Flying Over Sunset — Page 4

"And yet when roles are whitewashed we are somehow supposed to suspend our disbelief that the white actor with makeup looks Chinese, Persian, Argentinian, etc."

I think this is a bit of a red herring really - it is almost unheard of to whitewash a role that was written to be of Asian decent on Broadway in 2020 and I don't think audiences would accept it. I agree they could have cast non-POC in the roles, but equally given they are based on real people, they also could not. I would hope they didn't turn down a POC in one of the roles because they are 'not white'. Because no one is 'in the room when it happened', it's hard to know for sure - but I just trust and assume in 2020 with how racially conscious we are especially in our community of all communities this would not happen. Is anyone here going to say explicitly they are accusing James Lapine of racism? If you believe so, say it. 

As for earlier comments about "The Book of Mormon" or "The Lion King" - sheesh. The ultimate goal in my opinion is that people aren't type-cast in certain shows because of their race. If you are an asian actor and confined to doing revivals of The King and I or Pacific Overtures your whole life I would be very upset. A better goal is to be someone like Pearl Sun in the N2N tour who played Diana because she was so talented not because of her race. I hope & assume we are aiming for more of this, which to be honest if I look at the N2N DC cast it feels like we have made great progress. 

 

Updated On: 2/4/20 at 12:47 PM

I'm Asian-American and I know what Cary Grant looked like. Casting, say, an Asian-American as Cary Grant wouldn't seem radical to me. It would seem like pandering. I don't need to be pandered to, and I'd really rather not picture producers patting themselves on the back by pretending they did something radical by deliberately casting against type.

There are plenty of Broadway parts where casting a white or not white actor wouldn't matter, but a 20th century matinee idol isn't one of them.

Very minimal sneak peek of the title song in this advert: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=186943775699066

Yeah, it's 15 seconds, but it sounds better than a lot of pop/rock-infused scores I've heard lately. lol.

I'm a fan of Tom Kitt's songs. His pop-rock scores are often so melodic and catchy. I especially love ''Next to Normal,'' ''High Fidelity'' and ''If/Then.'' I've got high hopes for ''Flying Over Sunset.''

Updated On: 2/12/20 at 01:43 AM

I hope you report back! This show is such an unknown. I'm wildly curious about it.

Shuffle Along, The Book of Mormon, Something Rotten all opened cold on Broadway within the last couple of seasons.

And, another LCT production, the eagerly-awaited Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"
 

I really and truly think this musical is going to shake up an otherwise boring Tony season

Wow. I've enjoyed Kitt's work more than most but that's one of the most beautiful songs he's written.

TheatreMania posted a larger song sample with some of the other numbers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0reihdxEFc&feature=emb_title

It all sounds fabulous. I also saw on Instagram the beginnings of what I think is a tap number for Tony Yazbeck, but I haven't found the full video posted anywhere. The whole show seems very clever.

I know the show is set for a limited engagement through June 28th, but they've been pretty quiet about that- for awhile I thought this had an open run. What are the chances this extends, especially with good critics/Tony's buzz?