Actress wants to play Ariel

[yougottaloveariel]

An Actress named Diana Huey wants to play Ariel  which she does but is criticized                                             she is Aisian

Found it on www.huffingtonpost.com     She claims Ariel (Assuming she WAS a real person) would not stand for this

[merprincess]

Alright, here are my thoughts on this. Diana Huey is a really talented performer, she's got a wonderful voice and acts as Ariel really well! I think for the stage, Ariel doesn't have to look exactly the way she's been drawn. Sure you've got your hallmark characteristics, the red hair (which is always a wig, even if the actress is a natural red head), bright eyes, youthful glow, chipper smile, beautiful voice, maybe a slimmer body (another thing I don't think is an automatic requirement, but it would help to be on the slimmer side especially since Ariel has to be able to perform up in the air aerially in this show), but I think skin color shouldn't have to automatically bar people from playing her if they fit every other category. It's a shame that there are people out there who can't see that. HOWEVER, and this is a big however, if you were casting Ariel for the Disney Parks, then and ONLY THEN would you have to be really specific about how she is portrayed, because at the Parks you are literally meeting the character brought to life from the cartoon and they are ultra specific on how casting goes for that. It's a big no-no to even consider that there are actresses playing the Disney Princesses instead of the real deals before you, like these characters are ALWAYS in costume and ALWAYS in character. But on stage, you're only your character when you're onstage, so there can be some flexibility. Just like how in Frozen both in the pre-Broadway Denver production and Live at the Hyperion in California, they have been casting color-blind, which I think is great! If you can sing and perform the role and are the best fit, you should be able to play that role. Ariel to me isn't a race-specific role, it's not like Hans Christian Andersen sat down to write this story and said the mermaid must have white skin because there's no specific reason in the story to justify her having any specific skin tone (in fact, she didn't even have red hair until the Disney version, and that's only because Disney was going to make her blonde but it would've confused audiences since Splash already had a blonde mermaid). There are stories where you need to get the race right, like Mulan has to be Chinese because it's a big part of her story, and stories where race isn't specified and can be altered, like how there are so many different versions of Cinderella and never in the original version was it deemed necessary for her to be white, so you have many many ethnic and multicultural versions of Cinderella (like Brandy who played Cinderella in the TV version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella alongside Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, which is one of my favorite versions of the story!). But the difference between stage/film and full on lookalike positions is that after a stage show or after filming, you get out of the costume for meet and greets with audience and you aren't in-character. The audience knows you're a performer and they can separate you from your character, they'll usually say something like "You were so great as [your character]!", and you don't have to answer as the character since you're not in costume. At the Parks, when you're out and about, if you're presenting yourself to an audience then absolutely you're always in costume and always in character and need to respond as such. Cast members can roam the parks outside of costume, but it's rare for them to get recognized by guests, and if someone were to ask a non-costumed person "Hey, aren't you Ariel?", the performer would have to say something like "No, Ariel is Ariel!" or "Oh I'm only friends with Ariel, we hang out from time to time" and then move on. Disney Parks audiences shouldn't be pointing out that you're just an actress in a costume, and they are usually good sports about it and will ask you stuff about your story like if you're Ariel they'll say "Where's Flounder?", "How's Melody doing?", "Have you visited your father and sisters lately?", "What was the last date you and Eric went on?", and so on.

So there's my hot take on that! I absolutely will support color blind casting for stage and I'm always ready to stand alongside Diana Huey! You should check out their tour of The Little Mermaid if it's coming to a theater near you!
Tickets available here: www.ticketmaster.com/Disneys-The-Little-Mermaid-tickets/artist/1127692

[buckmana]

As long as they agree to wear the red wig and can sing, I'm cool with whoever they cast!
I think general physical strength/fitness would be a necessity as well, if they're doing an aquatic production, since it will require swimming.

I thought they decided on red for Ariel because blonde was too hard to depict in the low light scenes.

[yougottaloveariel]

IN the Broadway show Triton was a Black man Start to finish Ariel's sisters were a mix of Black Latina Asian and one of the boys who played Flounder was black