My Book of Broadway

Underrated Musical Characters

Exactly as it sounds! These are some characters that I feel are a bit under appreciated in some popular or even unpopular Broadway musicals!

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Cosette: To me Cosette, from Les Mis, is the most underrated character for like no reason! I get people think she's boring or doesn't have a lot of traits but honestly that adds to her character as there's a reason she's the way she is. Valjean kind of keeps her very sheltered. She doesn't have a lot of room to really grow and develop this really dynamic personality. And I get that's why she wouldn't be someone's favorite character but that's no reason to absolutely hate her! I see a lot of hate for Cosette, partially because of her lack of dynamic qualities and from people who think Marius and Eponine should be a couple, which is fine but it's really no reason to hate Cosette! It's not really her fault! And yes, in the musical they seem so fall in love without barely even knowing each other but it's quite different in the novel. But it's hard to fit every detail of a 1000 paged book into an already 3 hour musical.... I think Cosette deserves a little more love from Les Mis fans!

Raoul: This one is a bit obvious. Similarly to Cosette people hate Raoul Le Vicompte De Chagny because he falls in love.... Yes Christine chose him over the Phantom and because we are all lovely humans we wished it would have gone the other way, that's no reason to hate him. It's not his fault that Christine loved him. Also people say he's foppish or uninteresting, which from a musical/movie standpoint I can understand, but again it's so different in the novel. I know referring to the novel isn't necessarily the most valid of arguments as we are talking about musicals, but I'm just saying. The musical doesn't focus on Raoul so they don't develop his character too much. But he really is a good person. The one quality you do have on him is that he's extremely caring and heroic. He does everything in his power to save Christine and whether you want them together or not that's a really great quality.

Glinda: So typically, Elphaba is the favorite character amongst Wicked fans. I feel as though Glinda is very under appreciated. She literally gets nothing in the end! Yeah she basically becomes Queen of Oz, but she realizes that there's more to life than that. She loses her love and her best friend and ultimately is really lonely at the end of the musical. She's so much fun and she's actually a really good person. She's way nicer than Elphaba the entire musical and she's just someone I'd want to be friends with. Yes she has her moments when she's not the nicest but I don't see how that's worse that Elphaba who's much meaner!

Meg: Meg Giry gets a lot of hate I think. Due to her terrified shrieking at slightly inappropriate times and possibly due to her lack of character development. (This is ignoring Love Never Dies). However, I think she's a perfectly good character. She's a loyal friend, she's brave, and an incredible dancer. There's really no specific reason to not like Meg, yet it seems like a lot of people do.

Carlotta: Sorry these all seem to be from Phantom but apparently people only care about Christine and the Phantom. Now of course Carlotta isn't a likable character or even a good person really, but I find she's underrated in terms of singing. Everyone makes fun of Carlotta for being a bad singer when in reality she isn't. Sure, full fledge opera might not be your favorite genre but that doesn't make her bad! Also the Phantom doesn't typically make fun of her singing in the musical! He makes fun of her acting and just hates her since she isn't Christine. Yes, in the novel he detests her singing but sadly you can't hear her in the book so maybe she actually is bad but in the musical she really isn't.

Thomas Jefferson (Hamilton): The reason I clarify for Hamilton is just for the 1% chance that someone thought I meant 1776. Now I sort of see why a lot of people don't like Thomas Jefferson as he's a bit obnoxious (which is COMPLETELY historically inaccurate but fine) But honestly he's no less obnoxious than Alexander Hamilton! Most people don't like him because of his opposing views with Alex and because he tried to "sabotage" him with the check stuff, but honestly they were convinced Alex was doing something illegal so they were obviously going to do something about it! Also politics is an every man for himself game! There's no reason why Jefferson should have appeased Hamilton. Jefferson was fearful of what Hamilton would do so he tried find a reason why he couldn't run for President. And Alex tried to do the same with Jefferson and slavery (again inaccurate but I digress). It's just politics and honestly Hamilton did many worse things than Jefferson in my opinion. *also this is solely based on the musical not actual history because seriously I don't know where Lin's interpretation of Thomas Jefferson came from but whatever*

Munkustrap: Just so you guys know Munkustrap is from the musical Cats. He is essentially the leader of the Jellicle Cats when Old Deuteronomy isn't around. However I feel as though he's a very underrated character with fans and in the musical itself. I wish he had more of a prominent role. But he sadly doesn't. Also he's not very talked about. Usually Grizabella is the only cat that's ever mentioned. Most characters in cats are pretty underrated with the exceptions of Grizabella, Rum Tum Tugger, Mr. Mistoffelees, and maybe Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer (that's a bit of a stretch). But I think out of all the underrated characters in Cats, Munkustrap deserves the most love. He's literally the second in command! He does everything to protect the kittens and all the other cats and he's actually responsible, unlike a lot of the others. Also his makeup and costume are by far the coolest! (Other than Macavity - who he fights with!) He even gets upstaged by his brother constantly! It's actually quite sad that's everybody loves the Rum Tum Tugger more than Munkustrap! Next time you watch Cats make sure you show some love for Munkustrap!

Bernardo: So West Side Story is one of the best musicals like ever. With some great characters and some great scenes. Specifically Tony and Maria, but one of my favorite characters is actually Bernardo. He's a sweet overprotective brother. It's kind of nice even though it's a bit extreme. SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!! His death crushed me the first time (and all the other times) I watched it. It was unexpected and I was just so in shock like no! Why Bernardo!

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Okay that about raps it up! Sorry this is a bit of a shorter list but I may add to it if I think of any others!

Please remember that these are just my opinions and are not meant to be offensive!!! If you don't like these characters that's fine this is just my opinion! I'd actually love to hear some opposing views. Comment and characters that you find are underrated or anything you agree/disagree with! I'd love to hear from you guys!

Also I'd just like to thank you all for so many reads! You are all the greatest! I appreciate it so so so much! Also thank you for all the lovely comments and votes! I love interacting with you guys and I'm glad you're enjoying the book!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!