Color Blind Casting - Is It Just a One-Way Street?- Page 3

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 1:24pm

Well, AIDA'S race doesn't really matter since that show is all racially fictional.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 1:51pm

Yeah, I don't think Aida has to necessarily be black Nubians people and white Egyptians.

The Egyptians certainly didn't look like anything like Adam Pascal.

[WordedGrace]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 1:54pm

Yawn!!! This is my view on this endlessly brought subject. As for the colored comment...What year are you in? Joke all you like about it but then again people are ignorant talkers online never in person!

[folkyboy]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 2:44pm

i remember reading in SECOND ACT TROUBLE that the reason GOLDEN BOY (the musical) didn't work on Broadway was because it involved a black man with a white woman and audiences balked at it. from that point forward they had made mention that in interracial relationships on Broadway involving African Americans they tended to go more toward black women with white men.

it definitely is a heated subject and i can certainly understand why people get so passionate about it. i know if i was riffing better than anyone who auditioned and they gave it to Paris Hilton because she was white i'd be ticked off...

[AudraAnnFan]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 4:52pm

Audra actually adressed this topic in a radio interview last week, and said, you know, obviously you would never see a white production of "Porgy and Bess" or "Raisin in the Sun"... and that was pretty much it.

She went on to say that being cast in an opera is sometimes easier for her because with opera they aren't looking at the color of your skin.

Personally, I would love for there to be gender-blind casting in the future. I've always said that I would make a great Carrie (Cary would be the boy's name) Pipperidge, and play the role gay. Very, very gay. Think of how funny it would be to hear "You're A Queer One Julie Jordan" sung by a man.

Where's my agent?

[Boq101]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 4:58pm

Would Follies work with color blind casting? I mean I'm not sure there were black follies girls, and then you would need to have the ghost of the past, would the younger self need to be of the same race too?

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 5:00pm

Carol Woods played Stella in the 2001 revival.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 5:13pm

I think Follies could absolutely work with color blind casting.

And I think the old selves would have to be the same race as the young selves - or else, it would be too confusing.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 5:42pm

Definitely. Rotating the young Eponines and Cosettes on Broadway is a great idea, but it's VERY odd when young Cosette grows up to be the spitting image of Eponine, and young Eponine grows up to become Cosette, as happened the day I saw 'Les Mis'.

I'd LOVE to see gender-blind casting; Raúl Esparza and John Barrowman would be awesome as Elphaba and Glinda...

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 5:49pm

Ugh, don't get me started on Jonathon Pryce playing the Engineer. I'm not PC by any means, but I don't think that it makes sense for the Engineer to be white, given the later problems for white-looking Vietnamese children illustrated in "Bui Doi."

First off, remember that Aida was originally Ethiopian, not Nubian. Second, my theory is that Aida is cast with black actors as the Nubians because it's hard for people nowadays to think of slavery as not being a racial issue. That, and how could white people successfully pull off "The Gods Love Nubia"? Haha. The local high school that did Aida actually had mostly white people in the cast, including a white girl as Aida (and no, she did not tan or don black face. )

I mind color blind casting when it isn't historically accurate. I'm sorry, but Asian Eponines... not accurate.

This subject always makes me think of the Cinderella movie with Brandy. Remember? Black Queen, white King, Asian Prince. Haha.