Color Blind Casting

#1

Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 2:49pm

I am a proponent of color blind casting in certain situations. I think it shouldn't matter what race a person is when you cast a show where the race of the character is not important.

I do have an issue with color blind casting that is in clear opposition to the role being played or historically inaccurate.

I love Norm Lewis, but I find it difficult to accept him playing Javert in Les Miz.

One wouldn't accept a white actress playing Celie in The Color Purple, would they?

Discuss!

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 02:49 PM

#2

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 2:56pm

Try watching a production of Le Miz with an Asian Eponine.

I did in London. It was very odd.

---

"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>> “I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>> -whatever2

#3

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:00pm

I think the difference between your two examples is that Celie's race is a central part of her character, whereas Javert's race is not (at least IMO).

Another example I can think of is Ragtime. The races of the characters are central to the story, so colorblind casting would not work. In a show like Les Mis, race is not central to the plot or characters. One could argue that in order to be historically accurate all the actors should be Caucasian, but it's not essential to the story. Do you think Lea Salonga should not have played Eponine because she is Filipina? Or Daphne Rubin-Vega should not play Fantine because she's Hispanic?

#4

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:04pm

But while race isn't central to the plot in Les Miz, it is historically inaccurate to have a black officer of the law and I think it impacts the story being told.

As for Color Purple, I don't believe that race is central to the story. You could easily subsitute poor white folk and tell essentially the same story, except perhaps for Sophia's story.

#5

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:07pm

Yeah I really don't have a problem where the character's race is not an essential part of the character. Considering that Lea Salonga played Eponine in Les Miserables and she was so good that they brought her back for the 10th anniversary concert. It's not even the same thing as casting a white woman as the lead in the color purple. Plus if you have a problem with it, then don't go see it.

---

http://theaterfag.blogspot.com/ Reviews and the like

#6

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:22pm

Maybe and all white version of HAIRSPRAY?

---

"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>> “I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>> -whatever2

#7

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:24pm

Obviously race is central to the both the characters and the story in Hairspray. Can't do a color blind version of Hairspray.

#8

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:27pm

Well, they tried in Finland
Look Close, Hardly any Actors of Color

---

"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>> “I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>> -whatever2

#9

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:29pm

As for Color Purple, I don't believe that race is central to the story.

Oy.

---

"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey

#10

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:30pm

I'm reserving my judgment on the Les Mis casting until about 11pm tonight... however, good or bad, the race of the actors DOES affect audience perception. Whether or not it gets in the way of the story remains to be seen.

#11

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:31pm

Double oy.

If you have a problem with Norm Lewis as Javert, might a suggest that it actually is your problem to own and not a problem of the production?

---

"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."

#12

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:31pm

Kringas,
I'm with you....

---

"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>> “I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>> -whatever2

#13

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:32pm

A racially mixed les miz works for me. Somehow it makes the story even more universal and I don't find it at all distracting. Would I like to see a person of color play Maria Von Trapp or Mama Rose? No more than I'd want to see an all white Porgy & Bess.

#14

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:33pm

Les Mis is a universal show with universal themes.

#15

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:38pm

Whether you think it's right or wrong, though, when a person of color plays a role that's been traditionally cast as white, there's often a desire to correct an inequity at play. With the possible exception of school productions, there's no good reason to have a white person play roles that are traditionally black roles (or rather, roles that are specifically black such as those in The Color Purple, Dreamgirls, Porgy and Bess, etc).

---

"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey

#16

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:38pm

But while race isn't central to the plot in Les Miz, it is historically inaccurate to have a black officer of the law and I think it impacts the story being told.

It's also historically inaccurate for them all to be singing everything (in English, for that matter), but audiences usually are willing to suspend a little bit of that disbelief.

eta: Kringas, I agree partially. When race is a subject of the show, then of course it matters. But even in the case of historical figures, race doesn't matter to me so much. It's not like a historical recreation is the goal anyway. Ever seen a photo of Maria von Trapp? She looks about as much like Julie Andrews as I do.

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 03:38 PM

#17

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:42pm

I think there's a difference between accomodating your audience's understanding of the show, and instituting color-blind casting that's anachronistic to the story. Why not have Javert on rollerblades the whole show?

#18

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:44pm

Because rollerblades didn't exist in the 1800's. Black people actually did. And some of them weren't owned by white people.

---

"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 03:44 PM

#19

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:50pm

I think we're in pretty close agreement, Calvin. All three of the shows I used as an example are cases where race does matter. There are cases in which the role has to be played by a white person as well (much of the Show Boat, to give one example).

---

"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey

#20

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:51pm

...but how many of them were chief of police?

#21

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:51pm

We get it, Walt. Anything that takes place prior to 1950 or so should have an all-white cast.

---

"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey

#22

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:56pm

I wouldn't know. However, once upon a time in Venice, say the 1600's, it was possible for a black man to be successful and have a white wife. So...I don't have much of a problem making the leap to a black chief of police.

---

"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 03:56 PM

#23

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:11pm

Would I like to see a person of color play Maria Von Trapp or Mama Rose?

Why not TOMG? I think a black Maria Von Trapp would actually be interesting. And why not? Black people did exist in Germany in the 1940s, and it would probably even be historically accurate for a black woman to have worked as a governess.

As for Mama Rose, as long as her children are of the same race, I don't think her race matters.

As for Color Purple, I don't believe that race is central to the story. You could easily subsitute poor white folk and tell essentially the same story, except perhaps for Sophia's story.

pianoman, Color Purple is about the experience of black people in this country in the first half of the 20th century. You can't substitute "poor white folk," it's not the same thing at all. If Alice Walker had a grave yet, she'd be rolling in it.

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 04:11 PM

#24

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:16pm

I'm with avab... as long as the casting is historically possible, it's okay with me.

I do think there's a difference, however, between a fictional story, and one where the actors are portraying real people. (We know that Rose Hovick and her kids were white...)

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 04:16 PM

#25

re: Color Blind Casting

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:18pm

Well, Les Miz is a fictional story.

---

"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 04:18 PM