An all black "God Of Carnage'" ?

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 9:25am

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/god_of_different_color_IRNWlwQrnxscEe6fRzPB2I

I think it's a fantastic dea.

"The play lends itself to all sorts of casting possibilities. There's talk at some point of going gay, with two male couples."

That's an interesting idea, but I don't know how it would ultimately work.

Updated On: 3/10/10 at 09:25 AM

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 9:39am

I think its so well written, that the opportunities for off-kilter "couples" seems pretty logical.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 9:47am

The last time I saw the show I kept thinking how the dynamic would work if Alan and Annette were significantly younger than Michael and Veronica. I don't have the script in front of me, but there's a part where Michael discusses how marriage wears you down or something to that effect. That moment could be portrayed as him attempting to teach a life lesson to a much younger couple.

It just seemed like an interesting possibility to me at the time.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 10:08am

I think one of the great things about how it is written is that the cast doesn't have to be an "all-anything" cast". You could have a black couple and a white couple, a gay couple and a straight couple, a mixed-race couple and a black couple, a mixed-race gay couple and a straight couple. The permutations are endless and so are the layers of subtext that could be added to the work. Nuances would play out left and right.

[singtopher]

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

I was just thinking the other day that Tonya Pinkins would make a great Veronica.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 10:42am

I'd love to see Pinkins in this show as well as Veanne Cox as Annette.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 11:05am

The idea of Nia Long and/or Regina King on a Broadway stage makes me wet.

However King has a new show filming so I'm not sure her schedule at present would allow her to do it.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 1:51pm

King is on SOUTHLAND on TNT (which, by the way, is one of the most underrated shows on TV. Watch it.) but I bet she could do a stint in the summer.

I love her!

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 2:17pm

This is a brilliant idea.

I would love to see Forrest Whitaker as Michael, Angela Bassett as Veronica, Taye Diggs as Alan, and Sanaa Lathan as Annette.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 2:39pm

I think one of the great things about how it is written is that the cast doesn't have to be an "all-anything" cast". You could have a black couple and a white couple, a gay couple and a straight couple, a mixed-race couple and a black couple, a mixed-race gay couple and a straight couple. The permutations are endless and so are the layers of subtext that could be added to the work. Nuances would play out left and right.

I agree. There are a ton of different dynamics you could play out in the show. It would be interesting to see the subtlties and nuances in the writing with different sets of mismatched couples.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 2:40pm

Why is it big news when they are thinking of making it "an all black cast"? I agree with BettyBoy72 that it doesn't have to be an "all-anything" cast. I think people forget about other races or minorities - yes, "black" is what first comes to mind, but what about Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern as well as the gay/straight comments made earlier in the thread. Casting shouldn't be black or white, pun intended. And did anyone notice that Lucy Liu is non-white?

[perfectliar]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 3:50pm

And did anyone notice that Lucy Liu is non-white?

Yes, and Jimmy Smits is Puerto Rican/Surinamese. This would be the first "all-whatever" cast since the original "all-white" cast.

Making something "all-racial" is a gimmick like anything else. Of course it doesn't have to be all-black, but neither did the recent revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/10/10 at 4:56pm

I still think, 4 men would be absolutely fascinating.

[emo_geek]

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

Would love to see the gay version. Maybe two moms and two dads?

Posted: 3/11/10 at 11:54am

I was actually thinking of other shows where race is not important, but with roles that seem to only be filled with white performers. For example-the two women in Wicked...do they need to be white? And one of them is painted green anyway!

[maxximumvolume]

Posted: 3/11/10 at 12:50pm

There have been some black actresses who have played Elphaba.

[Daniel2]

Posted: 3/11/10 at 7:38pm

I haven't seen the show so I don't know--if race isn't an issue in the show I see no reason you couldn't have an all black or a mixed race production. In the Yasmina Reza shows that I have seen I don't think the race of the actors was important. Just because the original cast members were white there's no reason it always has to be cast that way.

[romgitsean]

Posted: 3/11/10 at 8:30pm

I've never seen Saycon live, but I've heard her- she is very good. A black Elphaba is a very interesting idea, because it puts it in a whole dimension. People ostricize her about her skin color already, and it seems that when someone who is black plays Elphaba, it adds an element of realism. Because racism is an applicable concept in real life and hits home to us the fact that people are really, in a sense, being racist towards her; which I think we're only really facing that concept at face value because "green" is not an ethnicity or a race, and the story is very much invented- but there are themes like prejudice and beauty over personality (Fiyero with Glinda at first, Boq with Glinda over Nessa, etc) that in the story that are very much prevalent, but we don't think about them as much. Not to say black people are ostricized now or trying to sound racist; but it just makes the concept that much more real. Get what I'm saying?

I don't think Glinda could be black. I mean, then again, it's really the talent that matters. I just think it would kindof be breaking a social norm, because Glinda's sort of iconically the prissy white girl. Nothing that couldn't be altered, though.

[somethingwicked]

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

romgitssean, I'm confused about how an African-American actress playing Elphaba could add any new elements to the show... considering she would be painted green.

How on Earth would you know her race?

Updated On: 3/11/10 at 09:35 PM

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 3/11/10 at 9:37pm

Am I the only one disgusted by the fact that an article was posted on this issue? Just cast the most talented, no matter their appearance...

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/11/10 at 10:40pm

The difference is that, though it is exploitative, American black vernacular has different rhythms and patterns of speech delivery than other speech patterns. An all-black production, besides being falsely "new," would theoretically play rather differently, at least in terms of line readings.

[A Director]

Posted: 3/11/10 at 11:09pm

Why not an all puppet version? Why not an all child actors version? What about all cats, all dogs? Heck, why not turn the show into a musical!

[ChristopherDurangFan]

Posted: 3/12/10 at 12:52am

But race Does factor into the play. So does sexual orientation. Not that those lines--those of you who have seen the show know which I am referring to--won't become More interesting due to gay or black casting decisions.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 3/12/10 at 9:48am

There is a line in the last third of the play having to do with Michael's opinion of Veronica's work on the Darfur tragedy that would play out quite oddly with an all black cast.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 3/12/10 at 10:28am

romgit, Wicked's supposed to be about racism? I had NO idea that was what they were trying to get at with the whole "person of different skin color is ostracized" storyline!