Color Blind Casting - Is It Just a One-Way Street?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:44pm

After seeing Audra in 110IN THE SHADE, I began to think about color blind casting in past shows and wondered if an African American role had ever been played by a white person or has this soely been used the other way around?




Updated On: 4/23/07 at 02:44 PM

[JRybka]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:46pm

sorry but isn't it 110 in the shade?

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:48pm

It's not bloody likely that you'll ever see a Caucasian Raisin in the Sun, but I do know of color blind Wiz productions. I've played a stock production of You Can't Take It With You where all black actors offered the roles declined and Reba and Donald were played Caucasian.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:48pm

Yes, please excuse my unforgivable mistake. However, I'm pretty sure you knew what I meant.

[Jon]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:51pm

Here's the thing - most "African-American roles" are in African-American plays - plays that are ALL ABOUT BEING BLACK.

110 in the Shade is not a play ABOUT BEING WHITE. Race doesn't matter.

There certainly have been foreign productions of RENT where Benny and Joanne were white. Their race is not an important part of rtheir characters.

There have been many multi-racial productions of THE WIZ. There have been many productions of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS where the three girl singers were white. In these cases, the style of music obviously suggests black singers, but nothing in the lines says they have to be black.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:57pm

You may have participated in this discussion but here is an interesting thread to read on Black Broadway....

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=920349&boardname=bway

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:01pm

Patrick Stewart played Othello in a cast that was otherwise entirely black.

http://www.thepsn.org/PSN/playtitle.asp?playid=19

http://www.rsc.org.uk/othello/learning/othello.html

[erikaamato]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:10pm

Patrick Stewart
Washington DC, 1998 "photo negative"

"To replace the black outsider with a white man in a black society encourages a much broader view of the fundamentals of racism, and perhaps even questions those triggers - you know, colour of skin, physiognomy, language, culture - that can produce instant feelings of fear, suspicion and so forth."
Patrick Stewart interview by Ray Greene for The Folger Theatre

"When an all white or mostly white audience watches a black Othello, the reaction can be liberal but patronizing. This production is a deliberate attempt to reverse that situation, to make white audiences experience some of the feelings of isolation and discomfort that black people experience all of the time in their lives. It is about jealousy of course but also about masculinity and violence. Othello is a mercenary. I am interested in exploring what happens when you train men to be violent, prime them up for fighting and then leave them waiting. Where does all that energy get directed?"
Jude Kelly interview by Lyn Gardner for The Folger Theatre

Thanks for posting about this, LizzeCurry... I wish I had seen it. It sounds like a fascinating production.

[crzyray]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:17pm

A school called ellewood city did Aida a few years back and this girl named Jamie played Aida and OMG the best aida i have ever seen, she was white but she tanned a lot to at least give the alusion that she was supposed to be colored and stuff, anyways i've seen aida on broadway and the tour and a couple of school's and i still think that the jamie from ellewood was THE BEST!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:20pm

she was supposed to be colored and stuff,

Right on, Shane Mungitt!

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:23pm

'she was white but she tanned a lot to at least give the alusion that she was supposed to be colored and stuff,'

Kinda like SOUL MAN, but without Rae Dawn Chong!

Add ONCE ON THIS ISLAND to the list...though it works much better when it's a black cast.

[Boq101]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:24pm

I always thought Aida WAS colorblind casting, even if the replacements were never of the opposite race. Or maybe it was just to draw parallels between the rich white people and the black slaves, i'm not sure.

Beauty and the Beast has had black Belles, Asian Belles, and white Belles but most of the cast besides that has been mostly white. I think a black beast would be kind of cool.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:25pm

"Colored And Stuff" - A new musical about the African American experience. Coming soon to a theater near you.

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:26pm

I hear the act 1 closer 'NAPPY-HEADED HOS' is a real toe-tapper.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:27pm

It's a great song and even better now that Patti LuPone is singing it. (Color Blind casting, y'know...)

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:28pm

And she looks so good in Ben Nye's Dark Egyptian.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:29pm

she was white but she tanned a lot to at least give the alusion that she was supposed to be colored and stuff
Gee, if she was trying to look colored, why not just use black make-up?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:30pm

Ya know, I hear that "the colored" sho' can dance.

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:37pm

And did you know all God's chillun love hominey grits?

[singingsweetee82]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:39pm

I have to agree with jon on this one. As a general rule, characters are specified to be black because it's important to the plot and/or message of the show. When a character's race is not specified, it is generally assumed he or she is white. This, imo, is why color blind casting is important. It's dangerous to think of it as a black person playing a white role when in reality it's just a person who happens to be black playing a role.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:58pm

"Aida WAS colorblind casting"

Then you kind of missed the point.


kmc

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 4:51pm

If you'd like to see colour-blind casting gone very, very wrong, watch the "Raisin in the Sun" episode of STRANGERS WITH CANDY.

Insofar as "black plays are about the black experience", hooey. Perhaps it's time to see something by August Wilson performed by an all-Caucasian cast.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 4:55pm

An all-white August Wilson would be ludicrous and undermine the very meaning and essence of any of the plays.

But the issue is moot. Try and stage it and watch how long it takes before his estate pulls the rights from you.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:02pm

So.... I'll never get to hear Marin Mazzie sing the score to PORGY & BESS?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:04pm

She can sing it in concert (that's always been allowed) -- just not in a fully staged production.