[MouseMan]

Will American Idol Fave Diana DeGarmo Be Beauty and the Beast's Next Belle?
by Cara Joy David: Broadway.com

Will American Idol's Diana DeGarmo be Broadway's next Belle? Broadway.com has learned that Disney Theatricals is looking to have the singer headline Beauty and the Beast on the Great White Way.


DeGarmo, the 17-year-old runner-up on last season's American Idol, is best known for her rendition of "Don't Cry Out Loud." After her run in the series ended, she embarked on a tour with the other American Idol finalists. She has also been concentrating on her recording career--RCA Records released her first solo CD, Blue Skies, in December 2004.


Under the guidance of her mother, DeGarmo started pursuing an entertainment career at a very young age. As a child, she performed one summer at Music Mansion in the Dollywood Amusement Park in Tennessee. She was then invited back to perform in the park's 1997 Christmas show. She also opened at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards in 1997. A year later, she performed with Mike Snider and Steve Wariner on The Nashville Network's Christmas special. She has opened for The Baja Men, Pam Tillis, Diamond Rio, Trace Adkins, Tracy Byrd, Billy Dean, Toby Keith, Ty Herndon, Delbert McClinton, Dolly Parton and the Opry singers. Her previous mucial theatre
credits include mountings of Annie and Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta


DeGarmo would not be the first American Idol veteran to come to Broadway. Idol alum Frenchie Davis is currently performing in Rent, and Tamyra Gray, who appeared in the first season of the hit reality show, stepped into Bombay Dreams late last year. (Another first season alum, Justin Guarini, was announced for the cast of Good Vibrations, but he withdrew from the project during rehearsals.)

Beauty and the Beast currently stars Brooke Tansley as Belle and Steve Blanchard as the Beast. A production spokesperson could not confirm the casting of DeGarmo.

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[MouseMan]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnn................

[lizziemcguire76]

I think Diana has an amazing voice and would probably portray belle beautifully

[Stitchwink]

Diana as Belle? wow I'm both an AI fan and a dsiney fan and right now i don't know how I should feel about this sicne Ic ame from a message board where everyone hated Diana. She has a great voice though, she can soooo sing all the B&B songs

[MouseMan]

Unfortunately there's a new song in the score, that is not on the original cast recording, in the second act for Belle called "A Change In Me". Most "stunt-cast self-titled pop divas" tend to scat and bellow their way through it and totally obliterate the character, the mood and the intent of the entire show. If she can sing it correctly, that's great. I have no idea who this girl is of if she has the vocal/acting chops to do the role justice or not. But from what I have seen by such pop-vocalists...it is a turn off to 95% of the audience going in to the theater to experience Disney's Beauty and the Beast and not an MTV/Motown concert. Having just done a run of the show as Maurice and being onstage with a true talent while she sang the song proved to me that the role requires true acting, true dancing as well as true singing abilities without the artiface of overembelishment and vocal pyrotechnics.

[Stitchwink]

nope, Diana has the vocal chops for it, if you listen to her performances on Idol, particualry the first "Don't Cry Out Loud"; "No More Tears"; "One Voice" and "A Broken Wing" , you'll get what i mean. She doesn't need all the over embelishment and vocal pyro technics, she has the right pipes for this kind of music.

[MouseMan]

Cool.

[Jesserin]

Well, as much as I loved Christy Romano (she was Belle a short while back) I think she was exactly what Ed was describing - despite her classically trained voice she tended to overdo, overkill and overembelish nearly every song that graced her mouth - I adore her as an actor and as an accomplished young woman - but the part of Belle was all wrong for her... way too "pyro"...

I'm not sure about Diana - but I did like that she had a very confident voice - she rarely wavers in strength though she showcased many different vocal characteristics during her stint on AI- I was impressed and I think with the right coach she very well might make an excellant Belle.