> In part it seems like she would be replaceable (or at least - another could havew been picked) with probably no detriment to the result.
Disney doesn't think so - she turned the role down and Disney put the show on hold for over a year while they tried to convince her to do it.
While there's no doubt that that show wouldn't have been nearly as popular without Disney pushing it, it doesn't follow that any cute kid would have been as successful given the Disney push. Disney is constantly pushing kids and only a few make it big.
If you're better than Disney at picking child stars, big bucks await.
Are you kidding? Disney very frequently makes kids this huge. When the kid's a singer/actress, especially so: they've done a good job of marketing her in both directions.
If you write a show entirely around one person, then yeah. You'll put the show on hold to wait for them. That doesn't mean she's particularly brilliant. Just that she's not entirely awful.
Disney doesn't think so - she turned the role down and Disney put the show on hold for over a year while they tried to convince her to do it.
While there's no doubt that that show wouldn't have been nearly as popular without Disney pushing it, it doesn't follow that any cute kid would have been as successful given the Disney push. Disney is constantly pushing kids and only a few make it big.
If you're better than Disney at picking child stars, big bucks await.