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Pants role

In opera, it is not uncommon practice to have a woman sing and act the role of a man. Such parts are called pants roles or trouser roles. In the case of a woman playing the role of a young man, the part is often filled by a mezzo-soprano.

Operas with pants roles include:

• Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini has the pants role "Ascanio"
• Donizetti's Donizetti's Anna Bolena: the role of Smeton is sung by a mezzo-soprano
• Dvorak's Rusalka: the role of the Kitchen Boy
• Gounod's Faust: Siebel is sung by a mezzo-soprano
• Gounod's Romeo and Juliet: Stefano is sung by a mezzo-soprano
• Handel's Xerxes: the title role Xerxes is played by a mezzo-soprano
• Englebert Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel: Hansel is sung by a mezzo-soprano
• Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro: Cherubino is played by a mezzo-soprano
• Jacques Offenbach's Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier: Oktavian is sung by a mezzo-soprano
• Verdi's A Masked Ball: Oscar, Gustavus III's page, is sung by a soprano

Key to the concept of the pants role is that the character is male. There are other opera roles where a female character will dress in male clothing to fool other characters. This is not considered a pants role, even though the actress appears in male clothing, because she is playing a woman pretending to be a man, rather than playing a man.

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