This week’s Black Music Month feature highlights the musical arts with a one-on-one interview with Courtney Daniels who is all set to live out her dream as she sings, dances, and of course acts, the parts of some beloved Disney characters on the company’s brand new cruise ship, the Disney Dream.

By FELICIA C. HANEY

Staff Reporter

Little girls dream of princess-like parties, Prince Charming kisses and fairytale weddings. You know, the wonderful world of Disney and all that it has to offer. Don’t believe me? Just check out the ratings the recent Royal Wedding received – some 2 billion-plus viewers, according to the New York Times. Well, one native Clevelander and one of our very own Call & Post princesses has just earned her golden key to unlock a brand new window of opportunity and potential treasure chest at a new address – that’s right, Disney World.

This week’s Black Music Month feature highlights the musical arts with a one-on-one interview with Courtney Daniels who is all set to live out her dream as she sings, dances, and of course acts, the parts of some beloved Disney characters on the company’s brand new cruise ship, the Disney Dream.

Approximately 40 percent larger than the other two ships in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, the Dream boasts 14 towering decks, a ship length of 1,115 feet and a maximum width of 125 feet. The 130,000-ton vessel includes 1,250 staterooms and has the capacity to comfortably accommodate 4,000 passengers—along with more than 1,458 crew members who tend to the needs of every cruise guest each and every day.

And what is the quintessential need of a Disney cruiser? Why, to be very well entertained of course. This is why Disney runs a “tight ship” audition process. Daniels admitted that “it is a very hard company to get into.” She should know; she was turned down twice before receiving her Mickey Mouse ears. “The first time I auditioned for Disney I was 18 and in my second semester of college. I admit, I broke the rules. I auditioned while still in school…” Daniels said with a “sue me” expression. “And whenever I got a part I would take it, which is probably why it took me three and a half years to finish a two year conservatory.”

But the part she really wanted was still cruising right by her, allowing her to prove she could walk the plank but never got hooked and brought aboard by the captain. “The head casting director, Ron LaRossa, was like ‘You’re great! Finish school.’ I went back the next year when I was 19 and he was like ‘You get better and better every year but, you’re not finished with school.’ There was a time when I was thinking… ‘Why am I not getting Disney?’” Daniels said recalling her previous rejections. “It’s because Disney hires the same people over and over again. It’s hard to get with them, but once you get with them you’re with them for a very long time. Good for job security, but sucks when you’re trying to break in. I was making final callbacks every year. Ron LaRossa directs you in the final callbacks, videotapes you, then sends the tapes to the producer and the director. Then, they give you the final go on if you’re the Disney look.

After two missed callbacks, Daniels decided to anchor herself in the belly of the beast that is Broadway, off Broadway and even around the corner, down the street and a train ride away from Broadway. This is where those three and a half years of grueling preparation courtesy of the American Musical Dramatic Academy in New York City contributed to her foundation. “There’s no ‘traditional’ education there, just 12-hour on average days of dancing, singing, acting, Shakespeare, yoga, everything. The most intensive thing I’ve ever done in my whole life,” the 20 year old said of the experience. Even more intense than children’s theater, relearning 25 percent of a new script in the final hour, becoming a set assistant and managing to find time to be part of the original stage production of a women’s empowerment satire titled “Disenchanted: Bitches of the Kingdom,” where she set the precedent as the first ever musical version of Princess Tiana? Apparently so.

This February, after those grueling three years of her life had come to an end when she graduated, and now with a few regional shows under her belt, Daniels did the Disney thing once again trying out for one of less than 100 open spots. Well, they say the third times a charm. Either that or the genie just got tired of rejecting her wishes by the time she reached number three. “After the audition he was like… ‘OK, you’re hired,’” Daniels said matter-of-factly of her Cinderella story come true. “I am not bitter about the first rejections at all. It happened when it was supposed to. So… I guess I was the Disney look after all, and I’m happy.”

Disney hires two performance groups every year with 42 people for each cast. There’s a character cast who wears the costumes and there’s a main stage cast. “I’m cast in the main stage cast – the actors, the singers, the dancers and such,” the young thespian confirmed. A place she plans on being for quite some time. Daniels has no aspirations on jumping the Disney cruise ship for the life-sized, leaf-like, hand fanned gondola ride to Hollywood. She is more concerned with doing more meaningful projects with musical theater creating a reference for future up-and-comings to mold their roles after.