CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF coming back to Broadway with all-black cast- Page 7

[robbiej]

Posted: 1/5/07 at 2:15pm

I saw Taye Diggs and Vera Farmiga in DUTCHMAN.

Taye Diggs can act.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 1/6/07 at 1:21am

Wright could definately do it.
Who says they have to cast a 26 year old?

How many Bricks have actually been 26, or even near there?

Wright may not be sexy enough though, but he could certainly act it.

As much as I absolutely idolize Audra; I mean, literally worship everything she does, let's let someone else take the reigns. I do think she would great in it, though.

It's about that time when she get's another show written for her.

[neomystyk29]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 12:44am

Wow...just when you think racism could not possibly be an issue on this board...

I do think Audra would be great but I don't think she will play the role. I'd rather see her in something original whether it be musical or otherwise.

James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose. I'm liking these thoughts.

[MovieGuy1031]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 12:50am

Ooooooooh Anika Noni Rose....!

[bill mobley]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:11am

David Justice (the baseball player who was once married to Halle Berry)would make a good Brick (If he could act). Paul Newman was a great choice for Brick in the film version, even though the movie left out the homosexual stuff about Skipper, which we needed to know about.
Brick has got to be sort of good looking. For example, if this was going to be a white version, Keanu Reeves would be a great choice. Brick is a little macho, a little dumb, a little slow, but with southern charm. Keanu is great at the sort of naive, slow, good looking guy.

[bill mobley]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:11am

David Justice (the baseball player who was once married to Halle Berry)would make a good Brick (If he could act). Paul Newman was a great choice for Brick in the film version, even though the movie left out the homosexual stuff about Skipper, which we needed to know about.
Brick has got to be sort of good looking. For example, if this was going to be a white version, Keanu Reeves would be a great choice. Brick is a little macho, a little dumb, a little slow, but with southern charm. Keanu is great at the sort of naive, slow, good looking guy.

[bill mobley]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:11am

David Justice (the baseball player who was once married to Halle Berry)would make a good Brick (If he could act). Paul Newman was a great choice for Brick in the film version, even though the movie left out the homosexual stuff about Skipper, which we needed to know about.
Brick has got to be sort of good looking. For example, if this was going to be a white version, Keanu Reeves would be a great choice. Brick is a little macho, a little dumb, a little slow, but with southern charm. Keanu is great at the sort of naive, slow, good looking guy.

[bill mobley]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:11am

David Justice (the baseball player who was once married to Halle Berry)would make a good Brick (If he could act). Paul Newman was a great choice for Brick in the film version, even though the movie left out the homosexual stuff about Skipper, which we needed to know about.
Brick has got to be sort of good looking. For example, if this was going to be a white version, Keanu Reeves would be a great choice. Brick is a little macho, a little dumb, a little slow, but with southern charm. Keanu is great at the sort of naive, slow, good looking guy.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:36am

The important thing is he looks white.

FYI: Keanu's mother is English and his father is American of Irish ancestry (on his father's side) and Portuguese, Chinese, and Hawaiian extract (on his mother's side). Keanu's parents met in Beirut, Lebanon, which is also the place of his birth.

Updated On: 1/7/07 at 01:36 AM

[D2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:41am

Actually, he's Eurasian - his mother is English, his father Chinese/Hawaiian. And he was born in Beirut, Lebanon.

Updated On: 1/7/07 at 01:41 AM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:43am

The "all black" thing is a cute gimmick, but let's be honest: that's all it is. Having an all-black cast doesnt add anything to the play in terms of Williams' message; it's just some lame producer's idea to build a potential audience. Problem is, that idea hasnt worked in the past, so why should it now?

[D2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:44am

To be completely cynical about it: to cash in on the audience for "The Color Purple."

And to piss off ToBeSureOf.

Updated On: 1/7/07 at 01:44 AM

[LostLeander]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:50am

"Having an all-black cast doesnt add anything to the play in terms of Williams'"

Why does it have to?
Why can't it just be what it is?
A production of Cat with a cast that happens to be black.

It's like reviving a show for someone who would be INCREDIBLE in the role.

There are black actors who would be KILLER in this show, and why not give them a chance to do it? Call it a gimmick if you want, but I think it has the potential to be a great show, with some brilliant performances.

As long as there's no Beyonce, I don't see a problem with it.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:51am

>> I hasn't worked in the past because we all KNOW that it isn't right for the blacks to trying acting in white roles.

Sirry, not taking the bait here. That's just an idiotic assessment, no better than the producer waking up one morning and saying, "Hey, let's do an all-black HOT TIN ROOF!"

But do please try again.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 1:55am

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:06am

>> A production of Cat with a cast that happens to be black.

And what, pray tell, is the point of it, if not to do something akin to stunt casting? And it *would* be stunt casting, just an all-white PICKET FENCES or an all-twelve-year-olds SOUND OF MUSIC. It would be purposely designed as the sole reason for such a vehicle, not because it adds anything to our understanding of the play, but because some producer thinks it's a neat idea that'll make lots of money. As such, to be blunt, it's an insult to black actors: it's rebuilding the barriers we've spent twenty or thirty years trying to pull down.

I taught technical theatre at a small college last year, one with an even smaller theatre department, one so small that if something happened, it would be common knowledge within the hour. We had an acting professor there, a temp from Chicago, who asked his students to come in with monologue studies for their midterm exams. One of the girls, a Hispanic, said she wanted to perform Blanche from STREETCAR. The professor's response? "Well, go ahead and do it, even though you'll never be cast for it." Think that statement went over well at his annual review?

Dont misunderstand: I have no issue with anyone cast for any role, because I know a good actor/actress will make me believe. But the whole "all black" thing is just as offensive to my way of thinking as the impossible statement that professor made.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:14am

Sorry, we are NOT on the same page. Look at my previous post and read what I said. I'm not supporting your racism.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:16am

SeanMartin: HEED THE WARNING!

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:19am

Oh, I heed, make no mistake. But at the same time, I'm not about to let anyone twist my words into something I pointedly did not say. Let the troll say what s/he will, but let him/her take responsibility for his/her own words, not capitalize on anything of mine.

And that's my final word on that point.

[pab]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:24am

"The "all black" thing is a cute gimmick, but let's be honest: that's all it is."

I don't disagree with you on that point because you are correct.

A bunch of teenagers pulling hand held microphones from their jackets to sing with when they already have working head mics is also a gimmick but not many people will complain about that.

Gimmicks seem to be what producers and directors are looking for to sell theatre. How many shows on Broadway today do not have some kind of gimmick?

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:31am

Pss. Don't call John Doyle's shtick a gimmick lest you suffer the wrath of iluvtheEmcee.

Updated On: 1/7/07 at 02:31 AM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:35am

>> How many shows on Broadway today do not have some kind of gimmick?

Good point, and to it I reply: when the gimmick works, it seems to work well. AIDA, for example, was a fun rewrite of a 19th century operatic warhorse, but part of the fun of it was all the anachronisms, which truly were the gimmick of the evening. But the director knew how to *work* with them *as a gimmick*.

But how many times has this whole "all black" gimmick been trotted out *successfully*? The only one that comes to mind is HELLO DOLLY, and y'know, that was really a minstrel show more than a Jerry Herman musical. But any straight plays come to mind that were successful in selling this kind of production "concept"?

The idea of an all-black cast in a play by a writer as thoroughly Southern as Williams seems a natural, but CAT? You'd have far better luck with STREETCAR or GLASS MENAGERIE, because the social situations described in the play are far more universal.

[D2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:43am

I haven't read or seen "The Glass Menagerie" in a while, but the thought of that play with a cast of powerhouse actors who happen to be black has me spinning with the possibilities. What a fabulous thought, SeanMartin.

[EDIT] Just don't let David Leveaux near it.

Updated On: 1/7/07 at 02:43 AM

[LostLeander]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:44am

"As such, to be blunt, it's an insult to black actors: it's rebuilding the barriers we've spent twenty or thirty years trying to pull down. "

Unless they'd be doing the show in minstrel like caricature, how is it an insult to them? If anything, I feel it show great versatility, and show that black actors can do more than August Wilson, and The Color Purple, and the Wiz, and so on.

I'm assuming they're not going to make the production ABOUT Brick and Maggie etc, being BLACK and overcoming the white man, or something Wilson-ish like that; but rather a production where the characters HAPPEN to be black.

What did the Ashley Judd revival add to the material? Because the play is not being performed in its traditional format, does that mean it MUST provide a POINT, other than the ones Williams has already provided? Are his writing the problems of ONLY Caucasians?

I'm not implying that you think this, but I'm just saying that I think it doesn't matter the race, and would view this as another revival of a classic.

Updated On: 1/7/07 at 02:44 AM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 2:44am

Re STREETCAR: Can a black woman be a Southern belle, though?