Can Maria (Sound of Music) be black?- Page 4

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 6:51pm

if you believe the show to be about Maria being white, then you're a racist.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 6:59pm

Anybody who uses the term racist is a bigot.

[TennesseeTwang]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 6:59pm

I once saw an all black production of The Sound of Music at a HBC (Historically Black College).

It wasn't bad at all. Very well staged with good acting, great singing.

No, 1930's Austria would not have been filled with black people, but when everyone is black, you forget about race and historical accuracy and concentrate on the sugary entertainment at hand.

Let's face it. TSoM is not about the evils of Nazism. Nor is it a history lesson about the rise of fascism.

It's easy to digest pablum.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 7:05pm

You really like to throw that word around a lot, don't you Fen?


I agree with others that if she is the best actress for the part, cast her.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 7:07pm

If your username is Fenchurch, then you are rash and ignorant.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 7:51pm

When I go to see a show, I really don't care about the actor's color, ethnicity, sexuality etc. All I care about is TALENT ! If the actor is talented and has a great voice, I forget about everything and dive into the magic !!!
That girl sounds like she will give the audience a wonderful time, so CAST HER !!!!

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 8:34pm

Only the Nazis need to be white.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 8:38pm

umm

so was she cast

or

not??

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 8:39pm

If you see a bunch of angry white girls running out of the theatre... she was cast.

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 4/27/07 at 9:08pm

I haven't cast the role yet..I have a couple of additional audition appointments set up (they were scheduled before I saw the girl in discussion) so we'll see how those go. I am loving all of your feedback and it's really helping. That's why I love this board-different viewpoints from all over the place!

Michael Bennett-there are no other non-white ethnicities present in the show. I just don't live in a city with a lot of different ethnicities in the theatre community.

I must disagree Julian...I think history is very important to The Sound of Music. The dealing with the Nazis is a lot of what makes it so different from other romantic musicals of the era, where the thing would probably have ended with Maria and Von Trapp getting married and living happily ever after. I don't know necessarily if a black Maria would make or break the historical accuracy of the show but its important to me that the threat of the Nazis be accurate and educational. The show has a reputation for being incredibly saccharine (which it very well can be at times) but I think the Nazi plot line is a very interesting twist. True to form, Rodgers and Hammerstein defied the standard.

In rereading the script last night I found a part that I had simply overlooked before but that with having a black Maria might be really pivotal-at the party towards the end of the first act, Captain Von Trapp tells Max that he is inviting Maria to have dinner with the guests, and Max says something to the effect of "You can't invite Maria" and the Captain says "Why Not?" and Max says something about the guests not wanting to associate with someone like her...puts the whole thing in an interesting new light.

Bottom line is, if these other two girls are sub par then I will definitely cast the African American girl because talent is the number one priority here.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 4/27/07 at 9:47pm

I really think the show could be interesting...and I hope the other girls suck because I want her to get the role.

[Julian2]

Posted: 4/27/07 at 9:54pm

I agree PerforMeg. (I actually meant that previous statement in a little different way than it came across.)

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/27/07 at 10:51pm

Keep us posted!

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 10:17am

this post reminded me of seeing the white girl play effie in CAMP. ok, she was probably the most powerful singer in the camp so, vocally, the best suited but, oy, did it seem wrong.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 10:37am

that was also a movie...and was mixed more for a comic effect because "Camp Ovation" never did shows that involved African Americans. But Boy was that kid adorbale as Curtis.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 10:46am

Here's an easy answer. In high school, yeah go ahead. Hell small/limited college program go ahead. But the real Maria VonTrapp was White so there is your answer. It would be like casting a black Mama Rose. Oh god get an umbrella, here comes the sh!tstorm.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 10:49am

You should cast her it you want to cast her.

But the reality of the historical situation is that if the Captain married a non-Aryan woman, the offer for him to command a ship in the German navy would have been immediately rescinded.

Indeed, the family would have been particularly well-advised to get out of Austria as quickly as possible.

So it's a good deal more than just the question of whether there would have been a black postulant in an Austrian convent in 1938. The Captain would know that he was making a dangerous, indeed provocative, decision to marry Maria, as would Max, an official in both the old Austrian government and the new, post-Anschluss Austrian government. It would be an open defiance of the government, a public challenge to them.

Still, in a show this well-known, I don't think there's much likelihood for the audience to be confused. If she's really terrific, you should probably cast her. The audience has to really love Maria if that show is going to work.

Updated On: 4/28/07 at 10:49 AM

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 10:51am

But that's your answer. Everyone knows that Maria wasn't black, and everyone knows that mama Rose wasn't black. So casting a black actress isn't a problem, because everyone already knows. It's only confusing if you're an idiot and only upsetting if youre a bigot.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 10:59am

Ok cool. Then since we all know that Langston Hughes was black, I guess no one would have an issue with Kevin Spacey playing him onstage?


Fenchurch there is such a thing as being so open minded you become close minded. It may be time for you to take stock.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 11:11am

"Ok cool. Then since we all know that Langston Hughes was black, I guess no one would have an issue with Kevin Spacey playing him onstage?"

To play devil's advocate, that's an entirely different story. Langston Hughes' work largely dealt with race and he was a huge art of a black arts movement. The same can't be said for Maria Von Trapp and Mama Rose. Von Trapp's issue had less to do with race and more to do with her husband's refusal to accept a position in the Third Reich.

[ktennenbaum]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 1:58pm

There's been an awful lot of dialogue on this one, so here's just one more!
I am certainly a supporter of colorblind casting. But to me it works best with characters that are fictional, or in shows where the context is not changed by the race of the character. There are just too many historical issues to consider with this show. The Nazi/Aryan one to start with, the class issue with the Captain and Maria for another, the time and placein history is another. The Sound of Music is a true story (with some poetic license taken) about real people. Maria Von Trapp was a real person, not a fictional one. She was white. To portray her as black changes the story to fiction, and reconfigures the context of the play.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 2:04pm

"The Sound of Music is a true story (with some poetic license taken) about real people. Maria Von Trapp was a real person, not a fictional one. She was white. To portray her as black changes the story to fiction, and reconfigures the context of the play."


Exactly, agree 100% with your entire post. I too often sound like I'm against color blind casting, which I'm not. But your post sums up my thoughts fully. Thank you.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 2:05pm

"the class issue with the Captain and Maria for another"

The class issue? What does that mean? You can only have a POOR white girl cast in the role of Maria? WTF?

I think you pretty much annouced to this entire board that you think anyone not white is automatically of a "different" class.


The Sound of Music doesn't rely on race to get it message of hope and goodness across, some shows do.

I don't think you would lose one damn thing if you cast Maria with a black actress.. except perhaps some theatregoers who want to see "pure" race on stage. And in that case, they are probably only there to cheer on the Nazis.

Updated On: 4/28/07 at 02:05 PM

[soapguy17]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 2:44pm

Maria Von Trapp was a real person, not a fictional one. She was white. To portray her as black changes the story to fiction, and reconfigures the context of the play.

So by your logic, casting an overweight woman as Maria would also ruin the story or make it fictional, because Maria wasn't overweight. Your logic would even imply that SOM movie was entirely fictional and was well ruined because Julie Andrews is blond. When I saw the Sound Of Music, the woman playing Maria vocalized up to the F6, did that also ruin the story and make it fictional because Maria Von Trapp didn't have an F6?

I understand you point of history, I really do. If you guys, as casting directors feel a need to cast that way then fine. It's your show. But, if a director feels someone has the talent worth color blind casting for. Then how will the story be ruined? (In this case anyway.)

Updated On: 4/28/07 at 02:44 PM

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 4/28/07 at 4:50pm

"Von Trapp's issue had less to do with race and more to do with her husband's refusal to accept a position in the Third Reich."

While I think that PerforMeg should probably go ahead and cast the actress in question, I do have to ask why did Von Trapp refuse to accept a position in the Third Reich? Though it's never stated, I think we're supposed to believe that it had something to do with the Nazis' policies on race.