Casting Coup: Wicked

My favorite blog put up a challenge yesterday. Nathaniel was on his way out to see Wicked for the second time, and he asked his faithful readers to consider options for, as he put it, "the inevitable movie version." Indeed, I responded to him then and there, but I felt it necessary to allow my own readers in on this.

If you know me in real life (and I have a suspicion that most of my readership does), you know Wicked thrills me not at all. I have been told that it needs to be seen to be appreciated, that the emotion of seeing it played before you takes over and sweeps you along with it. This could be so. I have, after all, heard nothing but glowing reviews from people who have seen the show. But the music, man...I just don't care for it. "One Short Day", the Wizard's songs, "No Good Deed", "The Wizard and I"...ugh. They bother the shit out of me.

You're more than welcome to disagree. Hell, I own Mamma Mia! and one of my favorite all-time musicals is Xanadu (the movie!). Either way, it would be remiss of me to miss out on an opportunity like this. I know so many people that love the show. It's a Tony-winning musical. People love it. There must be something to it, right?

And so, knowing full well that a movie is already in the works fr a planned 2010 release, I'm ready to ride this pony and give you some suggestions of my own. Because sometimes, looking at how a non-fan perceives things can be fun.


DOCTOR DILLAMOND
Who is He: An Animal who teaches at Shiz, the University attended by Elphaba and Galinda. As a goat, he is under some pressure: the last Animal permitted to teach at Shiz, a number of Animals have lost their jobs and ability to speak. Dillamond is next on the chopping block as the Animal Suppression Act gains strength.

Song: Something Bad


Originally played by:

William Youmans

My Choice: SAG Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actor (Waking Ned Devine) and Best Ensemble (Waking Ned Devine)

David Kelly (Laws of Attraction, Stardust)
Sometimes, I don't feel I have to explain myself.


BOQ
Who is He: A Munchkin, smitten with Galinda, but forced to remain with Nessarose. Winds up as the Tin Woodsman.

Songs: Dancing Through Life, March of the Witch Hunters


Originally played by: Tony Award Nominee for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Young Frankenstein)

Christopher Fitzgerald

My Choice:

Josh Peck (The Wackness, Mean Creek)
It's so hard to do this when all you know is the music and a general understanding of the plot. From the picture and what I can ascertain, given that he winds up with a cripple and then a Tin Man, I am going to say that Boq is kind of a dork? Is that right? I don't know, Josh Peck has done musical theater, so here he is.


NESSAROSE
Who is She: Elphaba's sister, bound to a wheelchair. Elphaba takes care of her, but Nessa is also embarrassed by her. Falls for Boq, then becomes governor of Munchkinland and the Wicked Witch of the East.

Songs: Dancing Through Life, The Wicked Witch of the East


Originally played by:

Michelle Federer

My Choice: SAG Award Nominee for Best Ensemble (Into the Wild)

Kristen Stewart (Twilight, Panic Room)
Something clicked. I don't quite know why this works in my head, but it does.


FIYERO
Who is He: A prince, and a rebel! At first attracted to Galinda, he later falls for Elphaba, a result of his arc from self-centered to open-minded. Turned into the Scarecrow to protect him from severe beatings.

Songs: Dancing Through Life, As Long As You're Mine



Originally played by: Tony Award Winner for Best Actor in a Musical (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)

Norbert Leo Butz

My Choice: SAG Award Nominee for Best Ensemble (Hairspray)

Elijah Kelley (28 Days, the upcoming Red Tails)
Talented, young, and studly. Could totally nail that transition. Besides, I think we all want to see him in another musical.


MADAME MORRIBLE
Who is She: Headmistress of Shiz University, she's the real villain of the piece. Morrible is in cahoots with the Wizard to repress Animals. She can control the weather.

Songs: The Wizard and I, Thank Goodness


Originally played by: Tony Award Winner for Best Actress in a Play (The Elephant Man)

Carole Shelley

My Choice: Academy Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Manchurian Candidate), BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Death on the Nile), Golden Globe Winner for Best Supportng Actress (The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Manchurian Candidate)

Angela Lansbury (Anastasia, Nanny McPhee)
Number One: Angela can sing. Two: This is the type of role she used to OWN with an iron fist. Number Three: See those two films listed beside her name? Those are last two feature films she was in. We've been Lansbury-less since 2005. It's time.


THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ
Who is He: At first, he seems to be a fatherly sort of chap, a sentimental man who, without children, has instead adopted all of Oz as his kids. But no, instead he's more of a dictator, secretly oppressing the Animals of Oz. There's also a secret bond between him and Elphaba.

Songs: A Sentimental Man, Wonderful


Originally played by: Tony Award Winner for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Cabaret)

Joel Grey

My Choice: Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actor (Cabaret)

Joel Grey (Dancer in the Dark, Choke)
Well, okay, I do like it when an Original Broadway cast reprises their roles for the movie. However, Idina and Kristin and the rest are too old to play the same roles on-screen. We're dealing with close-ups, after all. Carole Shelley as Mme. Morrible? People, we need marquee value -- Angela appeals to theatre queens and old people. Ah, but Joel Grey! Oscar-winner, the oldies remember him, he is a legend among the theatre lovers. Yeah, Joel Grey! Perfect! Ooh, and remember when he talked to Josh Brolin at the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor? Fun times.


GALINDA/GLINDA
Who is She: Beautiful and ambitious, Galinda is Elphaba's unikely roommate at Shiz. They do not get along, as Galinda is perky and seems superficial and vain. The two eventually become friends, but Galinda's status-seeking, and the triangle involving Fiyero, threatens to estrange them.

Songs: No One Mourns the Wicked, What Is This Feeling?, Dancing Through Life, Popular, One Short Day, Defying Gravity, Thank Goodness, I'm Not That Girl (Reprise), For Good


Originally played by: Tony Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown)

Kristin Chenoweth

My Choice: SAG Award Nominee for Best Ensemble (Hairspray)

Brittany Snow (John Tucker Must Die, Prom Night)
Perky, beautiful, and blonde. We know she can play the social climber, for what was Amber Van Tussle but a little hussy on her way to sleeping to the top? Galinda/Glinda is a character with more depth, though, and Snow could show what a great actress she truly is.


ELPHABA
Who is She: The green-skinned gal of Shiz. She has amazing magical abilities, and Mme. Morrible and the Wizard soon take advantage of this. She is rivals and friends with Galinda, and beloved of Fiyero. After rebelling against the Wizard, she is soon branded a Wicked Witch...of the West!

Songs: The Wizard and I, What Is This Feeling?, Something Bad, Dancing Through Life, I'm Not That Girl, The Wizard and I (Reprise), One Short Day, Defying Gravity, The Wicked Witch of the East, Wonderful, As Long As You're Mine, No Good Deed, For Good


Originally played by: Tony Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical (Wicked)

Idina Menzel

My Choice: Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress in a Drama (Thirteen), SAG Award Nominee for Best Actress (Thirteen)

Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler, Across the Universe)
Her performance in The Wrestler impressed me, and I already know she can sing. Can she sing like Idina? No, and thank God. What this role could bring are memories of earlier promise.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Best Actress: Brittany Snow, Evan Rachel Wood
Best Supporting Actor: Joel Grey, Elijah Kelley, Josh Peck
Best Supporting Actress: Angela Lansbury, Kristen Stewart

Casting Coup: Sleeping Beauty

A looooong time ago, I allowed readers on my livejournal page to recommend books, plays, movies, etc., to me as possible subjects for future Casting Coups. Well, three--count them--THREE people requested live action casting coups of Disney Animated movies. Amanda suggested it, Becca seconded it (though she specified a very different film from this one), and Raye gave a late but enthusiastic concurment.

There are a large number of Disney movies out there, many of which are based on books and fairy tales. Fairy tales, of course, come in all shapes and sizes, all colors and creeds, all languages and dialects. There's the Egyptian Cinderella (old fairy tale), the Dutch Little Mermaid (original source), and the Native American Snow White (HBO revisionist telling). I looked up various Wikipedia articles, trying to find the most traditional telling of the most popular tales.

Then I realized how stupid that was and cast the damn movies themselves.

But still, which ones do I actually present? My favorite Disney flick is The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, but a casting coup for that is better suited to the original, fleshed-out ensemble piece that is Victor Hugo's novel. Mulan is a damn good one, but it's very recent; besides, there's already a live-action version in the works. On to the princesses, then. Aladdin--no, I do not know of many Middle Eastern actors, and it's better to steer clear than to give offense. The Little Mermaid would be fun, but it's underwater. Beauty and the Beast...hm...I'll give it some thought. And, of course, Snow White and Cinderella have been done to death.

And then I remembered what my second favorite Disney film of all time was. And who my favorite Disney character is. And the Disney princess I most want to take to dinner.
KING HUBERT
Who is He: Hubert is the portly king of the Neighboring Kingdom, the father of Prince Philip. He is rather optimistic, and enjoys fine wine (lots of it) and big-ass turkey legs. When the going gets trivial, Hubert is willing to fight it out, but only with non-deadly weapons like fish.


Originally voiced by: Disney regular Bill Thompson (White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, the original Droopy)

My Choice: This is the least-known face in the bunch, at least over here. But this fine actor has proved to me, in various Mystery! programs and a drag queen comedy, that he is the modern equivalent to King Hubert.


Robert Pugh (Marple: A Murder is Announced, Kinky Boots)


KING STEFAN
Who is He: The king of the Fair Kingdom, Stefan finds himself blessed with the birth of his daughter and cursed with her sixteen-year absence. He wishes for Aurora's safe return, and for her to marry Philip, but he certainly has more than a few doubts. Having known Maleficent for some time, he is not as optimistic as Hubert.

By the way, here's King Stefan:

And here's St. King Stefan of Decani, of the Serbian Orthodox Church


Hm.
Originally voiced by: 81-year-old Taylor Holmes (the original Father of the Bride, Mr. Esmond in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)

My Choice: I have an image here. The Neighboring Kingdom is England, and the Fair Kingdom is America. You know, the place with the hotter chicks. Naturally, the king will be American, and look great with a beard.



Academy Award Nominee Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights, Sharky's Machine)


THE FAIRIES
Who Are They: Three magical spinsters who hide Aurora away as Briar Rose in a peasant's cabin in the woods. Flora, the leader, is older, wiser, redder, and practical. She grants Aurora beauty. Fauna, the thin one, is bright and bubbly and a little ditzy. She grants Aurora a beautiful voice. Merryweather, the fat one, is hot-tempered, and also knows what looks best on the Princess. She grants Aurora the chance to sleep rather than die from Maleficent's evil magic. I bet if that curse hadn't come along, she would've granted the girl some (Metaphorical) balls. The chick sleeps through half the flick.


Originally voiced by: (l to r) Verna Felton (Queen of Hearts in Alice, Wilma's mom on The Flintstones), comedienne Barbara Jo Allen (The Women, The Opposite Sex), Barbara Luddy (Kanga, the titular Lady from Lady and the Tramp)

My Choices: To go along with this theme I have in mind, I've chosen three representatives from three different countries. Flora will be played by an American:


Hollmann Awards presenter Betty White (Lake Placid, Bringing Down the House)

Fauna will be played by a Canadian:


Catherine O'Hara (Home Alone, For Your Consideration)

Merryweather will be played by a Brit:


Comedienne Dawn French (TV's The Vicar of Dibley, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)


PRINCE PHILIP
Who is He: The fuckingest Disney prince ever. Philip sings, rides horses, dresses like a cardinal (my favorite bird), woos women by using their own words, trolls the woods looking for booty, and plunges swords into dragon witches. DRAGON. WITCHES.




Originally voiced by: Bill Shirley, who dubbed Jeremy Brett in My Fair Lady, which means that his voice you heard yesterday singing "On the Street Where You Live". Also, David Beckham payed Philip in the Disney Dreams ad, and David Beckham is fucking a Spice Girl. Philip. Fucking. Rocks.

My Choice: I've seen him do hero: job well done. And he looks like a Philip, a dashing ladies' man, man's man, and man about town.


Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Stardust)


MALEFICENT
Who is She: An evil fairy who lives atop her gloomy castle atop a gloomy mountain, where her gloomy crow (or raven?) orders her gloomy trolls to do her bidding. She can also turn into a dragon. She curses Aurora to prick her finger on a spinning wheel on her 16th birthday...AND DIE! Why? Well, to be honest, it's because she didn't get an invitation to the party. Seriously. Maleficent is one bitch you don't want to fuck with.


Originally voiced by: Eleanor Audley (Madame Leota on The Haunted Mansion ride in Disneyland, Cinderella's wicked stepmother)

My Choice: One kingdom is British, the other American. The fairies represent good Anglo-Saxon blood: British, American, and Canadian. Yet, though the Canadians share a continent with us, and were a British colony, there is another language they speak: French! And to balance it all out, a wonderful French actress who can bring on both the doom and the sex!


Academy Award Nominee Catherine Deneuve (Indochine, 8 Women)


AURORA/BRIAR ROSE
Who is She: Sleeping Beauty. Cursed as a child, she is raised as Briar Rose by the three fairies in a peasant's hut in the woods. Unaware of who he is, she falls in love with Philip (the very man to whom she is betrothed!). She pricks her finger on the damn wheel and slips into a coma. Philip awakens her with true love's first kiss. She also happens to be a first-class Hottie.


Originally voiced by: Opera singer Mary Costa

My Choice: I wanted to go with an American beauty who could pass for sixteen. Blonde, preferably, since for many, that is the image of perfect beauty. And someone who would look damn good whether she was decked out or scrubbin' it.


Brittany Snow (John Tucker Must Die, Hairspray)

Is all well? Or does one of these choices unsettle you in some way? Write. Respond. Play.