, Eddie Murphy originated the role in [[WesternAnimation/Shrek the film]], so audiences have just come to expect Donkey to be black.

** Similarly, the children's father and Captain Hook are generally played by the same person. (Though Barrie originally wanted ''Mrs.'' Darling to be the actress to play Captain Hook... make of that what you will.)

** Cosette, a brunette in the book, is always given a brown wig, regardless of the hair colour of the actress. Katie Hall is a notable aversion. She played Cosette in the 25th Anniversary Concert. However, she too wore a dark wig when she played the role at the Queen's Theatre. Cosette was also blond in the 2012 movie, when she was played by Creator/AmandaSeyfried.

** Audrey is nearly always blonde, or given a blonde wig.

*** Averted by the 2007 Australian production, which cast the Italian Anthony Callea as Mark.
*** And averted in the Broadway production when they did some StuntCasting with Joey Fatone of Music/{{NSYNC}} as Mark: he kept his natural black hair. Adam Kantor, who followed him, also had black hair, and thus Mark has since been either blonde or black-haired.

* Elsa in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}'' and [[WesternAnimation/FrozenII its sequel]] is voiced by Idina Menzel, whose most famous role had previously been Elphaba in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''. When the movie was dubbed internationally, the actress who played Elphaba in the new language was sought out no less than four times: Mona Mor (Hebrew), Willemijn Verkaik (German and Dutch), Maria Lucia Rosenberg (Danish), and Hye-Na Park (Korean).

** The majority of Eponines have had dark hair, despite that Hugo himself is not very consistent on Eponine's hair color, describing her first as having "chestnut/auburn" colored hair before later referring to her as having "a blonde and lymphatic pallor.". This is probably set by original Eponine, Frances Ruffelle and reinforced by notable 10th Anniversary Concert Cast Eponine, Lea Salonga, and 25th Anniversary, Samantha Barks. In fact, Megan Lawrence, a blonde Eponine on Broadway, commented once to an interviewer that she never thought she'd get to play Eponine ''because'' she was a blonde.

** Collins, too, is usually black; the role was originated by Jesse Martin.

*** And averted in the Broadway production when they did some StuntCasting with Joey Fatone of *Music/{{NSYNC}} as Mark: he kept his natural black hair.

* Elsa in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}'' and [[WesternAnimation/FrozenII its sequel]] is voiced by Idina Menzel, whose most famous role had previously been Elphaba in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''. When the movie was dubbed internationally, the actress who played Elphaba in the new language was sought out no less than four times: Mona Mor (Hebrew), Willemijn Verkaik (German and Dutch), Maria Lucia Rosenberg (Danish), and Hyena Park (Korean).

* Both Joel Grey and Alan Cumming made such indelible impressions as the Emcee in ''{{Theatre/Cabaret}}'' that most versions of the character are likely to recall one or the other.

** [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] with Thénardier. Alun Armstrong debuted the role in London with a cockney accent, and this has been the standard ever since. 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.