#characterizations

He’s the perfect villain opposite both Tiana and Naveen.

He’s not exactly like Jafar or Ursula, who know they’re evil and delight in it as like, a lifestyle. He’s more like Scar. He’s introduced getting money on the street through cons and feeling satisfied…until Big Daddy LeBouf drives by with all his money and makes him feel insignificant.

You get the idea that something in life made him this way—there was a beginning to his villainy. You don’t get that sense from like, Clayton or Gaston.

So he’s a relatable character with flaws, to an extent.

But those flaws specifically play off of Tiana and Naveen’s characterizations.

Tiana has no real respect from her peers—she is in a position to be jealous of Lottie the same way Facilier is jealous of the Cotton King. But where Tiana simply works hard and refuses to let others make her bitter, Facilier has clearly taken shortcuts. Or…”the easy way.”

Then there’s Naveen.

Naveen has no thought beyond the present; he thinks they’re “on this earth to have some fun,” and frequently jumps without looking at the consequences. Leaps without looking! Doesn’t stop to find out if the girl he’s kissing is a real princess even though he knew his original invitation was to a costume party, forgets that he’s supposed to be getting married and plans on continuing his playboy lifestyle, wanders into a shadow-man’s shop. But eventually he learns to open his eyes to what’s important, and what will last, in Tiana. And he takes that seriously; if he marries her instead of Charlotte, he has to get three jobs.

Facilier, on the other hand? He not only does the opposite of Tiana and has taken shortcuts to get where he is—but he also suffers from Naveen’s flaw; he keeps making what are basically get-rich-quick schemes with his “friends on the other side.” When we meet him, he’s stressed and certainly on edge about failing—but that doesn’t stop him from asking for more and more debt from the demons, and he basically goes to his grave still making promises he can’t keep…like Naveen’s promise he couldn’t keep to pay Tiana for kissing him.

He’s got Tiana’s focus and Naveen’s charisma. He’s got Tiana’s lofty goals and Naveen’s dependence on others to do his dirty work.

He’s exactly like Tiana and Naveen put together, aged about twenty years, but with none of their good qualities. Perfect villain for those two main characters.

But he’s also the opposite of Mama Odie.

He entices innocents with what they want while she lights their way by explaining what they need.

He wants total control, while she’s satisfied with simply giving advice and sending people on their way.

He directly transforms his victims, while Mama Odie shows Tiana and Naveen how to work toward their transformation on their own. I mean, you guys noticed that she could have done it for them, right?

But she doesn’t, because she’s the symbol of that Disney Faith-Based morals: you act on what you know is true instead of taking the easy way to what you want. Facilier does the opposite: he promises to give you the easy way to what you want, and tries to tell you why you should accept his deals—but his reasons are all lies.

That’s an interesting thought…

Mary Pickford's 1914 Cinderella and Yanina Zhejmo's 1947 Russian Cinderella would probably be fast friends, because they're both such innocent, adorkable little cutie-pies. Soyuzmultfilm's 1979 animated Cinderella could join them too, although I almost consider her the same character as Zhejmo's Cinderella, because that animated short is an unofficial remake of the 1947 film.

I could also see Angelina from Rossini's opera La Cenerentola, Lucette from Massenet's opera Cendrillon, and Lesley Ann Warren's Cinderella from the 1965 version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical as friends, because they're all such sweet, delicate, melancholy waifs. Of the three, Angelina grows the most in commanding presence and dignity by the end, so she could help the other two to find their inner strength, while Lucette, who's the saddest of them all, might be inspired by how the other two find comfort in their singing and imagination.

Brandy Norwood's 1997 Rodgers & Hammerstein Cinderella and the heroine of the anime Cinderella Monogatari I could see as friends too, because of their similar "girl next door" characterizations with quiet inner strength and initially low self-esteem that grows by the end. Other "girl next door" Cinderellas like Belinda Montgomery from the Muppets' Hey, Cinderella!, Jennifer Beals from Faerie Tale Theatre, and Emilia Schüle from Märchenperlen could join them too.

Disney's two Cinderellas (animated and Lily James) would probably get along well with each other, as well as with Julie Andrews' 1957 Rodgers & Hammerstein Cinderella and Gemma Craven's Slipper and the Rose Cinderella, because they're all slightly more mature Cinderellas, who blend sweetness and dreaminess with a core of strength and ladylike dignity even in rags. Disney's animated Cinderella might feel a little out of place among the other three at first, because they're all refined young British ladies while she's more of a down-home American girl, but they would make her feel at home.

Meanwhile, the tomboy Cinderellas, like Libuše Šafránková in Three Wishes for Cinderella, Aylin Tezel in Sechs auf einen Streich, Lesley Caron's Ella in The Glass Slipper, Christianne Tisdale's Angelina in A Tale of Cinderella, and of course Drew Barrymore's Danielle in Ever After would probably all have scrappy and mischievous fun together.

Barrymore's Danielle would also connect with Anne Hathaway's Ella from Ella Enchanted and with Ella from the 2013 Broadway version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical, because they're all strong-willed, political-minded idealists, whose hard lives have made them champions of other downtrodden people.

Camilla Cabello's Ella from the 2021 Kay Cannon musical and Cinderella from Alma Deutscher's 2016 opera would bond over the fact that they're both artists (a dressmaker and a composer, respectively) whose dream is to share their craft with the world. Deutscher's Cinderella might even ask Cabello's Ella to design costumes for her latest opera.

I suspect most of them would be a little put off by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Emerald Fennell's "Bad Cinderella," because of her rude and belligerent Not Like Other Girls attitude. But Leslie Caron's Ella, who is similarly prickly although much less smug about it, would reach out to her... although I'm not sure if they would ultimately become friends or end up fighting.

As for the different Princes...

I think all four versions Rodgers & Hammerstein's Prince Christopher would relate to each other and get along well, although Jon Cypher and Stuart Damon's version might need some time to warm up to Paolo Montalbán's version and "Topher" from the 2013 Broadway version, because they're both slightly less mature. Both of Disney's Princes (animated and Richard Madden's Kit) would get along with them too, and maybe the rest of them could encourage Disney's animated Prince to talk more. Don Ramiro from the opera La Cenerentola would probably be their friend too, though he's a little more hot-blooded than the rest of them, while Michael Wilding's Prince Charles from The Glass Slipper could be like a wise older brother to them all. All of these Princes share similar gentlemanly dignity, tenderness, and strength of character in their own ways.

Topher from the Broadway version would also relate to Hugh Dancy's Char from Ella Enchanted, because they're both orphans who were sheltered from the world and treated like puppets by their villainous regents, until their respective Ellas opened their eyes and helped them step into their power.

Meanwhile, Montalbán's Christopher would also bond with the many other Princes who share his "rebellious bird in a cage" aspect. (To quote @ariel-seagull-wings' phrase.) These include Richard Chamberlain's Prince Edward from the Slipper and the Rose, Prince Niccolo from A Tale of Cinderella, Prince Theodore from Alma Deutscher's opera, Prince Sebastian from the Lloyd Webber musical, Nicholas Galitzine's Prince Robert from the Kay Cannon musical, Prince Charles from Cinderella Monogatari, the Prince from Three Wishes for Cinderella, and of course Prince Henry from Ever After. The two Princes from German Christmastime TV, Max Felder's Prince Leonhard from Märchenperlen and Florian Bartholomai's Prince Viktor from Sechs auf einein Streich, can join them too, because they're also fun-loving slackers who don't always like their royal duties.

That said, while all these boys complain about their lack of freedom, some of them are more mature and dutiful than others. I think most of them might find Charles from the anime to be a little too mischievous, while even Charles might find the Three Wishes Prince too rude, and they all might find Henry to be too spoiled and classist at first. (Yet Henry himself might also find the Three Wishes Prince too rude – he at least has standards from the start about treating a lady with chivalry.)

Meanwhile, the other Prince Henry, played by Matthew Broderick in Faerie Tale Theatre, and Robin Ward's Prince Arthur from the Muppets' Hey, Cinderella!, would get along well because they're both such sweet, adorkable goofballs.

Prince Charming from Massenet's opera, Aleksey Kornovsky's Prince from the 1947 Russian version, and most of the Princes from the early silent films would probably be fast friends, because they're all such innocent, hopelessly romantic "Romeo" types. But I think most of the other, "manlier" Princes might be slightly turned off by their melodramatic pining for love – they could empathize with the yearning, but would find the moping, crying, and fainting to be a little too much. Though some of the more mischievous Princes would probably find it amusing and could become Mercutio-like friends to these Romeo Princes – especially to Kornovsky's Prince, because he has a mischievous streak too.

mack is the kind of person who....

will leave an ice cream shop if there are no flavours he likes... he'd rather just not have any then

ipad kid!! his parents bring him along to dinner with a couple of their uni friends they haven't seen in like twenty years.... mack is friendly and cordial and polite and goes on his phone fifteen minutes in to watch game tape

is not like a controlling bf or anything crazy like that... will can have friends of course she can have friends and hang out with other people... why on earth would she want to though??

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie really did an excellent job portraying Mario’s empathetic nature and willingness to be kind and accommodating to other people’s emotions.

Just like his game self, he:

Knew to adopt a more inviting stance and use slow movements and gentle coaxing to show someone nervous that he wasn’t a threat…

Saw when a figure was in a position of authority and deserved a formal level of respect…

Could tell when someone was hurting and used an offering of a thoughtful gift to try and lift their spirits.

Because the most important part of Mario’s personality is that he be a naturally kind soul who tries to help out wherever he can.

In productions circa 1999 and 2000, there seems to have been an influx of especially strong Marius/Éponine chemistry, with a vibe of warm and easy friendship in all their scenes together. The Marius actors were especially friendly and tactile toward their Éponines, with all sorts of affectionate gestures (e.g. face-touches, shoulder-touches, nose-boops, hand-kisses, spinning around, and the occasional hug). Their dynamic was more like Laurie and Jo in Little Women with the unrequited love gender flipped than like Hugo's Marius and Éponine.

Tim Howar and Sutton Foster share so many endearing little gestures in their 1999 and 2000 3rd National Tour bootlegs... they (platonically) can't keep their hands off each other! The dynamics are similar between Michael Shawn Lewis and Jacqueline Braun in the 1999 closing-night Duisburg bootleg, Tom Lucas and Jane Horn in London 1999 (though Jane was an understudy, I'm sure Tom's dynamic with the regular Éponine, Amanda Salmon, must have been much the same), and especially Niklas Andersson and Joanna Ampil in London 2000, whose "A Little Fall of Rain" is possibly the most tender, romantic rendition ever.

But now I've reached a bootleg from Broadway 2001, with Peter Lockyer as Marius and Catherine Brunell as Éponine, and there seems to be a distinct pull-away from all of the above. Peter's Marius is a proper young gentleman, and though he's fond of Éponine in an amused and pitying way, it's a distant fondness: the most distant I've seen a Marius be since Felix Martin in the 1996 Duisburg proshot, yet even more than he was. Catherine's Éponine is constantly grasping for his attention, without much success. It's a much closer dynamic to the characters in the novel. Even in "In My Life," Marius seems to pull away from Éponine at the end, as if he suddenly realizes he's been too effusive in thanking her and shouldn't be so informal with a girl other than Cosette.

So far this is the only bootleg I've seen from 2001. But from what I've read about Jody Crosier in London the same year and Stephen Brian Patterson in the 3rd National Tour, and what I remember of Stephen's understudy Daniel Bogart when I saw him onstage as a baby fan, they all took a similar approach to Marius, emphasizing his 1830s dignity and making him more distant from Éponine. (Though from what I've read, most of them became warmer with her later in their runs.)

I can't help but wonder if these patterns had something to do with the musical's rising online fandom.

In those early years of the Internet fandom, there was strong fixation on Éponine and her relationship with Marius. Even though I was about Gavroche's age, I remember it. Marius/Éponine was probably the most popular ship among fans at the time, and even fan works that didn't ship them romantically tended to portray them as the best of friends.