While musicals take the audience along for the hero's journey, Broadway is also filled with a treasure trove of showstopping villains. Whether pure evil or humanized over the course of a story, these adversaries can leave as much of a mark on theatregoers as the protagonist, raising the stakes on a plot while inspiring fear and awe. As Ivy Lynn sang in Smash: “When I'm bad, I'm even better!”
From evildoers we adore to scoundrels we love to hate, revisit some of Broadways most fearsome foes and share your favorite theatre villains.
Les Miserables Playbill - Opening Night, March 1987
Inspector Javert
Photo by Joan Marcus
Thénardier and Madame Thénardier
Once on This Island Playbill - Opening Night, Oct 1990
Papa Ge
Beauty and the Beast Playbill - Opening Night
Gaston
Little Shop of Horrors Playbill - Opening Night, Aug 2003
Audrey II
Photo by Paul Kolnick
Mean Girls Playbill - Opening Night
Regina George
Joan Marcus
SpongeBob SquarePants Playbill - Opening Night
Plankton
Jekyll & Hyde Playbill - Opening Night
Mr. Hyde
Carol Rosegg
The Lion King Playbill - Nov 2006
Stephen Carlile
The Wiz Playbill - December 1974
Ella Mitchell, Gayle Turner, and cast in The Wiz
The Little Mermaid Playbill - Opening Night
Sherie Rene Scott in The Little Mermaid.
Per Breiehagen
Wicked Playbill - Opening Night, Oct 2003
Madame Morrible
Joan Marcus
Annie Full Playbill
Miss Hannigan
Be More Chill Playbill - Opening Night
Jason Tam and cast of Be More Chill
Cats Playbill - Opening Night, Oct 1982
Macavity
Hadestown Playbill - Opening Night
Patrick Page and Reeve Carney in Hadestown
Matthew Murphy
Beetlejuice Playbill - Opening Night
Alex Brightman
Matthew Murphy
