If Deidre can be Sheila, Can Stokes Be Emile?- Page 2

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:34pm

I can see it now.
A bunch of white people picketing Lincoln center for giving Stokes a role that should go to a white French man.
What's interesting is that a show about the questions of race brings up so many questions of race.
Oscar would be smiling.

[Calvin]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:35pm

I think Luther should be played by a transgendered actor. It would make "Honey Bun" really click.

[taylormade]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:36pm

Why not if Deidre can play Sheila? Put on your color-blind shades or be pilloried as a racist! How dare you not see Audra as anything but whatever she wants to be! She's great when she plays a white chick. Didn't you see Carousel, you dolt? She started this whole trend.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:38pm

And it's your incompetance and ill-informed posts that make me want to scream.

[hellzapoppin2000]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:39pm

Bev Sills as Bloody Mary. Because she still has it going on.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:40pm

There's nothing here about being ill-informed.

Its about a PERSON playing a role, if you can't get past an actor who happens to have dark skin playing the part of a white man, then I feel sorry for you.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:40pm

Fenchurch, seriously. Read. The. SCRIPT.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:42pm

Taylormade's post is ill-informed. As is yours.

And for the record, Audra isn't the first to take part in color blind casting. Let us not forget Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, and the completely black cast of HELLO, DOLLY! in 1968.

[Calvin]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:43pm

Zoe Caldwell as Lt. Cable!

Why should age and gender matter?

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:44pm

I want to see a white Porgy, then.

A white Effie White in Dreamgirls.

A white Joe in Show Boat.

A white mother in Raisin in the Sun.

A white Sarah in Ragtime.

It has to cut both ways, and do you think for a minute these shows would work with casting like that?

I posted this earlier on the difference between being "color blind" in our society vs. "non-traditional casting." I guess it merits digging up again now...


* * * * *

"Color-blindness" (aka, not seeing or ignoring another person's color) is a naive, childish and downright DANGEROUS concept. I wouldn't want you to be "blind" to the color of my skin any more than you should ignore my religion, my sexual orientation, or any other part of who I am. If you "turn a blind eye" to my race and racial background, you are not seeing me for who I am.

If you chose to ignore someone's race, you aren't learning anything about them. You remain ignorant, and ignorance breeds misunderstanding, fear and hostility. It an easy, fast answer and solution for so many people who honestly think they are doing the right thing, but it's the wrong answer. It's the lazy answer.

It can actually ADD to the "great divide" between races, just as much as overt bigotry can.

The solution is to OPEN YOUR EYES to another person's color. See them for who they are. Actively get to know them and their differences, and educate yourself. Learn about their backgrounds and their cultures. Of course, that takes a lot more work than just ignoring it.

Diedre Goodwin as Sheila is an example of "non-traditional" casting, not color-blind casting. We can all see that she is a black woman on stage. It cannot and should not be "ignored."

[mattrob]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:45pm

Fenchurch, was Jackie O. a known racist? If so then there would be a big problem with a black woman playing her. Since she was not, there is no problem. Nellie is a racist and nothing will change that.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:45pm

You're right. Age, gender, and race should no longer matter.

Jack Klugman as Nellie
Marlon Brando's hologram face as Bloody Mary
Dakota Fanning as Emille

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:47pm

I agree with a majority of the posters here. I have zero problem with so-called "color blind" casting in most instances. Who cares if Enjolras is black? So what if we have an Asian Leaf Coneybear? It should be based on talent.

That said, there are certain instances where race is such an integral part of the script that you cannot make changes. Do I think that Victoria Clark should be allowed to play Sarah in Ragtime? Hell no. I'm sure she could sing the hell out of the part, but it ruins the integrity of what the show is trying to say. Would it work for Brian Stokes Mitchell to play Emile? No. His voice is fine and I imagine that his acting choices would be fantastic. However, you just can't have a black man playing that role in this play. That doesn't make me racist--that just means that I feel that the material should come first.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:47pm

Munk, I think you're onto something!

You're the new DOYLE!!!

[hellzapoppin2000]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:48pm

Yes, lets remember Pearl Bailey (nobody would call her a douche being the lady she was). David Merrick equalized the whole cast by replacing the white cast with the black one. For balance. Theater and attitudes have changed since then. That's why we can have this discussion.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:51pm

That still doesn't explain how Stokes would work in the role. You want the whole point of the show lost just so he can play a role he already played?

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:52pm

Your post is now ill-informed.

There was nothing colorblind about the all black casts of those musicals. In fact, that's the very opposite of colorblind casting.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:53pm

I'm only okay with color blind casting in period shows in one case: Norm Lewis as Javert. Because he OWNS.

Honestly, the lights were so bright on BSM that he looked more like a tan white guy in South Pacific. I have a problem with him in Sweeney because his skin is supposed to be "pale."

Updated On: 12/18/06 at 02:53 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:53pm

HELLO, DOLLY! is a light, fluffy fable. None of the themes or plot points in the show have absolutely anything to do with race or color.

It is absolutely fine, then, for a black woman to play Dolly.

But the opposite is also true...you couldn't have a black Anna in THE KING AND I, while you could certainly get away with a black Sweeney Todd.

The role of Sheila in A CHORUS LINE is not race specific. The integrity of the show is maintained regardless of race.

Once the race is Emille is altered (not only to black...but to Asian, Indian, etc.) the integrity and entire point of SOUTH PACIFIC is ruined.

READ THE SCRIPT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:56pm

Thank you Munk! Well said.

Also, since Sher is directing, I imagine this to be a darker South Pacific with the race issues played up. No way Stokes will be in this.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:56pm

well now, there has been a white Deena:

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:57pm

And no, it doesn't work the other way, because White actors aren't held up from getting the kind of roles they want, the way black actors are, so when parts are written for black actors, that is sacrosanct.

It doesn't work both ways because the society doesn't work that way.

Open your eyes, racism isn't over, the struggle isn't over and it never will be.

Those who cry foul over things like this as well as things like affirmative action are racists until they realize that they are and start doing something about it.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:59pm

Thanks for a good laugh, fen.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 2:59pm

Fenchurch --- You're a racist.




And doodle? You're funny.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 12/18/06 at 3:03pm

I'm a middle aged white man whose been playing Effie for years and years...and I've gotten raves!

Course, that's in my shower...but still!