How to play Miss Rachel Berry.
Okay, I’ve been playing Rachel for almost 3 and a half years now so I really know her well. She’s my favorite character of all time for plenty of reasons and I relate a lot to her. I’m not saying that I’m the best Rachel because I most definitely am not, I’m just saying that I know this character very well and I thought I would help people out some. I’m mostly going by cannon Rachel though a lot of these may be my own personal take on the character. I hope this helps! ✩
First, some don’ts. I see a lot of different Rachels making the same mistakes with her character.
!!!!!!!!!!! No. Please, don’t. That’s one thing that I really hate about a lot of Rachels. Don’t put an exclamation point at the end of every single sentence. She’s not Lea Michele (though, she mostly is) and that’s just something I can’t see Rachel doing.
Don’t make her happy all the time. Rachel is moody. She’s a person. There’s nothing that irks me more than when a Rachel is always so damn happy. It’s just strange. She always has something to complain about, so find something. Whether it be that she didn’t get the solo she wanted or that she dropped her coffee on the way to school. She over dramatizes everything.
When “texting” or writing a post, make sure to go over it a few times. Make sure there aren’t any mistakes (though of course there can be). She wouldn’t use abbreviations such as “u” for “you” or “brb” instead of “be right back”. She would type out complete words and sentences as she’s a grammar and spelling freak. Remember, she got a love letter when she was a little kid she edited it and gave it back to him. You really think that same girl would write a text “tht looks liek ths”?
Here are a few important things to remember/consider about Rachel.
Family: Rachel is an only child so she get’s a lot of attention from her fathers. They spoil her. A lot. She adores them. She has pictures of them with her in her locker and they are her best friends. They support her 112% and were most of the reason why she loves the arts. They will do anything to make her happy even if she doesn’t agree with them at the time. Little things to remember: they don’t go out to eat. None of them can cook. They can’t sew either. They all love singing together on a regular basis. Both Hiram and LeRoy are a bit dramatic, so that is obviously where Rachel got that trait from. As for her mother, Rachel and Shelby will always have a bit of an off relationship. They will definitely grow to be comfortable with each other but if they’re still within Rachel’s high school or college career, there will be some awkwardness. You can tell by the way that Rachel acts that one of the reasons that she is so passionate about theater is to make these three people proud of her.
Dreams: If you’re playing Rachel and you don’t already know about her dreams, I can assure you that she’s not going to be accurate. Rachel’s life revolves around theater. She can relate everything back to a Broadway show. It’s her heart and soul; her passion. She craves applause and stardom more than anything else. She will do anything to achieve her dreams. She will step all over her friends if need be, as she has done it on multiple occasions. Nothing matters more to her than getting her name in lights one day. Make sure that you make that part of her. No matter what it is she’s doing in the end, reaching Broadway should be the main goal.
Religion: Remember that Rachel and her family is Jewish. It’s apart of her life that most RPers seem to leave out. I’m going to tell you to do some research of your own as I have done lots. But, I’ll list a few holidays that you should look up and check out the times of year that way you know when certain holidays are happening: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Purim, and Hanukkah.
Sexuality: Rachel has never specified what her sexuality is. Yes she has only gone out with men from what we know so you may think that she is straight, but I personally don’t think she labels herself. She’s grown up in a, obviously, very open household so she will be very open. I think that she doesn’t label herself, but if you ask her she’ll tell you she’s straight but she will not say that she will never fall in love with a girl. She believes it’s possible. Even Lea Michele has said she would love for Rachel to experiment with her sexuality.
Health/diet: Rachel is very healthy. She wakes up early in the mornings just so she can exercise for an hour or so. Everyday. She’s a vegan. That may not be the healthiest thing in the world, but she definitely will not be found devouring a steak or eating pizza with cheese on it. Make sure you don’t leave little details like that out. If you’re writing a para where she’s at a coffee shop, make sure her coffee has soy milk in it.
Her view of herself: Rachel may seem mostly conceited but underneath it all she has a lot of issues with herself. She tries really hard to get people to like her. She has changed herself multiple times just to get people’s approval. She doesn’t think that she’s an attractive person, either. She almost got a nose job and it took a lot to convince her not to. She does know that she has talent, though. She doesn’t pretend to hide that either. She knows that she is the best when she is the best and when she isn’t she works as hard as possible to be the best. You can say she’s conceited, but I just think she’s proud of herself and passionate. She knows that she is good at the thing she loves and she flaunts it because she thinks that it’s her only redeeming quality.
Now I’m just going to explain a few important things about certain situations and how she would react to them or just important parts of her life.
Arguments: Rachel has the tendency to argue or bicker with others because either they said something and she took it too far or she was being annoying and they got aggravated with her. She can keep her cool for the most part during arguments and just roll her eyes but you have to remember how easily frustrated she get’s. She will storm out or start changing the tone of her voice very quickly if a fight is getting serious or not going her way. Remember that she takes things to heart. If someone is insulting her, she will be hurt and either make an attempt at an insult or get flustered and try to keep fighting her point, whatever it may be. Also, she doesn’t let things go. If a character and her have a fight you should not expect her to forgive them within five minutes. Maybe once a day or so goes by she will forgive them verbally but in her head she’s still holding it against them. She may say sly comments or still get a bit frustrated with them but that will go away after a little while. Even though she may bring up an old fight months later just to throw it into someone’s face. She always get’s the last word in arguments. Even if it’s just “Fine.” she needs the last word. It will just make her even more aggravated if she doesn’t get in one more comment before storming out.
Parties: Rachel Berry is not much of a party person. Yes, she will go to parties but she wouldn’t be the one that is absolutely wasted. If it’s older/college years Rachel, she would definitely have a glass of wine or two but not much more than that. She would get a little drunk time to time, especially if she’s having a bad time and she’s hanging out with her closer friends. She doesn’t feel comfortable at big clubs or parties. It’s just not her scene. She would definitely die for a dueling piano bar or karaoke bar. Or even a small club that’s not too wild. I can even see her enjoying an atmosphere like Coyote Ugly. I just don’t think, unless she’s already a little drunk/tipsy, that she would enjoy a huge clubbing scene. I’m also talking future!Rachel. If we’re talking high school/first few years of college Rachel, she most definitely will not enjoy it. She would hardly drink but again, she may have a glass of wine or two. Just don’t make her a huge party animal because that is really out of character.
Relationships: Rachel is clingy and needy. She wants to get as much as she can out of a relationship. She craves attention from her partner. She’s very romantic and cheesy as well. remember when she made a calendar for Finn? Cheesy as all hell. She wants to be that gross movie relationship. She’s a hopeless romantic. But, she wouldn’t let it get in the way of her future career (no matter how badly Ryan Murphy screwed her up for Finn). If given an ultimatum between her love of Broadway and the person she’s dating, she will most definitely choose Broadway. Rachel can get jealous pretty easily. As we saw with the Finn/Quinn stuff (whether she was jealous of Finn or Quinn..... Is a whole thing that I will not get into). If she thinks the person she’s dating is flirting with someone else, she will do what it takes to get their attention once again. A lot of Rachel’s flaws come out in her relationships, as it does with most people. She values honesty and if they’re not honest with her, they might as well get out of her life now. She’s a very honest person, usually, so she does not want to date someone who can’t give her the same courtesy.
Friendships: Just like with her relationships, Rachel is very clingy. Once someone admits that they’re her friend, she becomes attached very easily. She wants to spend as much time with them as possible. They will probably start thinking she’s pretty annoying, but know that it’s Rachel and they can’t do much about that. She doesn’t make friends very easily, though. She comes off strong or just plain annoying and people are taken aback by that. She is pretty outgoing though, so don’t make it seem as if she doesn’t have friends because she’s anti-social. It’s just because people generally just don’t like her.
And, now for a few of Rachel’s favorite things.
Music: Broadway. Broadway, Broadway, Broadway. I cannot say it enough. If you don’t know much about Broadway and you’re going to play Rachel, time for some research sweetie. It’s most of what she listens to and watches. I see her liking a lot of classics as well. Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra. As for more modern stuff, I can’t see her enjoying One Direction and Justin Beiber (though they made her like him in the show). I can see her listening to Pink or Bruno Mars. Possibly Lana Del Rey or something of that sort. She likes upbeat music, but on a regular basis she mostly will listen to ballads and things. Though if you can’t picture her doing her own performance of Roxie alone in her room, you’re wrong.
Movies: As I said up there, musicals and Broadway. If you’re not really that sure about musicals, educate yourself. Also, here’s a list that I made of my own personal favorites. Bolded are ones that are more Rachel, italicized are one’s with Barbra in them. Whenever Rachel is upset I always say that she’s watching a movie like Gypsy or Singin’ in the Rain or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I can’t see her really being the chick flix kind of person when she’s upset. Though, she most definitely loves her some Rom Coms and any other romantic movie.
Random facts about Rachel. I retain a lot of random information about her so, here, have a list.
She has no gag reflex. I don’t know why this was the first one, but it is.
Her first name she got from Rachel Greene from Friends and her middle name she got from Barbra Streisand, obviously.
She can cry on demand.
Her favorite color is pink.
She’s been practicing Don’t Rain on My Parade since she was two (and so has most theater babies, but that’s not the point).
She only takes pictures from her left side.
She used to teach dance classes.
Two of her dream roles are Evita in Evita and Fanny in Funny Girl.
She wants her children to be brought up in the Jewish faith and have freedom to believe what they want.
Her birthday is December 18, 1994 so she’s a Sagittarius.