Van der Pol Pol for me.
Just for fun, I've been keeping tallies of the favorite Belle's...because I have no life. A lot of them are ties, because people have more than one favorite!
So far, its:
Ann Sanders-1
Andrea McArdle- 2
Anneliese Van der Pol-5
Sarah Uriarte (sp?) Berry-1
Ashley Brown-3
Megan McGinnis- 2
Jennifer Hope Willis- 1
Sarah Litzsinger- 1
Deborah Lew- 1
Kerry Butler- 1 (and a half, because she was such a good Belle offstage as well)
I did not like van der Pol either!
My favourites: Deborah Lew & Christina DeCicco, of our Walnut Street Theatre here in Philly (some may remember her as Glinda in the Wicked National Tour).
I saw her in AIDA and she was fabulous in it.
Understudy Joined: 6/19/08
I also saw her in AIDA and she stunk, her voice was shot and the people in front of us booed her at curtain call.
Ouch.
She was better in Aida than she was in Beauty and the Beast, and she wasn't the worst Aida I saw (that would be Michelle T. Williams). However, she wasn't great, and I didn't like hearing the songs sung in a lower key.
"I can't believe they tried to make her Belle more sassy and sexy. Do they not get the whole point of the role?"
Unfortunately I have watched many directors do this to African American actresses. I wouldn't call Toni Braxton an actress, but this Sassy Belle thing is an example of directors doing this.
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