Could 'Ursula' be played by a man?

With the Covid-19 pandemic still being present and political tension in the air and on the news, hearing updates about another live-action Disney remake is a more-than-welcomed distraction. Last December, Disney announced their cast line up for the upcoming remake of The Little Mermaid, which includes Halle Bailey as Ariel, the title character, and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula. The cast sounds promising (particularly having Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, the crab) and it would be cool to hear what songs Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda have cooked up. Though there is something I am pondering.

Ask any musical theater/Disney enthusiast and they will all tell you how Ursula's designs were based on immortal drag queen legend and John Waters film regular, Divine. Beginning with the animated film, the voluptuous, purple and black-hued cecaelia has always been played by a female actress, including Pat Carroll, Sherie Rene Scott, Faith Prince, Queen Latifah, Rebel Wilson, and even Whoopi Goldberg. As I said before in a previous article, I am all for gender-fluid casting. Would Disney ever consider a male actor to play Ursula?

In this day and age, the answer would probably be yes, as it should be. When a live-action Little Mermaid was announced, there were a lot of calls online to have Ursula be played by a male actor. Alan Menken even said in an interview with tabloid magazine, Gay Times, that he originally dreamed of having Harvey Fierstein play the voice of Ursula and when Disney announced a live-action remake of the classic animated musical, he leaped at the chance. Menken even said in his interview with Gay Times, “I would kill for that.”

Fierstein is not the only male actor suggested to play the role. After scrolling through Gay Times's website, I found an old article titled, 5 Reasons Why Drag Race Star Ginger Minj Should Play Ursula In The Little Mermaid. In the article, they describe how Minj “embodies both camp and comedy.”

There was even a time in 2019 when TLM fans were saying Food Network personality, Guy Fieri should play the part (He does have the hair for it). Fieri responded to the suggestion by tweeting a lyric from the song, Under The Sea; “We got no troubles, life is the bubbles, under the sea.”

Rosseroni Parris, a South Floridian actor, and performer, even says Ursula should be played by a male actor with sex appeal. “There is something innately sexual about Ursula. She is big and extremely proud of her body...almost to the point you would feel like she'd probably try to have sex with you and definitely eat you afterwards.” Parris has performed in the Florida Renaissance Festival and has also played many roles in theatrical productions such as Angel in Rent, Grandmama in The Addams Family, and Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. He believes Disney should absolutely cast a drag queen as the Rubenesque sea witch. He even went on to draw some parallels between Ursula and Frank N. Furter. “Along with a  mysterious past, that uneasiness is not unlike the one you feel when Frank N. Furter gazes a look at Brad.”

When asked if Disney would ever consider gender reversal casting, Parris responded with, “ABSOLUTELY. With popular cartoons like Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and the recently rebooted She-Ra and the Princess of Power, people are more and more accepting of queer individuals and the idea of gender blind casting (which has been going on for thousands of years dating back to the Greco/Roman theatre).” When asked who he would cast as Ursula, Parris said Tituss Burgess, since he sang Poor Unfortunate Souls “extremely well.”

Parris does bring up a great point regarding the acceptance of queer characters in popular cartoons. There have also been female characters played by male actors in such musicals as Hairspray (Edna Turnblad), Matilda (Miss Trunchbull), and The Nutcracker (Mother Ginger); all of which are widely viewed as family-oriented musicals. Disney has also cast female actors in male character roles. Some examples include Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, the python, in The Jungle Book, and Awkafina as Scuttle, the seagull, in the upcoming Little Mermaid. So, in my opinion, a male actor playing Ursula would not be unheard of.

It's been done in some community theaters. The Landmark Community Theater in Thomaston, CT once put on a production of Little Mermaid and on their casting list, the part of Ursula was open to both male and female actors. Gary Kingsbury, the Chair of Landmark, said “It doesn't seem that controversial to me. I imagine a transwoman would rock the part.” Kingsbury has been a long time contributor and part of the Landmark Community Theater's board for two decades. He even said Menken's idea of casting Harvey Fierstein as Ursula would have been perfect.

Another note to add is how Ursula is seen as a character of progress in Disney's catalog of animated characters. Having her original design based on drag queen, Divine, could be interpreted as her being a progressive character. She is widely loved by not only the gay community but by the plus-sized community as well. Poet Melissa May even gave an enthralling spoken word performance about her love for Ursula and how she made her, May, feel more comfortable about her own body image. This performance can be found on YouTube and has achieved 22k likes since its publication in 2014.

Faith Prince as Ursula (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Bridget Conway, a Boston area theater performer, and fan, who just so happens to be a plus-sized actress, was asked to comment on how she feels about Ursula being played by a man and also how she is an empowering symbol for the plus-sized community. “With Ursula, representation does matter, even if it is a villain role,” she said, “However, to see a character who happens to be plus-sized be extremely confident and rocking what they look is definitely empowering, even in the realm of being a villain.”

Conway went on to say, “There's something about confidence when it comes to a plus-sized character or a plus-sized person that comes off as off-putting for some people who don't necessarily think you should be confident in being someone who happens to be that size or happens to be that body shape.”

When asked if Ursula could be played by a man, Conway commented by saying, “Hell yeah! Without a doubt, she could be played by a man. If I had to pick one modern [drag queen] to play her, I could think of Ginger Minj.” Conway can be followed on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram under the screen name dadiva18 where she posts videos of herself singing with other artists and performing solos.

There's no denying that the public would be accepting of a male actor as Ursula. The question is would Disney be willing to do it? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. In recent activity, Disney has made strides to include queer characters in their media. Gaston's staunch sidekick, Lefou, was given a gay identity in 2017's Beauty and the Beast remake.

Also, I mentioned before how other characters have been given a gender swap in recent remakes, such as The Jungle Book and the upcoming Little Mermaid remake. Disney is surely making strides in the progressive direction. To cast a male actor as Ursula would not be “unfortunate” at all.