Is Finding Nemo - The Musical "Live" singing, or a tape?

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

wasn't there a point in time where ALL roles, including females, were played by males?

Yes.

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo.

Oh Hi Steve.

IT'S JULIET YOU GIT!!!!!!

Originally Posted by dqpowell View Post
It's not a "huge deal." Who said it was?

Yeah. You just come and argue like crazy because it's not a huge deal.

A female can't play a male role as well as a male because, well, she's a female.

Any female can play any role be it male or female, animal, vegatable, or mineral better than Sylvester Stalone.

 

[bradk]

Any female can play any role be it male or female, animal, vegatable, or mineral better than Sylvester Stalone.

true. jessica alba would make one hot piece of brass.

although in fairness, you didn't mention alloys.

 

[goofy4tink]

Okay....so here's the thing...I had a huge crush on Peter Pan as a child. Imagine my distress when I found out that Peter was a 'she', not a 'he'!! Guess Mary Martin did a passable job. So.....people are getting distracted by Nemo's being played by a 'girl'..perhaps rather than talking about 'my son', it should be 'my kid'? Come on people...this is WDW!!! There are larger than life sized mice running around, cavorting with larger than life dogs and ducks! There are former mermaids turned into princesses talking to our dd's.
This is theater....dispense with reality and let it all go. Did you people think those were real chimps rollar skating in 'Tarzan Rocks'??

As someone has already said..the fish are talking and cavorting. Can a woman play a man and vice versa? Sure. Can it be done to perfection? Probably not. But as an actor myself I have seen many, many fine performances that have crossed the gender line. It's not about perfection. If it were all about perferction and realism, then there would be no room for paintings, or other 'fine arts'. We would deal only with photographs...perfectly depicting what we have seen. Blah! Give me some imperfection, thank-you very much.

 

[88Keys]

Having a woman playing a boy's part seems to be a time-honored tradition, all the way back to Mary Martin playing Peter Pan!

There is a VERY long tradition of woman playing boys in theater/opera. Often in operas (including the great ones of Mozart) woman would fill "pants role" -- where woman would play young boys, couriers, etc. Check out a video of the Marriage of Figaro -- the young boy lead is played by a girl.

Women playing young men in theater/opera is not an uncommon practice (and, oh yes, the guy playing Richard the Third is not a king)

 

[Robo]

There is a VERY long tradition of woman playing boys in theater/opera. Often in operas (including the great ones of Mozart) woman would fill "pants role" -- where woman would play young boys, couriers, etc. Check out a video of the Marriage of Figaro -- the young boy lead is played by a girl.

Women playing young men in theater/opera is not an uncommon practice (and, oh yes, the guy playing Richard the Third is not a king)

Give up, Maestro.

This thread has gotten WAY past logical historical information.

Its all about FEELINGS, don't you get it?

 

[TDC Nala]

Okay....so here's the thing...I had a huge crush on Peter Pan as a child. Imagine my distress when I found out that Peter was a 'she', not a 'he'!! Guess Mary Martin did a passable job.

Have you seen "The Crying Game?"

 

[Robo]

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo.

Oh Hi Steve.

IT'S JULIET YOU GIT!!!!!!

Did everyone see the film "Shakespeare in Love"?

Very entertaining!

 

[Ariel Mae]

I was just pointing out that Jaye Davidson played the role of a man 'pretending' to be a woman quite well, but that despite his feminine features, I don't think he would have been a good choice to play Clarise Starling or Hermoine Granger.

If Emma Watson were put up against a male actor better than her, I don't see why he wouldn't have gotten the part. If he could put on a wig and makeup and pull it off, in the end, it's not about the look, it's about the acting.

Any female can play any role be it male or female, animal, vegatable, or mineral better than Sylvester Stalone.

*laughing*

There is a VERY long tradition of woman playing boys in theater/opera. Often in operas (including the great ones of Mozart) woman would fill "pants role" -- where woman would play young boys, couriers, etc. Check out a video of the Marriage of Figaro -- the young boy lead is played by a girl.

Women playing young men in theater/opera is not an uncommon practice (and, oh yes, the guy playing Richard the Third is not a king)

Nope, wrong! Women cannot play men!

Look, here's the problem. Anything that pulls the viewer out of the story is a flaw, however minor.

And, yet, we're only seeing one or two viewers effected by this issue...leading me to believe this is a quite uncommon factor, and it is quite irrelevant.

You are the one who brings it up that the children shouldn't notice and the fact that they ask about it means there is some sort of problem with the show, apparently. Kids don't understand that sort of casting - the way they see the world is "That's a girl and that's a boy" - and it's a chance to explain it to them since they will learn about theater that way. It made sense to me to have a female in the part but I was familiar with the Peter Pan thing.

Kids don't know, nor care, if it's a female or a male character. What they care about is their imagination. What they care about is the movie. "Nemo's been found!" over "Nemo's voice sounds funny."

I'm trying to figure out how somebody up here didn't know Nemo was a boy fish when Marlin spends half the film yelling "Where's my son?"

He only asks such twice. "Have you seen my son?" "My son, Nemo." But if you're not listening to his questions, and you're paying attention to the search, it's really not that big a deal. The movie is about a father and his child. The gender really didn't matter.

It's not a "huge deal." Who said it was?

Erm, you?

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm reading a transcript of the movie online. I'm only to the part where Dory gets directions from the school of silver fish. Marlin has mentioned about 20 times that Nemo is his son. But that's neither here nor there I suppose.

 

[dqpowell]

And, yet, we're only seeing one or two viewers effected by this issue...leading me to believe this is a quite uncommon factor, and it is quite irrelevant.

It's not uncommon. I asked my wife and mother-in-law, both much bigger Peter Pan fans than I, the following question tonight: "When you first saw Peter Pan, did you realize the character was played by a woman?" The answer, in both cases, was yes. And they were both briefly distracted by it. My wife elaborated: "She just didn't seem like a boy. She came across as a 'tough' girl, like a tomboy."

My mother-in-law added: "When I saw the play as a child, I realized why they got a small girl to play the role - because they swung her out over the audience during the flight sequences, and they needed somebody small and lightweight."

Okay, so there are two more. And I know others that have commented on it in the past. It's not as rare as you'd like to convince people it is.

Kids don't know, nor care, if it's a female or a male character.

If this were true, kids wouldn't ask the question.

He only asks such twice. "Have you seen my son?" "My son, Nemo." But if you're not listening to his questions, and you're paying attention to the search, it's really not that big a deal. The movie is about a father and his child. The gender really didn't matter.

As somebody else has pointed out already, you're absolutely wrong about that. He says "my son" dozens of times in the movie.

Erm, you?

No. Again, I never said it was a huge deal. But if people are going to continually ask me about it, I'm going to continually answer. My comments on this thread have not been an attempt to change anybody's thinking about this. It has been a continual attempt to be understood, even if you don't agree.

David

 

[Aimeedyan]

I am another that got fixated on the fact that Peter Pan was being played by a woman and not a boy. As a child. With a great imagination. But I wasn't blind Just to add to the number LOL.

(btw - Ariel Mae is a teenager, which explains some of the conversations above)

And I for one can't wait to see Nemo on my trip in August! I've heard great things about it.

 

[Scoobmuzic]

Ugh, it was all live. I think I am probably the only person in the known universe who absolutely hated the show. I say, BRING BACK TARZAN! I love the music from Tarzan (mostly because Phil Collins is awesome ) and about had a melt-down when I found out it was being replaced. I think we have enough Nemo.

Nope... DH absolutly hated it. He said the same thing BRING BACK TARZAN!
I had to hear about how much he hated it for about 1/2 hour after we saw it I thought it was kind of cute.

 

[happy2go2wdwmom]

"NEMO!........NEMO!.......NEMO!!!"

Come on. Bring back Tarzan? Really?!! Really, really? Compared to the new Nemo musical? The 6-pack, rollerblading Tarzan show was so much fun, granted, but puhlease---set aside for a moment that this is a Broadway worthy (a new WDW classic) musical--the set and special effects alone make Tarzan look like a mere chimp.

Isn't liking Disney musicals a prerequisite for enjoying the world anyway?

I guess, "They Tarzan. Me Nemo." OH dear, I am thinking of your spouses watching the High School Musical show at MGM!!!

I thought the actress who plays Nemo did a fantastic job, BTW---!

 

[88Keys]

Give up, Maestro.

This thread has gotten WAY past logical historical information.

Its all about FEELINGS, don't you get it?

But I wanted to show off my arcane knowledege of Mozartian opera (sigh).

I stopped using it as "pick-up material" in bars long ago.

 

[Robo]

But I wanted to show off my arcane knowledege of Mozartian opera (sigh). I stopped using it as "pick-up material" in bars long ago.

I'm scratching it off MY list, even as we speak.


How's about tellin' them hot chickies about Renaissance musical idioms?

Does that get ya dated-up on Saturday night?

 

[88Keys]

How's about tellin' them hot chickies about Renaissance musical idioms?

Absolutely! A gal knows that I am interested in her if I start discussing the differences between a krumhorn and a sackbut -- it really is fascinating!

 

[amy4bruce]

Ahem. Someone has already mentioned this, but I thought I'd repeat it. Peter Pan has always been played by a woman on stage (back in the original production in the West End forward) because the equipment that allows Peter to fly can only handle so much weight. In the mid 1960s, Bob Holiday flew on stage as Superman, but he only flew off and on. A shadow crossing the stage represented his flying. Obviously, Peter, Wendy, Michael and John (usually played by children) have to be much lighter.

I took my nephews, in the 1980s, to see Cathy Rigby play Peter on Broadway. Frankly, she was superb because, as an athlete, she had studied body language, and caught the body language of a little boy correctly. Neither of my nephews cared that she was a woman.

Somebody asked us to name a movie in the last 50 years where a woman successfully played a man? The Year of Living Dangerously, in which Linda Hunt received an Oscar for doing that. A man plays a woman? Hairspray. Divine was totally convincing, especially when you consider that it wasn't the only role he played, and the other role was a man. I've seen the trailer for the new musical, and John Travolta looks totally convincing.