Opinions on "All Black" Versions of "White" Shows — Page 3

I don't get Black Starz, but I do get Black Showtime and HBO (the B stands for Black).

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I'm not entirely sure which side of the argument this supports, but what about Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon? Although the show definitely has themes of explicit and implicit racial conflict, the producers argued that race didn't matter specifically for the character of the Engineer. The creators took their prerogative to sidestep the historical accuracy objection by making his genealogy ambiguous, and threw in the best-talent-for-the-job rationale for good measure. But there was still uproar over a white actor playing what could (should?) have been an Asian character, or the possible rewriting of an Asian role to suit a white actor.

It is rare that white actor is cast in a role specified for another race, but that may have as much to do with supply and demand as avoidance of controversy. There are so many roles that default to white, and most non-white roles are in plays in which race is central, so the "reverse" of non-traditional casting with whites is rather moot. It's interesting that the problems are almost opposite in professional and amateur theater- in the latter, you might be more likely to see a fully white-on-white Jets/Sharks matchup than a Maria who even looks vaguely PR.

But would it have worked with Warwick Davis?

Didn't he also have prosthetic in London to make his eyes look more Asian? I think those were left in London when he came over. (I see Kad beat me on this point)

But yeah, writing a role to be Asian (or half-Asian) and then casting a white person in the role seems to be counterintuitive. For what it's worth, I don't think there's ever been a non-Asian Engineer in the US after Pryce.

Updated On: 4/26/12 at 03:44 PM

First, thanks to everyone for the great posts. Some really well articulated arguments have been made and my mind has been swimming all morning. (happily).

I also wanted to say that for me there are a couple of issues on the table. The philosophical and the practical.

Philosophical discussions and practical ones tend to get blurred for me on these threads. For me it is not theoretically impossible to separate the idea of ethnicity and the living of ethnicity.

I agree with the assertion that there is a larger metaculture to which we all have a duty. I think our idiosyncratic origins are extremely important (to us - to the individual) but on larger social levels there are (in my opinion) human and/or global issues that transcend an individual region, population or culture (such as global warming, nuclear warfare, international economics).

On a more esoteric level, there is - in my opinion - a human culture. Though the expression of human values may be different from region to region, culture to culture, they share many commonalities. Family, love, duty, sex, drugs, religion - they are all common themes throughout history, across cultures and ethnicities, and though the values may change, they are all different expressions of the same ideas. how do we live together? what do we do? for work? for fun? what do we believe in? how will we survive?

And let's not be naive, many cultures, civilizations and (what we would probably term now) ethnic groups that have "gone extinct" or been absorbed in a larger culture.
These definitions change.

Practically, it's a different matter. What an audience will accept and pay for is rooted in the philosophical, but can often be mitigated (and often is) by a plethora of other factors - from historical accuracy to historical awareness, to our cultural place and time, to our personal ability to be receptive to different interpretations.

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The original Thuy was played by a white person in London, too, right? Eeesh.

Kad said:

"If an African American were playing a lawyer, and race is not discussed at all in the script, it doesn't matter."

It doesn't matter in some ways, I agree, but in developing the character with the actor I'd be surprised if some clear choices involving race were not discussed.

Why do I feel like this discussion is always started by someone who doesn't really care about the issue and only wants to get people arguing with each other?

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I still want to know that the big offense to you is with the cast of the current Streetcar, that you'd be equally offended with a white Color Purple

Did anyone see Patrick Stewart as Othello with an otherwise all black cast at The Shakespeare Theatre Co.? It's a compelling and fascinating concept.

"For what it's worth, I don't think there's ever been a non-Asian Engineer in the US after Pryce."

I have heard that part of the final concession with Equity to allow Pryce to come over was that the role would only be played by an Asian actor after Pryce left the Broadway production (and this would only apply to the original Broadway production and maybe any tours based on that production/produced by Cameron Mackintosh, not to future regional production or revivals). Whether that is true or not I can't confirm, but I have heard it from several different sources.

I would love to see, not necessarily "all-black", but multi ethnic productions of all the classics. Shows like Oklahoma! or The Music Man - or even Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which are traditionally white but race isn't mentioned. Asian actors are usually relegated to lead roles in The King and I and Miss Saigon or chorus parts in 42nd Street. I'd love to see an Asian Curly, an Hispanic Harold Hill - I'd even love to see a black Nellie Forbush some day - it would give some interesting dynamics to her character.

But I would not want to see variations to the characters in A Raisin in the Sun or 1776.