Ursula - What If?- Page 2

[Elphie3]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 10:20am

Mary Testa! Please~

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 11:54am

ljay-

I love your suggestion of Debra Monk, she'd be wonderful!

Glad to see all the love for Mary Testa. She and Lainie Kazan are two actresses I mentioned I'd love to see when the show was announced and casting hadn't begun yet.

While maybe a little older than many would want, the perfect Ursula for me would have been Carole Shelley. She's a brilliant actress who'd bring a sincere thespian edge to the role. But more basically, take her Madame Morrible in Wicked (really extraordinary character work in a part that could have slipped under the radar) and add a little of Ursula's sass and sarcasm, slip some tentacles onto the bustles she was already wearing, and Shelley would bring an Ursula that evokes what we know and love from the film/Pat Carroll, but still stands on her own. IMHO.

[Elphie68]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 12:03pm

H.Higgins,

I enjoy Carole Shelley as well and I think your comment was spot on.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 12:04pm

There is an actress at the Denver Center named Kathy Brady.

She would be perfect for this part!

I'm sure anyone from Denver can back me on this.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 12:21pm

* Elphie68-

Thank you! It's nice to know you agree!


* TheatreDiva-

I just did a little "googling" on Ms. Brady. Judging by the photo I saw of her as Domina in Forum, she looks like an excellent choice for the role! Do you know what other roles she's done?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 12:54pm

I did Gypsy with her years ago, and I still use her performance as Rose to judge others by.

She has a LOOOONG resume. I just saw her a couple years ago as Madam Arcati (sp?) in 'Blithe Spirit' and she was perfect.

She is SO talented!

[MisterRussell]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 1:48pm

Lainie Kazan

[MungoGypsy8232]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 4:52pm

Sondhead...even trained singers have throat problems...take Donna Murphy for example.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 4:55pm

Will no one cast Harvey Fierstein in this role????

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:07pm

On topic, I think Sara would be perfect, but I also pictured Debra Monk when they first started talking about bringing the show.

Off the main topic, but commenting on an earlier discussion because, darn it... it's Sara. :)

Sara Ramirez has said that she fully intends to come back to Broadway at some point. She bought a home in LA and does have a contract with Grey's, but that doesn't really mean anything concrete. They can be written out or choose to go.

And while she did have terrible throat problems during Spamalot, it was her first role of that size and it is quite demanding vocally. I don't know that she would ever take such a demanding role again.

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:21pm

lilias white

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:23pm

How quaint that people here believe that Saaaara's absences were all vocal health related.

I guess that's why Mike Nichols came down to the theatre personally to have a "discussion" with Saaaaara about her absences. Interesting. Shortly after the "discussion," Saaaara left the show.

I guess those darn vocal problems also made some of her leading cast memebers say they would never work her again.

Damn voice problems. They ruin everything!

[zooxanthellae]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:24pm

Will no one cast Harvey Fierstein in this role????


I was about to say the same thing!

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:29pm

For some reason I was expecting this thread to be about Ursula being played by a man.


Emily Skinner Emily Skinner Emily Skinner.

Still kind of bitter she didn't get it.

Tell her not to f*ck up with Disney again.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:30pm

Mr. Tuttle, I had only ever heard vocal issues as the reason behind Sara's absences. I don't have any insider info, so I just go by what I read. What were the real reasons? The timing of ABCs offer must have been perfect. You can't really beat a "pick a show" for an arc offer.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:33pm

I saw Sherie Rene Scott and I thought she did a FABULOUS job without looking exactly like the animated version...

though I would kill to see Emily Skinner for that role...

J*

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:35pm

When I first heard they were doing TLM, I thought of Chita immediately for Ursula. She doesn't fit the original character drawings at all, I know, but can't you imagine her "Poor Unfortuante Souls"?

[zepka102]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:46pm

Watching Sherie perform the role (perfectly I might add), all I (and who I was with) could think of in the role is:

Elaine Paige

Short, but come on... she'd sing the hell out of it!

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:50pm

In a weird way, I can hear Chita singing POOR UNFORTUNATE SOULS and sounding damn good.

[Elphie68]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:50pm

jatstarr: Word! This part would have been pwned by Ms. Emily Skinner.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 9:55pm

Yeah Jersey. Sure. Mike Nichols came all the way down to the theatre to "discuss" Greys. Yeah...that's it.

Believe what you will.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 10:00pm

I never suggested the two were related. I just said her ABC offer came at a good time. I asked you honestly what the deal really was because I have never heard anything else.

[truman]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 10:44pm

Sara Ramirez as Ursula...I could totally see that.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 11:21pm

roz ryan would be perfect, she's got the humor down, one hell of a voice, and has worked with disney before (she's one of the muses in hercules)

[Boq101]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 12:10am

Julia Murney, because I said so.