Lea Michele as Fanny - Funny Girl — Page 64

Let’s not make this a pissing contest over who saw which casting notice. There should have been consistent messaging across the board. If they were truly seeking actors of Jewish heritage for the role, they would make that language clear in EPA listings as well as private submission requests. They most certainly didn’t cast Fanny from an EPA, so how Katerina McCrimmon was cast in the first place (and, too, why she thought it was okay to submit herself at all) if she is, in fact, not Jewish is… a choice.

Updated On: 7/12/23 at 09:46 PM

Phillyguy said: "Penna2 said: "Can we focus please? The issue is having a Jewish woman playing Fanny Brice. Not all this tangent stuff. When they were casting the original production Stephen Sondheim said Fanny should be played by a Jewish woman. They were considering Mary Martin and Carol Burnett among others. Burnett said she believed Fanny should be played by a Jewish woman."

How do you exactly propose the producers do? Ask the illegal question if the actor is Jewish? In the absence of that question, the producers simply have to judge who's the most convincing Fanny Brice in audition.

Even if the producers want to have a Jewish actor, they simply cannot ask that question and would have to assume that the people who audition fulfil this role.

As this remains a debate and therefore no clear consensus on whether a non-Jewish actor can play this role, I would expect there are probably more than one non-Jewish actor auditioning. I don't see a way around this, even if that what everyone wanted."

I understand that. My issue is more with the actress and her agent. I also understand an actress wanting to have a role and feel capable of playing the role. We saw that with Beanie. My feeling is this young woman lacks respect for the character she so desperately wants to and may well portray. This goes beyond any show - the woman lacks character and, if anything, Fanny had character.

Penna2 said: "Don't like what I post - walk on by."

^Seriously. If this young actress is fired and has her career harmed over internet mob antics I'll be beyond disgusted.

If this young actress is fired and has her career harmed over internet mob antics I'll be beyond disgusted.

That will never happen because people who are seeing this tour will not give two sh*ts about her personal life, they care if she is talented and will entertain them. Period.

Can we please stop attacking Katerina and give her an OUNCE of the benefit of the doubt?? Exactly, the audition notice asked for actors who identified as Jewish. Do you all think that ill of a person that they would go out of their way to audition for a part they knew they know they shouldn’t be? Can’t we just assume the better in others instead of assuming they’re evil right away? I’m choosing to remain optimistic, and until Katerina herself says she does identify as Jewish then I don’t see anything wrong with this casting.

Rational, intelligent people know she did absolutely nothing wrong. The people verbally abusing, threatening and harassing her online are filled with hate for women and people of color. They are hiding behind "I'm doing this for my tribe!". Nah, people who demand a stop to all anti-Semitic behavior and then turn around and violently accost/stalk/threaten/abuse this woman for getting a job? They are all hypocritical garbage people that like to invent things to bitch about.

Updated On: 7/13/23 at 01:18 AM

Highland Guy said: "Penna2 said: "RippedMan said: "Ya'll are gonna get this poor girl fired from a huge, major, life changing role. Sucks."

That "poor girl" likely saw the call and said screw it. Whatever happens, her reputation is soiled and that's on her, nobody else."



BALDERDASH. Katerina McCrimmon was chosen to portray Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" because she was the best candidate. I look forward to seeing her performance. And I continue to send my best to her and all those involved in this touring production.

"

Correction, she was the "best" non-Jewish candidate, see how that works?

Two things can be true: the social media backlash to this will likely have zero impact on audiences across the country, and it’s a shame they specifically noted they were looking for a Jewish actor and then cast a non-Jewish actor.

Blaxx’s point about casting LMM and Kristin Chenoweth in Parade feels the most logical here. While it may be true that non-Jews have played Leo and Lucille, in THIS production, it was important to cast Jewish actors to tell a story that is inextricably about those characters’ Jewishness. The same is true of this Funny Girl production. If they had no intention of only casting Jewish actors as Fanny, they shouldn’t have noted it in the casting breakdowns.

As for the folks bending over backwards to deliberately misinterpret this topic and why others might be upset: maybe unpack that a bit. Because it’s honestly saying more about you at this point than anything to do with the casting itself.

Updated On: 7/13/23 at 07:09 AM

RippedMan said: "Right. Everyone involved is in the wrong. But what do you do? Fire someone for not being Jewish? Because that has its own horrible optics."

And illegal. Let's not forget that.

Dilemma for casting is that you want representation, both in truth and in portrayal. Only the latter is legal.

ColorTheHours048 said: "The social media backlash to this will likely have zero impact on audiences across the country, and it’s a shame they specifically noted they were looking for a Jewish actor and then cast a non-Jewish actor.

There is always a risk that social media baclkash becomes real news fodder, which could absolutely be damaging. The producers of the tour would be foolish to ignore this.

Updated On: 7/13/23 at 09:33 AM

blaxx said: "Kad said: "blaxx said: "If it was a story of suffering they would not have failed in casting a Jewish person.

But, as always, in a story of joy and success they could've cast practically anyone and get away with a slap in the wrist."

What recent productions about Jewish joy and success have not cast Jewish leads?"

The Funny Girl revival for their National Tour. But also Falsettos recently comes to mind.

Imagine if Chenoweth and LMM were cast in Parade under the pretense that they were "the best" for the roles."

We can also look into the move and TV world for more examples:

-Rachel Brosnahan in Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

-Kathryn Hahn in the Joan Rivers biopic (which was scrapped for unrelated reasons)

-Will Ferrell and Kathryn Hahn (again) in the Shrink Next Door.

-The Fabelmans

the list does go on. Yet this Fanny Brice casting seems most egregious based on all the points already brought up in this thread.



I disagree with the personal attacks McKrimmon is receiving and don’t think there’s a good way forward. If she drops out or is let go in favor of a Jewish actor, those optics are terrible. If she continues with the show, she will tour the country perpetuating stereotypes to the masses.

The producers buying out her contract or her stepping down would be an equally bad look for this tour. I highly doubt the majority of theatergoers that see tours would have no idea about this casting or even who she is.

blaxx said: "Kad said: "blaxx said: "If it was a story of suffering they would not have failed in casting a Jewish person.

But, as always, in a story of joy and success they could've cast practically anyone and get away with a slap in the wrist."

What recent productions about Jewish joy and success have not cast Jewish leads?"

The Funny Girl revival for their National Tour. But also Falsettos recently comes to mind.

Imagine if Chenoweth and LMM were cast in Parade under the pretense that they were "the best" for the roles."



Or imagine if original stars Carolee Carmello and the late Brent Carver (both non-Jews) were cast simply because they were the "best" for the roles...oh wait a minute...they were! And they were MARVELOUS!!