What's Going On at Y&R?
In this week's issue of Soap Opera Digest, Maria Arena Bell talks about the recent casting changes at Y&R.
In just the last two months, William Russ was fired as Tucker McCall and Stephen Nichols was hired to take his place, Eden Riegel has been hired to replace Vail Bloom as Heather, and now Marcy Rylan has been snatched up to take over the role of Abby, formerly played by Hayley Erin.
Maria Bell denies that these recent casting decisions have been made to generate publicity for the show. She says that these actors (Nichols, Riegel, Rylan) all have proven track records and they simply fit the roles they were hired for. She also acknowledges that they have loyal fans and she hopes those fans will enjoy seeing their favorite actors working in daytime again.
Maria promises that Heather will be taken in a "new direction" with Riegel in the role. She says Vail Bloom was a great actress, but she thinks Eden Riegel will bring a "different texture" to the character in a very exciting way. "Heather was wronged by Adam in a dramatic way," explains MAB. "We'd like to see her emerge and have her changed by those experiences. This is a great time to take the character in a whole new direction. It may be a tough sell, but I think Eden is going to own this role and be terrific."
Maria says the fact that Eden Riegel and Elizabeth Hendrickson were a popular lesbian couple on All My Children never factored into her decision to hire Riegel. "Eden was a long time coming. She's such a great actress, but I didn't do this with the idea in mind of seeing her in scenes with Elizabeth. They will certainly be playing opposite each other though, as well as other people."
As for the role of Abby, MAB says she loved Hayley Erin, but "it's tricky to tell a sophisticated story with her because she's just a teenager." MAB loves that Abby is half Abbott/half Newman and she promises that Marcy Rylan will encompass the characteristics of both families in a great way. "She will be the catalyst for lots of explosive, great story."
When it comes to Tucker, MAB says it was easier to recast that role because William Russ hadn't been in the role for long before Stephen Nichols took over. She says the audience hadn't grown attached to William Russ so it made the transition much less jarring. The reason for the recast? MAB claims they wanted to make the character more romantic and Stephen was the right man for the job.
With all these casting changes, does this mean we can expect to see even more upheaval in the coming weeks and months on Y&R? "You never know," giggles MAB. "We like to keep you guessing!"
Stay tuned...