Finally There's An All White Version Of HAIRSPRAY! — Page 2

The "Tracy" photo is of Leanne Jones from the Original London Cast

Just playing devil's advocate here:

When a school does a show and of course has no old gray haired people to play the mature adult roles, no one gets the least bit upset when they put white shoe polish in their hair to impersonate old people.

When a school has no blonde strong enough to play Elle, no one gets upset when they plop a wig on a brunette.

When a school has no Puerto Rican kids, no one seems to get upset when West Side Story is filled with kids faking accents.

So why is that if a school has no black kids, everyone gets their panties in a twist when kids impersonate black kids (not making fun of them, simply impersonating them)?

Please don't say they just shouldn't be doing a show that requires people they don't have, since that would eliminate nearly any show anyone can think of!

Actually Lizzie, I see the point there and I think it's an interesting one. What's the difference between white kids pretending to be latino or pretending to be black? The fact that it's easier to "pass" for latino doesn't make it any better or worse than playing a black role. It's still playing a different race other than your own.

Lizzie made it further than me. I was out when blonde wigs were used as an example equivalent to blackface.

"I was out when blonde wigs were used as an example equivalent to blackface."

Are you too old to take a course in reading comprehension? Where did you come up with the idea that the two were "equivalent"? But they are worth considering in comparison. Meanwhile, do you know the meaning of the term "devil's advocate"?

Clearly many people don't seem to mind impersonations of vocal characteristics, sex, age, nationality, or even race -- so long as it isn't black/white. Yet some are no more offended by a person changing skin color to play a role as they are by changing hair color. Perhaps that's a good thing -- that skin color shouldn't be any bigger issue than hair color or age.

No not if you are more sensitive about skin color than you are about hair color -- and most people are. My point (as a devil's advocate since I know it can't really happen -- at least now) is that wouldn't it be a nice world if skin color were no more an issue than hair color? Wouldn't it be nice if we just saw skin color as a very minor difference in looks? Do you at least understand that point?

Phyllis, he makes a good point at the end comparing pretending to be black and latino though.

It's at least more comparable than hair color is as an analogy, yes. For the record, I'm not really that keen on seeing white folks play Latinos, either. Perhaps we've just not shifted enough as a culture to where that's seen as not acceptable. Perhaps because Latino is a much a culture as it is a race, the waters get muddied. There are white Latinos, as far as I understand. There are no white black people. But if we're going to have that discussion, we should have that discussion and not try and act as though it's the same thing as white actors playing the black characters in Hairspray.

Indeed, race is a tricky, uncomfortable issue, but part of the problem is that people think what-if examples somehow equalize everything, when they don't. It's similar to almost every other color-blind casting thread in which inevitably someone at some point will crow, "Well, how come we can't have a white Joe in Show Boat? Or a white Effie?" (doodle's link notwithstanding)

Updated On: 1/31/12 at 02:24 PM

Shaiman does on occasion peruse and post here, so perhaps he'll have something to add. Years ago he posted on the all-white show choir which changed the lyrics to Run and Tell That. Off to the search function...
Ah here.... https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?boardid=1&boardname=bway&thread=938103#3080563


Run and Tell ...

Updated On: 1/31/12 at 04:11 PM

Read Marc Shaiman's letter in full:

"A recent article out of Plano Texas reported of a children's theatre production of "HAIRSPRAY" that featured not a single black actor.

Many years ago, when MTI started preparing for the release of "HAIRSPRAY" for licensing to regional, community and children's theatre, the subject of "color-blind casting" was hotly debated. Starting the discussion with "absolutely no production can exist without actors who are the race of the characters" I was asked by a rep of MTI "Ok...what about in Japan?". "Oh..." I replied.

"How about South America? Scotland? Sweden?" they said. "Oh..." I replied.

I then remembered when Scott & I went to his summer stock alma mater when they performed HAIRSPRAY. Up to Vermont we drove only to see two Asian actors in Velma Von Tussle's "Nicest Kids In Town". This was a company of young actors put together to put on a bunch of shows that summer. Were we to stop the production because it was unrealistic that Velma would allow Asian teenagers to be on The Corny Collins Show? Would that not be a form of racism?

I thought back of when I musical directed a community theatre production of WEST SIDE STORY in Plainfield NJ in the early 70's. "Anita" was played by a African American (a beautiful woman named Audrey) who was probably in her 40's. And she was, probably, the only non-white in the cast. Should we not have been allowed to tell this story of the consequence of bigotry. Should Audrey not have been allowed to play Anita because she was black? Or 40?

By the way, the kid who played Tony was REALLY cute.

I have grown to realize that when you write a show -- particularly one you are lucky enough to see have a long life -- you are, in effect, giving birth to a child. And you try your hardest to teach that child what's right, instill good values -- and a sense of humor -- and then, when the time comes, send it out into the world. My mother and father raised me right, but would they be proud of every single choice I have made in my life since leaving home? Probably not. But they did their best, I do my best and we authors of HAIRSPRAY do ours.

A few years ago, we were horrified when pictures appeared online of a one weekend only bootleg production of our show in Italy that had people in full blackface. Really terrible images. By the time we saw the photos, the "production" had come and gone but we were put on red alert to what some people out there might do. So, we authors wrote a program letter that acknowledges that not every community on earth has the correct racial make-up to portray the characters in HAIRSPRAY as written. But that we did not feel it was correct to tell an actor they are incapable of portraying a character and hopefully moving an audience by inhabiting that character, regardless of their skin color. Which, ironically, is a huge part of the message of HAIRSPRAY. But that blackface was forbidden. Who knew we would even have to say that?

We also stress to every group that licenses it that the best solution is to look outside their community until every avenue is exhausted. There are literally (and lucky for us) thousands of productions out there. It is simply impossible to police every single one but MTI does a remarkable job. As do the folks who license it throughout the world.

I would ask for everyone to consider what I am saying here before assuming that greed and only greed has led to the decision to allow HAIRSPRAY to be performed to the best of the ability of each troupe that takes it on. This is an ongoing learning process, and we authors are doing our best to spread the right message and learn the lessons each production and each year brings us.

-Marc Shaiman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/31/all-white-production-of-h_n_1244955.html

I am an advocate of color blind casting, but if the script calls for something specific, you have to adhere to it.

It's not this theater's "right" to do Hairspray if they don't have the correct people to play the parts.

The USA has over 300 years of terrible race relations that we've been trying to correct, from our treatment of Indians and our treatment of Blacks to Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's etc. People forget that the USA is built on diversity, and sometimes those ethnic makeups clash with one another, sometimes violently. Musical Theatre is also a wholly original American art form, and it needs to reflect our history when we tell American stories.

This is a common sense thing. Nobody wants to see an all white Raisin in the Sun, but I wouldn't mind a Japanese Annie Oakley. Audra McDonald even played Evita...but Evita isn't a story with racial themes.

Hairspray takes place during one of the most crucial time periods in African American history, the Civil Rights movement. I don't care what this creative team in Plano was trying to accomplish. It was a stupid, stupid decision to do this show without the correct cast. I'd rather they'd have done Follies with tons of powder and pancake makeup than a production of Hairspray with not a single once of diversity.

I love Marc Shaiman's work and while I don't know the man, he was once very kind to me when I needed a piece of information about a Judy Garland lyric.

But I strongly disagree with his letter, reprinted above.

And I think he should ask himself: if whites can play blacks in a play where race is the central issue, then why NOT use blackface? Why is confusion some sort of virtue in this matter?

On the contrary, if blackface is offensive (and it is, for historical reasons listed above), then why is "virtual" or "partial" blackface any better?