Title role

The title role in a play or an opera is the role (the part) that is also the title of the play or opera. The actor, singer, or dancer who performs that part is said to have the "title role." For example, in the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet, the part played by the girl Carmen is the title role. A singer may be said to take the title role in the opera Carmen. That means that she sings the part of Carmen in the opera.

The title role is often but not always the most important role in the play or opera.

A few other well-known example in which the performance is named after one of the characters are the operas Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini and Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten, the ballets Coppélia by Léo Delibes and Petrushka by Igor Stravinsky, and the plays Othello or Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

The title character is the character whose name is in the title (or suggested in the title), such as Harry Potter in Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling or Simba in Disney's The Lion King (Simba is the Lion King).

 Related pages 
 Character actor
 Leading actor
 Supporting actor
 Bit part
 Extra (acting)

Category:Performing arts