Black Actresses who could play Mama Rose?- Page 3

[Sirius Black]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 3:27pm

The obvious choice to me is Phylica Rashad who has proven that she can do damn near anything.
The actress who never had the chance was Lynne Thigpen. If only.

Also - thank you for mentioning not to call her "Mamma Rose" which is des rigueur these days. I want to stab someone when I read that.

Posted: 3/9/11 at 3:32pm

Oh please. That "don't call her Mama Rose" argument is as tired as the "She was WHITE" garbage.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 7:33pm

re: Evita - I was not aware that Latinos were not caucasian. There are light-skinned Hispanics and dark-skinned Hispanics. As far as I know, "Evita" is not a show about race.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 7:35pm

Since Rose was a lesbian, I'm hoping Herbie will be played by a woman. That'll open things up.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 9:38pm

"...thank you for mentioning not to call her "Mamma Rose" which is des rigueur these days."

Merman always referred to the character as Mamma Rose. That's good enough for me.

[zamedy]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 10:25pm

I love Phylicia Rashad. Amazingly talented and true actress. But, can she sing.. and sing that score? I'd personally love to see Darlene Love belt it out, but admit other performers could likely deliver a much stronger performance acting-wise.

[TheLadyoftheWood]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 1:27am

Dear zamedy,

Please look up some episodes on the Cosby show. Miss Rashad sing in a lot of them. She also performed on Broadway in many shows including Into the Woods, Dreamgirls (as understudy to Deena), and Bernarda Alba. I doubt she would have been cast if she couldn't sing. I don't know if her voice has held up to sing the Gypsy score but I have no doubt she can still hold a tune.
Into the Woods Tony Performance

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 9:21am

All that "Don't call me Mama Rose" started when Bernadette played the role. See the wars that start when actresses are miscast?

[Pippin]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 9:35am

Oh stop. Let's not revisit THAT old chestnut.....

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 9:51am

Don't Call Me Mama

[JRybka]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 10:21am

I think Miss Rachad would be wonderful!
I mean if Janet from Three's Company can do it why not her?

And the whole colorblind casting thing is crazy.
There was an amazing all Asian Production of Falsettos in SF I saw (White JEWS!)
And there was a deaf Big River... and remind me but I don't recall anywhere that Huck Finn was deaf... but it worked.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 10:48am

Again, there are no lines in FALSETTOS like:

GEE, IT'S GREAT BEING A NON-ASIAN!
I'M SO GLAD I'M CAUCASIAN!

The show is not about race. I've seen African-American actors as Whizzer and Charlotte.

If the show is NOT ABOUT RACE, then it doesn't matter what race the actors are. That is COLOR BLIND casting.

Casting someone of the wrong race in a race-themed show like Ragtime or Big River or South Pacific is JUST PLAIN STUPID casting.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 12:35pm

I think we have to designate Mama Rose so that people don't get confused and think Ethel Merman played Rose Grant Alvarez or Rose Vibert.

Imagine a conversation like this:

"Wasn't Merman's Rose the best?"

"Even though Andrew Lloyd Webber blamed her for the poor critical reception of the show, her Anything But Lonely was haunting"

"Gower did the best with what he had to work with, but Merman as a Latina was only marginally believable."

Updated On: 3/10/11 at 12:35 PM

[JRybka]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 3:26pm

Wait a minute.. You are saying Falsetto's is not about RACE? Um what Falsettos are YOU watching. The opening song is called Four Jews in a Room Bitching.

Last time I checked unless you went thru the whole conversion thing... Most Jews are not a> Asian or b> Black (Yes there are exceptions).....

No where in the show does Rose say "Oh I am so glad I am a white mother to these children... either so why not?)

So you argument then would be that Big River being done by deaf people is wrong casting...

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 5:22pm

Queen Latifah.

'nuff said.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 9:39pm

I can think of many Christian, Asian, black and Latino actors and actresses who would be excellent in Falsettos, including and particularly during the opening number ("Four Jews in a Room Bitching") and the other numbers that refer to Judaism.

Some of those performers were actually already brilliant--some even IN THE ORIGINAL CASTS.

Next question.

Last time I checked unless you went thru the whole conversion thing... Most Jews are not a> Asian or b> Black

Your glib comment marginalizes the indigenous Jewish communities in Africa and Asia, some of whom have been living there since before Jesus' time.

[canmark]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 10:55pm

Indeed, the 'happiest man in American' is an Asian-American Jew.

----------
The New York Times asked Gallup to come up with a statistical composite for the happiest person in America, based on the characteristics that most closely correlated with happiness in 2010. Men, for example, tend to be happier than women, older people are happier than middle-aged people, and so on.

Gallup’s answer: he’s a tall, Asian-American, observant Jew who is at least 65 and married, has children, lives in Hawaii, runs his own business and has a household income of more than $120,000 a year. A few phone calls later and ...

Meet Alvin Wong. He is a 5-foot-10, 69-year-old, Chinese-American, Kosher-observing Jew, who’s married with children and lives in Honolulu.
----------

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/weekinreview/06happy.html?_r=2

[Elphaba43]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 11:32pm

I think Phylicia Rashad would be a great Rose :)

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 3/11/11 at 1:25pm

Also, JRybka, are you arguing that those roles in FALSETTOS can only be cast with Jews? Or simply with people who, to your mind, can "pass"?

Posted: 3/11/11 at 1:29pm

"Jewish" is not a race.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 3/11/11 at 1:55pm

^ There's that, too.

[LondonNow]

Posted: 3/11/11 at 2:48pm

Exactly, thank you. Jewish is not a race. There are Jewish people of all races, colors, from all corners of the world, some via conversion or adoption, many not. I think that fact often gets lost because in the US, in general, the Ashkenazi Jewish (Jews who came from Eastern/Central Europe/Russia) population and culture is more predominant/visible than Sephardic or other Jewish communities in/from around the world.
As for the original question of this thread, I like the idea, posted by Wishing Only Wounds, of Queen Latifah as Rose.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/11/11 at 3:08pm

The perfect example of color-blind casting was the revival of CAROUSEL. A white man and a black woman had a brood of seven children who were white, black, and Asian. The plot of the show has nothing to do with racial issues, so it didn't matter.

On the other hand, you can't do that with SOUTH PACIFIC, since race is a central issue of the plot.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/11/11 at 5:05pm

Sammy Davis Jr. would have been an fantastic Whizzer.

On the original topic...Fuschia Walker.