Minority Replacements

Looking at the current Chicago:The Musical cast leads (the roles of Velma, Roxie, Billy and Mama all cast with African-Americans and a Hispanic lady), I've been wondering how many times has Broadway seen a show that was originally cast with (or intended to be played by) white performers as the leads and was, at some point, replaced almost completely with performers of minority backgrounds?

I'm also curious because (and I can be really wrong here), the plot of Chicago and the time it is set, could be completely different if the characters were not white in the 1920's / 30's - just an observation (the show itself is so well known that this obviously doesn't really matter).

Any other examples?

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Ohhhh...good example. I always thought it opened with an all-black cast - never thought the whole cast was replaced that way.

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The differences in Chicago are more logical/historical. ie, could a young black man in America in the 1920's become such a successful, well-respected attourney? But no, it wouldn't dramatically alter the plot.

There was that all-black revival of Guys and Dolls in the 70's

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I thought this thread was about non-white REPLACEMENT casts, not about productions which were originally conceived to be all non-white (eg Long Day's Journey, Guys and Dolls). There have been DOZENS of those.

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well actually Margo those all black casts are relevant because those shows weren't concieved as all black shows. So it still counts.

The original question:

"I've been wondering how many times has Broadway seen a show that was originally cast with (or intended to be played by) white performers as the leads and was, at some point, replaced almost completely with performers of minority backgrounds?"

The question was about replacement casts, NOT black versions of traditionally white shows, which is a different question and thread entirely. But if you want to talk about that you can start go back at least as far as the Orson Welles/John Houseman "Voodoo Macbeth" in the 30s up through the soon to start all black "King Lear" starring Andre de Shields that the Classical Theatre of Harlem is producing. Off the top of my head, you can also include "Timbuktu!" (the black version of "Kismet" that starred Eartha Kitt back in the 70s), "The Hot Mikado" (based on The Mikado, which toured during the 80s), several Public Theatre productions of classics over the years ("King Lear" with James Earl Jones, Rosanne Cash and Lee Chamberlin, "The Cherry Orchard" with James Earl Jones, Gloria Foster, and Earle Hyman, "Coriolanus" with Hyman, "Julius Caesar," "Mother Courage" with Gloria Foster), the Ma-Yi Theatre's production of "Mother Courage" from the late 90s which featured an all-Asian cast and set the play in the Phillipines during that country's 1960s civil war, "The Drowning Crow" (an all black version of "The Seagull" rewritten by Regina Taylor and updated to the present day which played at MTC a couple of seasons back, and last season's "On Golden Pond" which starred James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams. And there are dozens of other examples.

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Updated On: 9/24/06 at 11:50 PM

As Margo said I believed the thread was about minorities who had replaced the major stars of a show conceived for white actors, as a matter of fact, the thread name is "minority replacements" instead of "minority productions." But I understand how it is relevant to mention revivals that included an all-minority cast.
With the Chicago revival I've never had issues with the minority casting just because the show avoids to exist in a 1920s era unlike the original production (in my opinion). I doubt that in the 1920s an African-American man could've been the most sought-after attorney and never lost a case. However, this is hardly relevant in a revival that is hardly conscious of the era as Fosse's production was.

I know there was a african-american Fantine at sometime, not sure where or when. I wonder if they changed anything else to accomodate that.

I still don't get the Whoopi casting. Though, I hear she was good, right?

Les Miserables:

Melba Moore - Fantine (Broadway)
Thursday Farrar - Fantine (Tour)
Tonya Dixon - Fantine (Tour)
Joan Almedilla - Fantine (Tour)
Shanice - Eponine (Broadway)
Rona Figueroa - Eponine (Broadway)
Lea Salonga - Eponine (Broadway)
Ma-Ane Dionisio - Eponine (Tour)
Cornell John - Javert (London)
Ricky Martin - Marius (Broadway)
Fuschia Walker - Madame (Broadway)
Shaun Escoffery - Enjolras (London)

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Updated On: 9/25/06 at 05:12 AM

There was an Asian Christine at some point during the Toronto run of POTO.

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