Idris Elba Auditioned For A Singing Role In “Beauty And The Beast”
Idris Elba recently told People that he auditioned for the role of Gaston in the live-action Beauty and The Beast, a role that ultimately went to West End musical theater veteran Luke Evans. Idris in a musical? Sounds great doesn’t it? But maybe we need to pump the brakes on that until we find out what he’s capable of.
According to People:
“I honestly love musicals. I auditioned for Beauty and the Beast. I really did, for Gaston,” Elba says. “I called and said, ‘Listen, I want in!’ So somewhere they have a tape of me singing.”
We all know Idris can act. And he could absolutely pull off tights (he pulled mine off last week with his fan fic reading). But the real question here is, can Idris sing?
In case you didn’t know already, Idris is not just an actor but he’s also a DJ and at one point was an aspiring R&B singer. We’ve all seen what sometimes happens to respected actors with dreams of musical fulfillment. Sometimes it works out o.k. (Dogstar is inoffensive) and sometimes it’s just a cringy clusterfuck (30 Seconds to Mars aka The Jared Leto Experience). Seems it’s much easier to start off as a singer/musician and become an actor than it is the other way around. I mean, they are still letting Jennifer Lopez makes movies right?
Back to the question, is Idris any good? Does he have the chops to make it in a musical or was his audition a mere courtesy? Well if the 2011 music video for his song Private Garden is any indication of where his talents lie, then I hope he burned that audition tape. In fact, it does seem to have gone missing. According to People “Unfortunately, the actor says the tape of his audition is nowhere to be found”. My plea: Idris, you are so beautiful and talented. Please, please, stay in your lane. Your lane is wide and strewn with the discarded underthings of your faithful fans. No need to make things weird like Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia! did.
Here’s Private Garden! Idris looks great as always. There’s naked beach body painting which is hot but the rest is, putting it nicely, not quite ready for Broadway.
Pic: NBC