History Main / TenorBoy

Compare the InnocentSoprano, his DistaffCounterpart and probable love interest. Contrast BassoProfundo and EvilSoundsDeep.

* Percy's actor in the musical version of ''[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians The Lightning Thief]]'' will usually be this, using a higher range, impetuous belting, and boyish diction to convey the impression of a much younger person. Percy the character is twelve, but due to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome child labor laws and the sheer difficulty of getting someone that age who can carry a show]], he's typically played by a youthful tenor in his twenties.

* Radio/TheJackBennyProgram always had a tenor on board to sing popular songs, and he was always a ManChild and TheDitz. Dennis Day (replacement for Kenny Baker, who replaced Frank Parker) was the longest running and best developed of these, and once lampshaded this trope by saying "Tenors are a dime a dozen".

* Candide from [[Music/LeonardBernstein Leonard Bernstein's]] ''Literature/{{Candide}}'' is a tenor who believes he's living in the "best of all possible worlds", which is [[CrapsackWorld an overstatement]] to say the least.

* Creator/GilbertAndSullivan have quite a few straight examples such as Nanki-Poo and Frederic from ''Theatre/TheMikado'' and ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'', respectively. They are complete innocents, but it's meant for laughs, as Gilbert and Sullivan are parodying sterotypical opera characters.

* In ''Theatre/MammaMia'', Sky is [[TheIngenue Sophie's]] good-looking, SatelliteLoveInterest fiance who sings in a tenor voice range.

* Tamino, Belmonte, Ferrando and Ottavio -- all those gorgeous-singing Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart tenors.

* Parsifal, Stolzing, and Siegfried -- the more "boyish" [[Music/RichardWagner Wagner]] tenors. There's a point in one of the operas where Siegfried has to impersonate another character, a baritone. It's notorious difficult to pull off on stage. Some recordings of the opera get around it by having Siegfried sing the part in his normal voice and then editing it into a baritone. It's also been done on stage by having the actual baritone sing and act the part, then leave stage and "re-enter" as tenor Siegfried, which works since he's also supposed to be in magical disguise.

* ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': Subverted. Dr. Horrible is a tenor-voiced dorky, naive, (mostly) innocent, hopelessly romantic ShrinkingViolet... who is a WellIntentionedExtremist VillainProtagonist.

%%* Jonathan Harker in any and all ''Franchise/{{Dracula}}'' musicals. Again, see the source material.

It's musical theatre law. The frequently [[PrettyBoy good-looking]], almost always lovestruck, and without a doubt naive young man central to the story must sing with lyrical, boyish grace. In other words: he's a tenor. In a large portion of opera (particularly Verdi and Puccini), TheProtagonist is a tenor no matter what his age or personality.

%%^* Frankie Epps from ''Theatre/{{Parade}}''. Of course, most of the roles Jason Robert Brown writes are tenors, regardless of type.

%%* Jonathan Harker in any and all ''Theatre/{{Dracula}}'' musicals. Again, see the source material.

%%* Link in ''Film/{{Hairspray}}''.

* You might not expect Cesare Borgia to sing with lovely high notes, but in ''Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'', he does. It takes place when he's 16 years old, but he's already showing the personality traits that would later inspire Machiavelli. Take his debate with Angelo over a point of Dante in the classroom scene, where he gives a ruthlessly practical take on things with elegant, lofty flourishes.

** Adolfo Pirelli, Sweeney's rival, is a conventional operatic tenor, specifically because he's ''parodying'' the traditional operatic type. He's also an abusive boss/guardian to Toby and [[spoiler:a total fraud]].
** Beadle Bamford, Judge Turpin's chief stooge, is typically played by a lyrical high tenor. He's also a nasty piece of work who helped Turpin rape Sweeney's wife Lucy and regularly threatens Anthony from getting too close to Johanna. Pirelli and the Beadle sing a particularly eerie falsetto duet together in the final rendition of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", using their high voices together to create the exact opposite of the usual intent of this trope.

*** Toby is the closest to a traditional male ingenue tenor, though with the twist that his innocence is enforced by his being somewhat mentally disabled. [[spoiler:And then in the very end, he snaps and murders the title character.]][[note:He is also sometimes played as a child, either by an actual child or by a woman, which is a different type of aversion.]]

** Beadle Bamford, Judge Turpin's chief stooge, is typically played by a lyrical high tenor. He's also a nasty piece of work who helped Turpin rape Sweeney's wife Lucy and regularly threatens Anthony from getting too close to Johanna.

** ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'': Actually an aversion (outside of the movie, anyway)- naive, good-hearted young sailor [[MeaningfulName Anthony Hope]], half of the [[OfficialCouple romantic subplot]] along with InnocentSoprano Johanna, is a baritone, the same as AntiHero Sweeney Todd and BigBad Judge Turpin. While he is sometimes played by a tenor with a flexible low range in standard musical theatre productions, he is ''always'' firmly a baritone when it's produced in opera houses.
*** Toby is a tenor part, though with the twist that his innocence is enforced by his being somewhat mentally disabled. [[spoiler:And then in the very end, he snaps and murders the title character.]]

** ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'': While Anthony Hope is officially a baritone and often played by one in more operatic productions, his tessitura is higher than Main/AntiHero Sweeney and BigBad Judge Turpin. He is also rather naive (probably the ''most'' naive, and certainly the least corruptible, character in the story) and falls in LoveAtFirstSight with InnocentSoprano Johanna.
*** Toby is a tenor part as well, though with the twist that his innocence is enforced by his being somewhat mentally disabled. [[spoiler:And then in the very end, he snaps and murders the title character.]]

* Raoul from ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', though he has a noticeably lower tessitura and can and has been played by baritones (Creator/JohnBarrowman, for example). Notable for being hated by most of the fans. Ironically The Phantom himself is usually a tenor (see below).

** ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'': While Anthony Hope sings more in the baritenor range than true tenor, his tessitura is higher than Main/AntiHero Sweeney and BigBad Judge Turpin. He is also rather naive and falls in LoveAtFirstSight with InnocentSoprano Johanna.

* Any prince worthy of getting the girl and lines of song in Disney films is a tenor, but the Prince in ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' might be the tenorest of the tenors: he has only a few lines altogether, but dang if some of those aren't used to establish his bright and youthful timbre to complete a duet with Snow White's own [[TheIngenue Ingenue soprano]]. To Opera-Savvy viewers [[DarkerAndEdgier the more gruesome accusations about his motives and character]] simply don't make any sense.

** ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'': While Anthony Hope sings more in the baritenor range than true tenor, his tessitura is higher than Main/AntiHero Sweeney and BigBad Judge Turpin. He is also rather naive and falls in LoveAtFirstSight with TheIngenue Johanna.

** In a later episode, "The Ringing of the Bell", the trope is PlayedStraight when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRvWJWgaICM Wirt sings the romantic duet "Like Ships"]] with [[IllGirl Lorna]].

* In the Handel oratorio ''Semele'', the male lead is the god Jupiter (aka Zeus)--chief of the Roman pantheon, womanizer extraordinaire, and of course the god of ''thunder''. But since he's portrayed as a lover in this story, he's a tenor.

* Quasimodo from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' may not be especially good-looking (UglyCute, maybe), but he is a naive NiceGuy who sings with a tenor voice in contrast to [[EvilSoundsDeep Frollo]].

* Viceroy Bánk the eponymous hero of Erkel's opera. Although [[BadassBeard he's far from being boyish]].

* Marius Pontmercy in ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' is rather tricky to place. He is often played by tenors, but has a slightly lower tessitura. However, he does fit the stereotype perfectly as the lovestruck and boyish innocent.

* Percy's actor in the musical version of ''[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians The Lightning Thief]]'' will usually be this, using a higher range, impetuous belting, and boyish diction to convey the impression of a much younger person. Percy the character is twelve, but due to [[RealityEnsues child labor laws and the sheer difficulty of getting someone that age who can carry a show]], he's typically played by a youthful tenor in his twenties.

* The title character in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' is naive, possesses a muscular physique, and is a NiceGuy, the latter quality attracting his LoveInterest [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Meg]]. He sings in a tenor voice which is especially showcased in the reprise of his IWantSong "Go the Distance".

%%* Henrik of Sondheim's ''Theatre/ALittleNightMusic'',