Ethnic people in non-ethnic roles

I 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.

I LOVE color blind casting threads. They always turn into great drama.

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That's what I thought, but color blind casting is quite rare. I was wondering if it affected ticket sales or bothered people.

I was wondering if it affected ticket sales or bothered people.

Bothered people? Never!

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"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.

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Updated On: 9/24/09 at 04:14 PM

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. :)

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A 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?

"but it does make you blink a little bit when characters change ethnicity halfway through a show"

Weez, you are hilarous

Andrea Burns also played Belle

"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.

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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.

Darlene Love as Teen Angel. Colorblind AND Genderblind!

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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