Emmy Rossum HAS to play Mimi in Rent — Page 3

"I think of all the characters, Mimi is the only one whose ethnicity is actually written into in the show. Her name is Mimi Marquez, she sings about "home, when the Spanish babies cry" and in Act 2, her mother leaves a voicemail in Spanish. While the casting should be multicultural, none of the other characters are specific. Mimi is."

Fair enough. I'm not an expert on the show so I wasn't sure. But if Latinos can be white, black, etc. then why should it matter what the actress's real life heritage is? Actors/actresses leave who they are behind in order to ACT in a role and PORTRAY a character, so who's to say that someone from European decent can't play Mimi?

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 12:12 PM

I wasn't arguing that the part can't be played by an actress of another ethnicity (not touching that topic). I was just answering the question of, why is Mimi Latina? I may not have the answers as to moral casting questions, but I do know RENT (thanks, teenage me!)

Kad said: "Natasha is not explicitly written to be of any specific background in Great Comet (no character is specifically defined by race in that show). You really need to look at the *intent* of that show- it is very clear, from its earliest incarnations, that it was never intended to depict an historically accurate vision of aristocracy in 1812 Moscow, and has opted instead for anachronistically diverse casting. This is supported in its anachronistic score and design and its metatheatrical devices.

But see, from the STAGE, the ethnicity of the actor / actress is something that can easily be overlooked if said actor / actress has some qualities and characteristics of the race they are portraying. The world is a giant melting pot. Some Latinas are lighter than others, some are darker. Some have lighter hair, some have darker hair. Different colored eyes, etc. Josefina Scaglione played Maria in the West Side Story revival a few years ago and she's from Argentina but honestly doesn't look that far off in look from Emmy Rossum, both of them having an American girl-next-door vibe.



And even if The Great Comet does expect us to suspend our disbelief and enter into a surreal world, it still doesn't change the fact that it is based on War and Peace, a Russian novel, and that Natasha was no doubt intended to be an aristocratic white Russian woman.

Even though it's a surreal take on a classic novel, I feel as though the tables would be turned if this "blind casting" happened in The Color Purple, for example. Casting an African-American woman to play a white Russian aristocrat = ahhh, it's just a surreal show, not made to be taken seriously. It's abstract in nature so it's okay. But casting a white person to play an African American character in The Color Purple? Ooooooh, would have been a scandal.



But back to the topic, Latinas come in different skin shades, different eye colors, hair colors, shapes, sizes, etc. One does not need to be the ethnicity IRL to play someone of a particular ethnicity IF THEY CAN REMOTELY PASS AS BEING THAT ETHNICITY. Emmy has brown eyes, brown hair, and honestly looks like quite a few Latinas I know.

I don't see why this topic of conversation was even started. I can sit here and point out dozens of double standards where people of color played roles that were written for white people and would be historically accurate if they were played by white people, but, blind casting is a thing. And I like blind casting. But There is no equality in blind casting. It's not so blind, is it? It's full of double standards. People think certain things are okay and certain things aren't. Yet, I thought the point of blind casting was to cast a blind eye to skin color / ethnicity / etc, not just when it's "politically correct" to do so.

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 02:29 PM

It's because there are like fifty billion roles for white women. Meanwhile, there's a small handful of Latina roles. It's about being inclusive and allowing talented POC to perform roles that they wouldn't have been able to play 30 years ago. It allows them to break into a larger pool of opportunities, instead of sitting around waiting for a West Side Story or In the Heights revival. White women don't have that problem. Almost every show on Broadway has multiple roles that can be filled by white actresses. There are already so few roles for WOC, you don't need to take one away to give it to a white actress (who can't even sing). It's not about being "politically correct," it's about having respect for other people and their race, ethnicity, and heritage. It's just about being respectful.

Also, a little black girl came up to Denee Benton at TGC stagedoor and said "I didn't know we could be princesses." That's fricking adorable.

Representation isn't just important for kids(not my Insta):

Did I cry again telling @dontgo_jasonwaterfalls how happy I was seeing someone that looked like me in a role like Rita's? Yes.

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 03:04 PM

CarlosAlberto said: "hork said: "Um ... Latinas can be white.



Yes, they can and many are...the one thing they can't be is CAUCASIAN



I don't know if you're joking, but that's the same thing. Unless you mean someone of the Caucasus, in which case, why discriminate against them?

"

Can we at least agree that Camila Mendes needs to play Mimi?