Diversity on Broadway- Page 5

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 1:09pm

Haha propaganda...

 

Asians are the least employed ethnic group in NY theatre. We have to wait for revivals of King and I and Miss Saigon. And in the meantime, we have to create our own theatre organizations like NAAP, 2g, East West Players, Broadway Barkada, and others just to have some outlet for creativity. 

 

I do have to say how awesome it is to have APIs as love interests in new shows like How to Get Away With Murder, Quantico, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. So rare in film and theatre. Of all places, TV is breaking that mold this year.

[Lilly7]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 1:19pm

I feel like most shows already require some suspension of disbelief from the audience so I can't see why it can't also applied to the race of a character as well. Does it ruin your enjoyment if an actor of color plays a role traditionally play by a white actor?

[newintown]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 2:24pm

HeyMrMusic wrote "Technically, Tolentino is a Filipino last name."

 

Although there certainly are some people from the Philippines who bear that name, Tolentino is a town in Italy, and just as much (if not more so) an Italian name.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 2:27pm

I also believe the Spelling Bee script allows for line adjustments about the actor's race when he doubles as Jesus.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 2:30pm

The Jesus I saw at Ford's Theatre in DC was black, but so was Marcy, so they kept the line and adjusted it to "I knew you were black!" (Although the doubling there was different, because he was Leaf, not Chip.) At a community theatre production I saw years before that, Marcy was Asian and Chip/Jesus was black, so they just didn't use the line in any variation.

[newintown]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 4:32pm

I think that's a nice thing about Spelling Bee - any character can be played by an actor of any racial background. Even Marcy Park - although Park can be an Asian last name, there's certainly no monopoly on it. It's an easy joke that the Asian kid is the one expected to overachieve, but it's not necessary, I think, to the narrative.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 6:08pm

Actually, that brings up another issue: whitewashing. In The Martian, a character with the last name Park was changed from Korean in the novel to a blonde white woman in the movie. In the same film, an Indian character is played by a black actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Why not hire two APIs for the roles that were written with specific ethnicities in mind? You can't say there were no talented Indian actors available... India has one of the biggest film industries in the world, and there are many Indian actors here in the US and England and elsewhere. This is very lazy, insulting casting.

Any NY production of Spelling Bee would cast Marcy as Asian, and most regional productions I'm aware of have as well. Why take away one of the only eligible roles to Asian women in contemporary musical theatre?

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 7:12pm

HOrk said, "You folks are getting crazy here. I'm sorry, but I don't have sympathy for someone who can't get a lead role in a Broadway show because they're not white. I just don't. I hate the term "first world problem," but that is such a first world problem. Actors get turned down for all kinds of reasons. They're always either too short, too tall, too fat, too skinny, too old, too young. Nobody has a problem with that, but "too dark," that's outrageous! When are we going to have a fat Glinda? Never. Because that's not the character. I'm sorry if you're not a pretty, young, thin, white woman and don't get to play Glinda on Broadway, but that's just tough sh!t. It's the nature of the business."

 

I agree with your entire post on this although I only quoted part. My question to everyone on this topic is - when going all out color blind in roles that are specific in race, gender, size, age, etc., don't you think you may be - well, without using the word "ruining" I'll say confusing, throwing off, the audience? I repeat I'm only referring to very specific roles which make the most artistic sense the way they are written. What is so  horrible about casting them that way? Like for instance, having "Old Man River" sang by a white slave.

 

p.s. I hate when someone uses the faux word "anyways."

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 7:51pm

But no one has suggested that. 

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 8:24pm

It's an analogy.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 8:27pm

I don't have sympathy for someone who can't get a lead role in a Broadway show because they're not white. I just don't. I hate the term "first world problem," but that is such a first world problem. 

 

Think of the broader picture.  I mean, just try...even a little.

 

 

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 8:29pm

WHITE EFFIE

Updated On: 10/13/15 at 08:29 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 8:35pm

^ yeah, can you try a little for that?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 8:46pm

WHITE EFFIE WHITE

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 9:01pm

Phyllis Rogers Stone said: "WHITE EFFIE WHITE

 

"

It happened in camp

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 9:11pm

Academic intellectual exercises about color-blind casting and whether the audience can accept them aren't really that important. Like Hillary just said, it's about evening the odds and giving people the chance to get ahead when they ordinarily wouldn't. If some unimaginative audience members can't deal with that, tough tittie.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 9:21pm

^ and where's the diversity on the panel with Hillary? All white.

 

If you're going to compromise artistic integrity, then compromise the price of tickets.

 

 

Updated On: 10/13/15 at 09:21 PM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 9:32pm

It doesn't compromise artistic integrity, though! The actor is not the character - it's all representative, a suggestion! Like your beautiful profile picture.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 9:39pm

are you referring to my chicken scratching as beautiful?  As an aside, it's a wonderful new app called children painting or something.

 

"Anyways" LOL, back to the topic. I call it compromising artistic integrity because the creator of the piece did so from his soul and presented it when it was perfect, and ready, in his eyes. If you are going to change it, you are committing a crime in my opinion.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 9:46pm

So it's not a pretty potted plant?

[tmcgriff]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 9:59pm

I'm sorry. Did someone essentially just say if you cast POC, you should lower ticket prices? Someone please tell me I am seeing things.

[TerrenceIsTheMann]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 10:08pm

I personally think Disney is a company that is a good example of how diversity can be used. Their Avengers includes Sam Jackson as Nick Fury. Their Broadway shows are some of the most diverse that broadway has seen. The new Star Wars film they are releasing is a very diverse film. ABC shows like Black-ish, Fresh Off The Boat, and How To Get Away With Murder are plenty diverse. These are examples of ways to make productions of all kinds more diverse.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 10:12pm

Rub your eyes all you like, bigots abound on the BroadwayWorld forum. This is like people freaking out over the suggestion that maybe a white person shouldn't play Otello, Color-blind casting is a fine idea but it doesn't help things when you just happen to stumble repeatedly on "the best actor who just happens to be white".

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 10:14pm

Jane2 is one of the good guys, though, for the record.

Updated On: 10/13/15 at 10:14 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/13/15 at 10:25pm

Do people still write characters who have a specific reason to be white?  I mean, just because white has been the default thanks to the deeply entrenched cultural racism, I can't imagine people nowadays are writing plays that by necessity are specifically populated by all white people.  It's the 21st century.