Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
#1Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 3:47pmI didn't really know what to title this thread. I just wanted to know people's opinion about seeing different ethnicities in traditionally cast Caucasian roles. For example: An African American playing Laurie or Belle. An Asian playing Sky Masterson.
#2re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:00pmIt's called "colorblind casting." And unless ethnicity is very important to the role/story (like almost all the roles in Ragtime), I'm all for it!
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#2re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:04pm
I LOVE color blind casting threads. They always turn into great drama.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#3re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:04pm
An African-American has already played Belle: Toni Braxton.
There are tons of examples, and I don't have a problem with it. In fact, I think this has been discussed countless times before.
The BWW search feature is your best friend.
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardid=1&boardname=bway&thread=877058
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Updated On: 9/24/09 at 04:04 PM
#4re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:07pmThat's what I thought, but color blind casting is quite rare. I was wondering if it affected ticket sales or bothered people.
#5re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:08pmThe best colorblindly cast show I ever saw was Damn Yankees with a white guy as Joe Boyd and a black guy as Joe Hardy.
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#6re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:09pm
I was wondering if it affected ticket sales or bothered people.
Bothered people? Never! 
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#8re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:14pm
"That's what I thought, but color blind casting is quite rare."
It is not as rare as you think it is. It has been done many times before.
Deborah Lew/Toni Braxton - Belle (Beauty & the Beast)
Lea Salonga - Fantine/Eponine (Les Miserables)
Brenda Braxton - Velma (Chicago)
Phylicia Rashad - Violet Weston (August: Osage County)
And there was a production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with an all African-American cast.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Updated On: 9/24/09 at 04:14 PM
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#9re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:20pm
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardid=1&thread=905866#2391442
Mwahahaha!
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#10re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:34pm
I can't quite decide my favourite colour-blind casting. There are two examples that spring to mind.
The Les Mis revival rotated the young Eponines and Cosettes so all the girls got a chance to sing. Which I thought was actually really awesome. Except when I saw it, young Eponine looked an awful lot like Ali Ewoldt, and young Cosette looked rather more like Celia Keenan-Bolger. I LOVE colour-blind casting and am ALL for it, but it does make you blink a little bit when characters change ethnicity halfway through a show. XD
I also loved the RSC Histories Cycle, where blond-haired-blue-eyed Henry V got it on with blond-haired-blue-eyed Katherine of Valois, and spawned the young Henry VI, played by the delightfully Nigerian Chuk Iwuji. It made me laugh, anyway. :)
CAX
Featured Actor Joined: 8/12/09
#11re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:39pmIs there a difference between colorblind casting and Non-Traditional Casting?
I'mseeingbraille57
Chorus Member Joined: 12/25/06
#12re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:41pmA question about the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Revival. Would that really be considered color-blind casting? Because it wasn't particularly blind, they were looking to use a black cast. Whenever casting of race is used to make a statement, is it very "blind" at all? Or is just considered the same thing as mixing it all up, like Braxton as Belle?
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#13re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 4:45pmWell, the original poster asked about roles that were traditionally cast with a white person. The roles in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof are traditionally played by white people. The thing that this cast had was consistency in the race of the actors.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
#14re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 6:05pm
"but it does make you blink a little bit when characters change ethnicity halfway through a show"
Weez, you are hilarous
#15re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 6:10pm
I LOVE colour-blind casting and am ALL for it, but it does make you blink a little bit when characters change ethnicity halfway through a show. XD
Geez, I was bothered enough when I saw the West End Lion King and Simba's accent changed from cockney to South African when he grew up. THAT would probably drive me nuts!
Deycallmemimi2
Chorus Member Joined: 11/28/07
DefyGravity777
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/28/08
#17re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 6:36pm
In Les Mis one show Young Cosette was played by Carly Rose Soneclare(who is white), Older Cossete was played by Ali Ewoldt(who is Asian) and Fantine was played by Nikki Renee Daniels(who is African American), Young Eponine was played by Kylie Rubenstein(who is Asian) and Older Eponine was played by Megan McGinnis(who is white)
Also in Wicked the Witches Father was played by Jonathan McGill who is black.
Don't believe everything that you hear! Only the peeps involved know the truth!
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#18re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 6:53pm
"In Les Mis one show Young Cosette was played by Carly Rose Soneclare(who is white), Older Cossete was played by Ali Ewoldt(who is Asian) and Fantine was played by Nikki Renee Daniels(who is African American), Young Eponine was played by Kylie Rubenstein(who is Asian) and Older Eponine was played by Megan McGinnis(who is white)"
It didn't even bother me much that there was a chance in race from Young Cosette/Eponine to Adult Cosette/Eponine. I was so immersed in the story and the music, I didn't care.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
#19re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 7:11pmI'm all for color blind casting as long as it isn't gimmicky. Like the one Black stepsister in the "Into the Woods" revival; you can rationalize the choice all you want, but it just struck me as "We need to make one peripheral character a minority" and that's a tiny bit offensive. Yes, the Steward was played by a Black actor as well, but at least that's more understandable then having a White mother with one white daughter and one Black one.
CAX
Featured Actor Joined: 8/12/09
#20re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 10:20pm
Actually I think I remember the distinction between Color Blind and Nontraditional Casting...
To my memory...
Color Blind casting is when color is no issue in casting whatsoever... It disregards race COMPLETELY in respect to casting. You can have a family with a white mother, asian children and an indian father... This is done A LOT in Classics, these days. I believe the idea is that the character transcends the color of their skin and that belief can be suspended. I once saw a production of the Lion in Winter where everyone in the cast was white except Richard, who was played by a black actor.
Non-Traditional casting is a different bag. This can mean a number of things, but at it's simplest I guess it means any casting that defies a traditional or expected casting. So, an all white production of an August Wilson play, an all black production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof... A production of Othello where the titular character is white and everyone else is not (ala the Patrick Stewart production)... Can also be the casting of an actor in a role of the opposite gender... which is also frequently done in the classics where women play roles that were "written" for men but that the gender doesn't really play into the plot.
goober1632
Understudy Joined: 7/29/07
#21re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 11:07pm
Sharon Brown, who's African American, played Lucy in the 1st National Tour of Jekyll and Hyde. She also played Narrator in the 1980s production of Joseph on Broadway.
http://www.angelfire.com/musicals/performers/SharonBrown.html
Her name escapes me, but there was an African American woman who played Madame Thenardier in Les Miz.
Norm Lewis playing Javert in Les Miz.
Joan Amidalla, an Asian American, played Fantine in Les Miz for years.
Daphne Rubin Vega played Magenta in Rocky Horror and Fantine in Les Miz.
Audra MacDonald as Carrie in Carousel and Lizzy in 110 in the Shade.
Telly Leong as Baq in Wicked.
Jason Tam as Paul in ACL.
Deidre Goodwin as Sheila in ACL.
Billy Porter as Teen Angel in Grease Revival
Merle Dandridge as Lady of the Lake
Lachanze as Marta in Company
Angel Deasi as Marta in Company
Tony Vincent as Judas in JCS
Dianne Carrol as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd
Titus Burgess as Nicely in Guys and Dolls
as you can see, the list is ENDLESS!
#22re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/24/09 at 11:15pmDarlene Love as Teen Angel. Colorblind AND Genderblind!
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
timote316
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/04
#23re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/25/09 at 12:57amTony Vincent as Judas is color blind casting? Do my eyes deceive me?
#24re: Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles
Posted: 9/25/09 at 2:15am
Not sure if Sydney Morton in the Francine track in Jersey Boys counts. Since she is incredibly light skinned and they put a HUGE ammount of make up on her (including her arms) to make her look more like a white girl with a tan. (and so it did not look like Mary had an affair)
Updated On: 9/25/09 at 02:15 AM
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