Next to Normal with an all-black cast — Page 4

"Kelly2, I'm really sorry but arguing about your racist points of view at this point is like running in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded."

It's pretty sad that you'd toss around that word so loosely when there are still such serious racial conflicts going on around us. Oh well. Not everyone has the opportunity to be informed, sadly.

---

It's pretty sad that you'd toss around that word so loosely when there are still such serious racial conflicts going on around us. Oh well. Not everyone has the opportunity to be informed, sadly."

Why? Our President uses it on Jay Leno and he's black. (Well, half but to you I guess he still isn't "pure" so he counts). And let's not throw around the word "informed", little girl. Don't forget where you're posting and you have NO idea what involvements I may or may not have had in the casting or production side of this or any show, not to mention who I may or may not know of any race that went in for this show.

In the words of Dame Judi Dench: "Let's not, shall we"

Kelly2, you give Kelly1 a bad name.

Jared Leto is pretty damn hot.

NO! He lost all that weight and look pretty great. (At least the last picture I saw!)

How is an all-black cast the "elephant in the room"? White people aren't the only people with mental health issues.

---

Wow, you're so witty with that 2 year old macro.

---

Wow, not only does this thread have racism but now it has weightism. I think this thread needs a rating from the MPAA. Or at least a change in title alerting new readers that it has, in a sense, jumped the shark.

Kelly2, I'm really sorry but arguing about your racist points of view at this point is like running in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.

I understand the point you're trying to make and I don't want to start a fight. But, as someone with a special needs family member I find this comment to be way out of line.

---

'Or, Jordan, are you like millie and believe that no talented people of any other races auditioned for these parts?'

Kelly2, STOP. Stop trying to twist around everything I said.

First of all, this show doesn't even deal with race. The message is irrelevant to race.

I said you don't know who auditioned and whoever they currently chose was chosen based on their talent. That doesn't mean a minority actor or actress is not talented or did not give a stellar audition.

'I know PLENTY of other people who haven't gotten so much as a callback. Why is that, do you think? Is it because they're not good? Because I don't think that's why.'

Well DUH. Just because you don't get a callback doesn't necessarily mean you are an untalented performer.

As I said, I don't deny the talents of minorities. Maybe something just clicked with the current performers. You don't know, so stop trying to act like you know PLENTY of people who auditioned for the show, because whoever you know is probably a small handful of the audition pool.

Honestly, who cares anymore. What's done is done. If they decide to cast an all-black/Latino cast in the future, maybe I will pass on this show because according to Kelly2, I won't be as shocked with the show's message.

---

I think Next to Normal should be done with an all male cast. Charles Busch would make an excellent Diana.

---

Harvey Fierstein for Diana!

---

Wow, this is the most I've ever regretted starting a thread since my "Bitch of Ushering" thread.

---

That the race of the characters matters. That I'm a realistic human being, as are the creators of the show, and I realize what the racial majority of both the theatergoing public but this country is, and that casting the show in a way to sell the show to that majority sells tickets. Like it or hate it, but it is what it is.

Most people, unfortunate as it is, see color a little differently than the holier-than-thou progressive-thinkers of Broadwayworld (which OBVIOUSLY attracts people a little more to the left, shall we say, than the general public). They want the matinee grandmothers to come to the show and see someone who could be their daughter, or their son, and sorry, darlings, but THAT is why everyone in the cast is white. Because its' what makes the producers the most money. For people too stupid to see past race, it's EASIER for them to "get the picture" when they don't have to look too hard, so they pander to the lowest common denominator. This shouldn't be shocking for anyone to be able to comprehend, that's how everything in this country works. A saddening majority of people polled don't know the capital of Illinois isn't Chicago, and can't find Iran on a map, you think those people can understand the complexities of colorblind casting? I highly doubt it. And yes, for THOSE PEOPLE who are paying 120$ a ticket, the message of the show wouldn't be the same if they couldn't quite "get it" the way that they do now as it's pretty much spelled out for them.

Anyway, my mistake was being so brief, I didn't fairly explain the point I was trying to make, and now I have, and hopefully we are all informed enough to understand. Though I won't hold my breath, as yesterday I found out a good friend of mine relies on "The Daily Show" for her world news, so my faith in humanity isn't particularly high right now.

---

Updated On: 8/2/09 at 12:15 AM