Fantasy Casting! Broadway.com Chooses Five Classic Musical Roles for Laura Osnes

Broadway.com is having a Laura Osnes crush day, following her luminous performance as Maria in the April 24 Carnegie Hall concert The Sound of Music. Osnes, of course, has already made her Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway debut as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, and she's on tap to play the title role in R&H's Cinderella. But her beautiful rendition of “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi” and “The Sound of Music” got us thinking about other classic musical roles we would love to see her play. Here are our top five choices for revivals Osnes should star in on the Great White Way, plus fantasy casting of her leading men!

Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady
Osnes would charm us as both the deliciously low Cockney flower girl and the Cinderella-like belle of the ball in this too-seldom-revived classic tuner. It would be “loverly” indeed to watch her transformation and growing independence as Eliza.
Fantasy Co-Star: Raul Esparza as Henry Higgins

Julie Jordan in Carousel
After playing half of a star-crossed couple in Bonnie and Clyde, Osnes is ready to take on a much more sympathetic (if equally tragic) love story in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s heartbreaking musical. Somebody please throw a real nice Broadway clambake so we can hear Laura sing “If I Loved You.”
Fantasy Co-Star: Jeremy Jordan as Billy Bigelow

Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls
It wouldn’t be a gamble to cast Osnes as the strait-laced leader of the Save-a-Soul mission in this great American musical. Sarah can be a thankless part compared to campy Hot Box girl Adelaide, but with Osnes singing “I’ll Know” and “If I Were a Bell,” the balance between the show’s leading ladies would be absolutely perfect.
Fantasy Co-Star: Colin Donnell as Sky Masterson

Marian Paroo in The Music Man
Osnes would bring her signature grace and poise to the role of River City’s whip-smart librarian and make audiences root for her romance with con man Harold Hill. Hey, wouldn’t you go straight after hearing Laura sing “Goodnight, My Someone” and “Till There Was You”?
Fantasy Co-Star: Hugh Jackman as Harold Hill

Queen Guenevere in Camelot
In this musical love triangle of the Round Table, Osnes would be totally believable as the object of romantic desire for both King Arthur and hunky knight Lancelot. Oh, never would they leave her...at all!
Fantasy Co-Stars: Norbert Leo Butz as Arthur and Steve Kazee as Lancelot