Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back? - Page 3
Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
#50Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/3/16 at 9:58pm
Toni Colette would make an incredible Desiree.
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir
#51Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/3/16 at 10:37pm
Someone in a Tree2 said: "Ok I'll bite if no-one else will-- Remind me again why we're doing an all-black casting of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. Certainly any one of the actors you mentioned could be brilliant in those roles, but what does a production of ALNM gain by being treated like Merrick's '67 production of HELLO DOLLY with Pearl Bailey and company? Do we understand the class structure of Belle Epoque Sweden any better for it? I'm at a loss."
Yeah...when I see A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC I always worry I'm not getting an authentic Belle Epoque Sweden experience. I mean, it is clear that Sondheim and Wheeler were practically writing a documentary of Swedish culture at the time.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#52Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/3/16 at 10:58pm
I don't get the sarcasm here. If I see a production of MY FAIR LADY, I expect to see a representation of 1912 London. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF? It better express a sense of Shtetl life in Tzarist Russia circa 1905. COMPANY? If it does't capture a sense of upper middle class life in Manhattan circa 1970 (or alternately circa 2016), it fails on some level. Why should A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC be exempt from that basic standard?
#53Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/3/16 at 11:02pm
At its core, A Little Night Music doesn't really have much to do with Swedish society. I mean, obviously it's set there, but it's not a commentary on Sweden at that time in the way that My Fair Lady is a commentary on English society. A Little Night Music is more or less a romantic comedy, not a statement on Swedish society. Casting black actors in any or all of the roles maybe doesn't help us understand the Belle Epoque of Sweden (which I seriously doubt anyone seeing it knows or cares about) but as long a story about love and loss and longing is told well, the casting of actors of color is of no consequence.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#54Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/3/16 at 11:09pm
I don't have a problem with a mixed cast, but an all black cast is a little ridiculous. I just don't understand the point.
#55Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/3/16 at 11:57pm
icecreambenjamin said: "I don't have a problem with a mixed cast, but an all black cast is a little ridiculous. I just don't understand the point.
Why is it any more "ridiculous" than doing the show with an all white cast?
#56Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 12:14am
Because an all white cast would probably be historically acturate, while an all black cast is just for gimmick.
#57Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 12:16am
Oh dear. Please quit while you're ahead.
#58Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 12:18am
I'd rather have an all black cast than a mixed white/black cast. No offence to white people (and I say this as a white person), but black people seem to have a more interesting vocal timbre than white people generally speaking. I want to hear a fresh take on all the songs.
When my goodbye post was removed: “but I had a great dramatic finish!!!!”
#59Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 12:22am
As someone who is half black, I find the blackwashing of shows to be offensive. They weren't given the role because of their talent, but because the director wanted to do something "experimental." So no, I don't want a black exploitation production of A Little Night Music.
broadwayboy223
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/2/14
#60Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 12:37am
I'd rather see Leslie Uggams as Desiree
#61Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 2:41am
When we will ever see a transgender drag queen lesbian Muslim version, when people when!!!
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
#62Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 3:03am
Maybe when that religion becomes more welcoming of transgendered people :P.
When my goodbye post was removed: “but I had a great dramatic finish!!!!”
#63Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 4:19am
icecreambenjamin said: "As someone who is half black, I find the blackwashing of shows to be offensive. They weren't given the role because of their talent, but because the director wanted to do something "experimental." So no, I don't want a black exploitation production of A Little Night Music."
...you find black actors being employed offensive??
I think an all-black Night Music could be terrific. plus, what do you mean "historically accurate"? the story is fiction. there are no historical characters.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
#64Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 6:37am
I. Can't. Even.
It's not worth the time trying to formulate a response to his nonsense.
#65Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 6:41am
The line re: not given the role based on talent also doesn't make much sense. Are you suggesting they just take the first black actor through the door without any audition? Of course they would be cast based on more criteria than simply the colour of their skin. It would hypothetically be a necessary but not sufficient condition.
When my goodbye post was removed: “but I had a great dramatic finish!!!!”
Updated On: 8/4/16 at 06:41 AM
#66Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 7:06am
What I'm saying is that there is no relevance to casting an all black cast to this show. There wouldn't be any new layers found in the show. I would rather see black actors beat white actors for a role, then see them essentially recieve a role just because the director wanted to do something "new." I would rather see Brian Stokes Mitchell recieve the role over a white actor because he gave the better audition and not because he was the go to African American low male voice (He is a bass right? I think). While Leslie Uggams and Brian Stokes Mitchell would both be wonderful, I think the idea of an all black cast for this show is hilariously bad.
Yeah the show is fiction, but how many poc are in Fiddler or My Fair Lady. They just weren't in these groups at the time. I would love to see a nice mix of people onstage, but I just don't know why we need an all black cast of a show that would find no relevance in having an all black cast. Does it heighten the material? No. Does it find an inner meaning at it's core? No. So why do it?
That being said, if they did do an all black cast of A Little Night Music, I would see it and probably love it and would be happy to see so many black actors have jobs, but I really do feel as if most black actors recieve roles simply because the role is black. I really want to see more color blind casting out there. I want to be able to compete with people of every race for a role.
#67Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 7:12am
Leslie Uggams is 73. Come on people. Desiree is the mother of a young daughter.
#68Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 7:15am
Yeah, without your affirmative action casting, that hack Audra McDonald would never get roles.
Uggams is far too old to headline a major revival, but I am fairly certain she's done the regionally, as recently as the last couple of years.
#69Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 7:30am
Leslie Uggams played Desiree at Michigan Opera Theatre in 2009, opposite Ron Raines as Fredrik. Here's a clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qhHwawOKo&feature=channel
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#70Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 7:33am
My memory half works! I knew she'd done it before but can't believe it was 7 years ago. Yikes!
#71Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 7:56am
Speaking of Audra, why not her for Desiree?
They/them.
"Get up the nerve to be all you deserve to be."
#72Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 8:03am
she did?? damn! I live and southeast Michigan (and have attended several operas there, even around 2008 or so) and never heard about that!
icecream, Fiddler is a show that I can understand them non casting POC (although I hear the show was hugely popular in Japan) because the story has to do with their Jewishness.
My Fair Lady on the other hand, I think would be fantastic with a diverse or even all-black cast. (it's actually one of my wishes that Audra McDonald would have played Eliza in a mid-late 90's revival because I think she could have been superb.) Nothing in that shown in this day and ages screams (to me) that it must only be a white Eliza and a white Higgins and a white Pickering.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
#73Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 8:30amicecreambenjamin, just wanted to note that I understand your point and agree with you. Race blind casting is great for any show, but anti-traditional race casting should have artistic purpose.
#74Is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC coming back?
Posted: 8/4/16 at 8:32am
Fiddler is a show that I can understand them non casting POC (although I hear the show was hugely popular in Japan) because the story has to do with their Jewishness.
Fiddler on the Roof is hugely popular around the world and has been performed by casts of all ethnic make-ups. The themes of family, faith and tradition transcend specific races and cultures.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 8/4/16 at 08:32 AM
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