Posted: 7/8/14 at 4:28am
Posted: 7/8/14 at 6:26am
Posted: 7/28/15 at 11:17am
The latest news re color-blind casting:
"LES MISERABLES history was made this week when a 21-year-old African-American actor went on as Jean Valjean.
"Jean Valjean understudy Kyle Jean-Baptiste, who usually plays Constable and Courfeyrac, is not only the youngest Jean Valjean to appear on Broadway, but he is also the first African American one to do so.
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My two reactions to the casting were: 1) Congratulations, Kyle; and 2) Age 21 as Jean Valjean? My kid is 21. I thought Ramin was a bit too young, but 21 is more than a bit. I suspect Kyle Jean-Baptiste is a fine actor who knows how to come across as older, but I'm still wondering about a 21-year-old JVJ. It's rather like a 21-year-old Phantom, except with his face uncovered, meaning that people can see how young the actor is.
As far as Kyle's being black: I'm figuratively shrugging.
Audrey
Posted: 7/28/15 at 11:39am
Now, to completely blow your mind....Leslie Uggams played Mame at a regional theater in Florida this past winter - wasn't nearly the "drama" that this thread is making out of Mama Rose, and there's a bit more "historical" issue there - white man takes his black fiancée to his Southern plantation in the early 1930s? Mame faces a family that discriminates against people buying property next to them....and they have no problem with her?
I have no problem with Uggams in either role - as someone said above - it's the "WILLING suspension of disbelief" that's required.
Posted: 7/28/15 at 11:48am
Posted: 7/28/15 at 1:16pm
Oops, I wasn't trying to revive the Mama Rose thread. Instead, I was trying to post the news about Kyle Jean-Baptiste without starting a new thread, because the BWW article is relevant to the Mama Rose thread. (I searched for a thread on "color-blind casting"). If the powers-that-be would rather start a new thread, please move my post.
BTW, I think it would make an interesting thread about AGE of actors in particular roles. Maybe I'll start one of those.
Audrey
Posted: 7/28/15 at 2:27pm
It's not about ignoring her being black.
Just as one doesn't ignore the fact that Rose and Herbie burst into song while courting or squabbling. Or one doesn't ignore the fact that Brutus and Cassius, Richard and Lady Anne, or Hamlet and Gertrude are speaking in verse! Or ignore that characters in some productions of classics are wearing completely different dress and living in an apparently different era than the story they were acting in was originally set and/or presented as - including stories about real people who lived in very different epochs.
It's about accepting, not ignoring.
Why might we, e.g., open our hearts and accept people singing rather than speaking to each other when we know that there's no way in hell they would have communicated through song and or dance - let alone with a 60 piece orchestra accompanying them?
Because musical theatre is an amazing thing to open your heart to and accept. As is verse drama. As can - in the right hands! - changing the setting of a drama from its historical conception.
Leslie Uggams playing a real life character one knows had a very different skin tone than she does might also be a wonderful thing to open your heart to and accept.
What I find hard to accept is why we have to relitigate these same kinds of casting objections on bww almost every single ^&*(ing week.
Updated On: 7/28/15 at 02:27 PM
Posted: 7/28/15 at 2:51pm
"One could easily argue for an all Black Gypsy. Potential exists there.
Without commenting on Uggams, I would say that at this point, a mixed-race Gypsy poses problems because we are dealing with a very specific. Segregated point in American history, we still are not actually blind to race, and the dynamic of black vs white could easily change the tone of certain events in the show in questionable ways... Did Rose not make it in the biz because she is black? What about the hotel scene / phony rape? Would people think twice about a black star stripper at Minsky's being the highest paid in the business? Are Rose, Herbie, Louise and the Toreadorables sleeping in tents because they couldnt find a hotel to take black customers / an interracial troupe in that era in that region if Texas?
It is wonderful to say that the dynamic would not factor in, but for enough of the audience, it quite possibly would."
I just re-read this whole thread, and I think this is one of the best posts in it (and there are many terrific posts). There certainly would be implications with an all-black cast about them being mistreated in the 20's and 30's in show-business. I think one could be terrific (I remember a few years ago people were rooting for Tonya Pinkins to play Rose and Anika Noni Rose to play Louise) and a refreshing take on something that probably otherwise could stand a nice break from Broadway. I personally think Lillias White would have been a splendid choice as Rose, though her time has most likely passed for the opportunity. Her dynamite voice singing those songs, though! Nikki M. James or Patina Miller as Louise would be splendid.
Updated On: 7/28/15 at 02:51 PM
