The Invasion of the Voice Snatchers

[The Old Judge]

All across America, kids are losing their sweet, innocent voices. The cry of worry jumps up from cities across the nation, "Where are our children's voices going?"

Sorry everybody, that was a dumb introduction to my topic, but it seems as if young, childish vocal tones have been taken from their rightful owners and placed inside of some of dearest Odyssey actors. Even from the beginning, we had Katie Leigh, the then-28 year old mother who sounded like she was just getting her permit, and though of a quarter-of-a-century has passed, it hasn't changed at all.

That was the only main exception until after the hiatus, in which the "Voice Snatchers" took over. Whit Hertford, the short-lived Hope Levy, Kelly Stables, Christina Pucelli, and Kimmy Robertson as an early 20s college student. Those are the main ones.

I'm not complaining or anything, but it's not that there's a shortage of child actors. The Odyssey crew has got Sydney Shiotani, Zack Callison, Gatlin Green, and Andy Pessoa. And from the '80s all the way to 2008 all (or the significant majority) were played by kids. How does Zach Callison feel when he's having a brother and sister fight with a woman in her 30s.

Just my weird mind working. What do you all think?

[Doll]

How does Zach Callison feel when he's having a brother and sister fight with a woman in her 30s.

This. EI've thought about this before, how he and Emily fight sometimes, but he's really actually fighting with someone much older than him. m
i
I thought it was neat how Jimmy Barclay could come back years later, even though you could tell he was older, it felt right somehow, he had grown up.l
y
Emily'll probably never grow up. Matthew and Barrett will start getting deep manly voices and she'll have the same voice and sound like she's forever trying to be a kid.. s
t
(Though, it does give me hope, because I have a very young sounding voice, I think... ionly two people on here have ever heard my voice.)
ks

[Pound Foolish]

Years ago, some unknown movie makers struggled to make a cartoon that might never make it to the screen. Against all practicallity, they included religious themes, a big no-no in mainstream TV. And they made it about characters never before onscreen. If that wasn't enough, they had the kids in the cartoon played by...
Kids.
Regular, completely unknown, little, jump-roping cereal-gulping comic book-loving kids.
This had never been done.
The cartoon was so different, it was very nearly not even aired.
Those kids were Charlie Brown, Violet, Linus and Lucy, Pig Pen, and the rest of the Peanuts gang. And that cartoon was A Charlie Brown Christmas.
(Surprise: not only can kids act, they can sing. When the musical You're a Good Man Charlie Brown was a smash-hit on Broadway, starring grownups unsurprisingly, the Peanuts film makers adapted it... with kids. And they sang the immortal songs just as well as their adult counterparts.)
Since then, children have shown time and time again that kids can hold their own, even in the adult-dominated, cut-throat world of film. Georgie Henley won the hearts of millions starring in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. "Beasts of the Southern Wild" star Quvenzhane Wallis garnered an Acadmy Award nomination for her stellar performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild. According to Huffpost, Director Benh Zeitlin remarked, "... recalled one day when she seemed to be struggling on set, and he took her aside to ask what was wrong.

"`I know. I can't snap it today. Normally I can snap it,'" he remembered her saying. "The fact that she had an internal sense of when she's in character, when she's getting the emotions right and feeling it, is really special even in experienced actors, but especially someone of her age to have that sort of self-awareness."

Adult critics have reluctantly, over the years, come to the realization: when it comes to art, kids can be as incredible as any grownup. Not in spite of their childhood, but because of it. A child has a very specific energy, wisdom, and charm that no adult can hope to duplicate.
From the start, Odyssey has known this. Children are the heart of Odyssey, together with Whit. It's a poetic balance. Youth come and go, starring in most of the shows. They slip in and out of Whit's long life, and so in and out of the show. Children find wisdom in his words, and he brings order to their lives. As he, old and grown, stays nearly the same, the children of the world grow and develop around him, partially formed by him. And his love.
In return for Whit's kindness, they give Whit's life meaning.
And the beauty of this has always lain in that kids were played by kids. What would Lucy be without that innocent voice? Curt without that infuriating yet determined and self-confident tone and vivacity? Mandy would be nothing without that adorable yet wise voice that made every emotional moment a symphony that could break our heart and put it back together again. We bleed for her when she has "The Worst Day Ever" and her parents separate, and rejoice when Trent falls in love with her. And the list is endless. What if Alex was done by an adult? Jimmy? Donna? Lesley? Tamika?
And then we come to today. Honestly, it's hard to know what to make of it. The AIO team no longer has the same people working on casting most likely, and that's a possible guess as to why children are never cast anymore.
And what are the consequences? Would we identify more with Olivia if she were done by someone closer to her age? What are missing, knowing Camilla as an imaginary little girl done by an adult instead of having a real little girl behind her? Would Priscilla be more rounded out if a real girl was saying her lines?
Now, some voices are irreplaceable. Nobody can imagine Jay with a different voice. (Heaven forbid.) And some find Emily's voice "annoying", but the general sound of it and genuine emotion always appeals to me.
In any case, it's sad. It's fine having a few adult actors, but things have come to too great an extreme.
Whit’s End has always been a place where kids can be kids. How can it be, when the kids aren't kids?

[The Old Judge]

Pound Foolish, not to disagree with your long and elegant rant, but Camilla's actor, Sidney Shiotani, is one of the few kid actors on Odyssey currently.

And I'm not complaining necessarily. With the exception (for some) of Hope Levy, the other adult actors sound like kids, and can pull it off, too. I was just thinking about what it's like for the other kids.

[Pound Foolish]

Well, that's fine, and you did a lovely job starting the topic, but topics always deviate from the original conversational-starter post. (So I don't care if you were complaining, i am.) I can make my post into a different topic if you like.
Sydney looks quiet young in her wiki photo. But I popped into her site and she looks about thirteen. Anyhow, she's certainly young, so I suppose she's a poor example.