Broadway Legend Joined: 6/27/05
Norm looks good but he's wasted in the show.
Dorothy Brock
42nd Street
Updated On: 4/29/08 at 12:43 AM
Javert isn't middle-aged?
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
I always thought he was, and that Triton was a lil past middle aged.
Stand-by Joined: 5/9/05
I don't care if he is black,white, blue, purple, green, yellow, orange, plaid, just let him sing for me. God I love his voice.
Stand-by Joined: 3/12/06
Thanks, Fenchurch...and I'm totally a woman...born one and will definitely die one...
I think that would be a pretty good role for him, personally.
And color blind? Why not. Plus, anybody here watch Men in Trees? They have a black dad with an absolutely white son on that show.
If Norm is cast in this it's because of his talent and ability to do the role and I'm sure he would appreciate that line of thinking. And, yes he is very much aware that he is "middle aged". It happens to the best of us!
One of the best ways to get cast in upcoming projects is to be in the casting loop by being involved in an exisisting show.
I guarantee if I was watching the show, I probably wouldn't give it a thought.
BUT...there's nothing in the script that says Ariel is Triton's biological father. HA! She could be adopted or a result of her mother having an affair with a hot young merstud, which would explain why she feels so different, sad and isolated all the time. That would bring even more compassion to the character. Her mother was probably beheaded for her indiscretions by King Triton the Eighth himself while Ariel looked on at the tender young age of four and it was so emotionally scarring, it caused her to act out in rebellious defiance against the man (I don't believe he's a God at all) who viciously murdered her mother in a public execution and now, FOAnatic, don't you feel ASHAMED?? I demand an apology at once. Read between the lines, people. Ever heard of subtext? GOD!
Well, if all Ariel's sisters are cast with black actresses, then you'll know I'm right and won't you all feel so stupid?
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
Or you don't even have to think about it.
Stand-by Joined: 3/12/06
Mister, Matt, you are soooo uneducated!!!! Haven't you taken Chemistry???? Did you study???? It's possible for someone with a dark-skinned Black Father or mother and a White Mother or Father to have a very fair...even Caucasian-looking child. The child could even grow up to have either brown-skinned children or very-fair/Caucasian-looking children. You need some education, folks!!!!
That'd be awesome if all her sisters were black, making it OBVIOUS that she is adopted or in some way not Triton's daughter, and then of course it is never explained. I just think that'd be great. I can see people at intermission saying, "why are all her sisters and dad black and not her?" "She must be adopted." And then that'd be the end of it. Wonderful.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
Um, TT, it is possible, not very likely but it is possible. It's also not Chemistry, but Biology that plays into this.
And MisterMatt-
I LOVE IT! That was pretty inventive (and a nice use of history).
"Merstud."
I love it.
Understudy Joined: 7/29/05
I agree that it doesn't matter if Triton is black and Ariel is white or vice versa. There have been plenty of times when the mother and/or father is one race and the child is another. For example, Shanice played Eponine in LES MISERABLES on Broadway a while ago, and both her parents were white; on the other hand, there was a black actress playing Madame Thenardier at some point - I don't recall her name - and she had a white Eponine! And that is just one example. I don't think it really matters.
And I'm sure that Ariel's sisters will all be different races anyway!
On a SIMILAR topic, what sometimes DOES bother me is when an actor or director makes the decision to have a non-British European character speak in a British accent - another example just happens to be LES MIS, in which several characters have noticeably British accents and are supposed to be FRENCH! Perhaps such accents don't matter in a "fairytale" place like Oz - the West End version of WICKED is chock-full of British accents - but I think they matter in a period piece like LES MIS. I do understand that these characters wouldn't ordinarily be speaking in ENGLISH to begin with, but I think it's a bit confusing and often unbelievable when they open their mouths and have a thick Cockney accent! Anyone else agree?
And, for the record, race does play a part in LION KING. But that's a whole other story.
Thanks for listening,
Chris
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
ya know, we beat the dead horse into the ground, turned it into glue, and apparently we are now going to make macaroni art. oy.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
I have to admit I am completely agog that this conversation is even taking place, much less how long it has gone on.
The 'believable or not' genetic traits of MERMAIDS (Oh, I'm sorry, merPEOPLE)?!?!? Give me and everyone else a break!
Macaroni Midler!
-Kramer Reference
-Come to think of it, I bet he (Michael Richards)would have a problem with Norm being cast. I don't FYI
-End of stream of consciousness.
TT - That is simply too far-fetched.
"there was a black actress playing Madame Thenardier at some point - I don't recall her name"
That would be the obscenely talented and underrated Fuschia Walker. Her Effie in Dreamgirls rivals that of Jennifer Holliday, for whom she understudied for years.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
"there's nothing in the script that says Ariel is Triton's biological father."
Well, you most certainly are right about that.
Yea for Norm. He can do no wrong.
Now wouldn't it be something if Ursula were Ariel's mother. And that's why Triton banished her - because she was an adulterer!
Gives a new meaning to Ursula using black magic.
Updated On: 2/8/07 at 12:41 PM
Now wouldn't it be something if Ursula were Ariel's mother.
Incest is best, roll your own!
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
Yes. Or...was Triton Ursula's brother? Or was he her brother.
Turns out THE LITTLE MERMAID raises some very literary questions that will hopefully be answered by the heelies.
Plus, it makes sense they cast Norm Lewis. And how else would you explain the newly written duet between Ursula and Triton called "A Purple Squid and a Black Merman Made a White Mermaid (or TAIL AND ASS for short)?"
We're all forgetting the most important question:
Can black people skate? It wasn't a task on Survivor, so I don't know.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
3rd rung of hell? Hi, I need a table for 8...thanks.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
Hell: "Sorry, the Republican primary has us booked solid for a year"
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