Aspire Community Theatre brings Dream Roles and Miscasts back for third production

In the theater world, casting choices are fairly unsurprising, to an extent.

Roles like Matilda, from the musical of the same name, and Charlie Bucket, from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” are typically played by children, while roles like Ursula in “The Little Mermaid” and Tracy Turnblad in “Hairspray” are almost always played by curvy women and the role of Alexander Hamilton, from “Hamilton,” is almost always played by a man of color.

These casting decisions align with what the script calls for, as well as what audiences expect to see, especially in regard to classic musicals.

But Aspire Community Theatre is hoping to turn some of those expectations on their head with “Dream Roles and Miscasts,” a show that features performers tackling songs from roles they’ve always wanted to have and those they likely wouldn’t find themselves playing because of their age or gender presentation.

“Dream Roles and Miscasts” runs for just three performances, Friday through Sunday, at the Kroc Center in Coeur d’Alene. The show is co-directed by Trigger Weddle and Paisley Siemens.

“Dream Roles and Miscasts” stars Abe McKinney, Abel Siemens, Aubrey Babbitt, Collin Thompson, Elias Underhill, Erin Cleve, Gatieh Nacario, Jacob McGaughey, Jessica Jameson, Jessica Peterson, Michael Hynes, Ruby Krajic, Sarah Anne Morgan and Thomas Gandy.

The onstage band features music director and keyboard player Presley DuPuis, bassist Dave Turner, guitarist Slava Morokhovets and drummer Zach Cleve.

This production marks the third time Aspire has produced “Dream Roles and Miscasts.” The first came in 2020, when the pandemic brought standard productions to a halt.

Wanting to give a gift to the community and create an opportunity for performers to do what they do best, Weddle and the Aspire team organized “Dream Roles and Miscasts.” The production was so well received, they organized a second round in 2021, which was also a hit with audiences and performers.

Weddle and Siemens, who have worked together on multiple productions, including “The Who’s Tommy” and “All Shook Up” at Aspire as well as “Newsies” at CYT-North Idaho (DuPuis also worked on these shows), decided to bring “Dream Roles and Miscasts” back yet again because performers really love the opportunity, plus there is even more material to choose from thanks to new musicals that have premiered in recent years.

“Paisley had a vision to do a number out of the musical ‘Thirteen,’ and, like she says in the (video introduction to the song), nobody meets that criteria …” Weddle said. “We have a guy named Collin singing a villain song from ‘The Little Mermaid.’ We have a guy singing a song from ‘Waitress.’ It really does bend what the norm is.”

There are 19 musicals represented at this year’s “Dream Roles and Miscasts,” ranging from classics like “Oklahoma!” and “Godspell” to the currently on-Broadway “Wicked” and “The Outsiders.”

Actors submitted their wish lists of songs, be they from a dream role or a miscast, and Weddle and Siemens chose songs they felt would make a compelling show.

“Dream Roles and Miscasts” isn’t a series of solo performances but rather a series of ensemble numbers, some of which, Siemens said, are fully choreographed, including the opening number, which is from “Cabaret,” and songs from “Thirteen,” “The Who’s Tommy” and “Hairspray.”

Like in previous “Dream Roles and Miscasts,” each number will be prefaced with a video introduction from the performer who chose the song detailing why the role would be a dream for them.

Music director DuPuis has a little more work on his hands with a show like this, which requires him to acquire music from multiple shows, but overall, as the show is both a crowd pleaser and otherwise fairly simple to produce, Weddle and Siemens anticipate “Dream Roles and Miscasts” appearing in future seasons.

There’s a jukebox feel to the show, Weddle said, as the songs play one right after another. Together, they’re a “conglomeration of the musical theater canon.”

“Our cast has put in so much hard work, and there’s so many numbers in it that are just so good,” Siemens said. “Trigger and I and Presley are all really excited about all the work that everybody’s put into it that we really hope to have a good full audience for our cast.”