Phylicia Rashad to take over as Violet Weston- Page 3

[hpeabody930]

Posted: 3/5/09 at 11:50pm

Wait a second. Elizabeth Ashley is older than Rashad.
Ashley turns 70 this year and Rashad just turned 60. Does that work?.... This ought to be very very interesting...

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 12:11am

Something just occurred to me.

Estelle Parsons is leaving to do the National Tour. Is there a chance the entire current principle Broadway company is going to be joining her?

If that was the case, they could be replacing them with an all African-American cast, which would explain the somewhat out-of-left-field addition of Rashad (although I think it would work regardless, considering the unlikelihood of a new company.)

Updated On: 3/6/09 at 12:11 AM

[LouieLovesTheater]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 12:27am

I just can't see Rashad saying that dialogue or dropping those F-Bombs.

[uncageg]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 3:02am

I'm speechless.

[canmark]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 6:43am

I've only seen Phylicia Rashad on stage once--in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof--and I thought she was the best part of that production.

I've never seen August: Osage County, so I can't really judge her suitability for the role. But I'm not sure that her being African-American is that much of an issue.

Would it matter that Gertrude was black if Hamlet was white? I don't think so. Similarly, I think you could have a black Linda, even though Willy Loman, Biff and Happy were all white. Unless a character's ethnicity is an itegral part of the play (and it may be--as I said, I haven't seen Osage, although the touring production is coming here in the fall, I think), I think the quality of the actor is more important.

Also, from the producers' perspective, she's a 'name' star and will probably attract some people to that play.

Updated On: 3/6/09 at 06:43 AM

[pattilupuppy]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 6:53am

this is a very interesting thread indeed....

Saw 33 variations last night which was amazing... but Phylicia Rashad was there... thats all i have to say about this

and that some of your comments have been a little worrisome on this subject.

[jeffrey1dog]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 7:54am

Canmark... Violet has 3 white sisters & 5 white children. How can you overlook that?

[East Village]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 8:56am

Obvious attempt to widen the audience and milk a few more bucks out of the broadway house while the tour goes out to make money.

The play is a hateful, over the top portrait of an America that borders on the ridiculous. And I say borders on the ridiculous because the play gains most of its punch by combining realism with the ridiculous.

Adding a biracial character to the family just renders it so much more of a hateful portrait as to be a farce or absurd

[wonkit]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 9:49am

It is intriguing to think that Letts approved this casting as a test of his own work. If this play can overcome inter-racial casting, it is even stronger than I believe it to be. But the fact that (in my opinion) Rashad is not a good black actress muddies the question a lot.

I don't find the play hateful - but there is a lot of room for interpretation. The characters are damaged and damaging but they do connect with each other from time to time. So much of what they do is pre-emptive and primitive - strike before being struck.

[bossbear062]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 12:00pm

I have not seen this play..but I am a fan of Rashad and I am sure that she will be wonderful...some of these comments come off as kind of racist (im not saying that you are)..for christ sakes people cant you stretch your imagination just a little before you start disapproving choices made...sometimes you just gotta let things play them self out...I am also happy that she is in the show cause now as a black theater goer I have even stronger interest in seeing this..and I can convince my other black friends to join me...folks support black actors..who knows maybe just maybe this casting could work

[jordangirl]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 12:36pm

I definitely am in agreement with those who have said that there are cases where color-blind casting works and cases where it doesn't. IMHO if it adds the potential for unintended subtext (which this does and at least one understudy call sheet I saw would), I don't think it should be done. Nothing against any actor or actress.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 1:10pm

How is this play at all hateful? Letts is writing about the land he grew up in. It's a portrait of "the Plains" and of the large American family that lives there. It's no more hateful than anything, say, Tennessee Williams wrote. As for the casting of Phylicia further deepening the hatefulness: that's just ridiculous.

[Morgaine885]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 1:24pm

I loved that aspect of 110 in the Shade.

I plan on going to see her in the show with a totally open mind.

Hey, we have had women that clearly look in their 40's playing 19-year-old Mimi in RENT. Anything can happen.

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 1:32pm

The character having white children is far more believable than having white siblings. Children of mixed race tend (with a VERY high frequency) to be of the same skin tone within a family. So, if the parents are of different race, their child could be within a wide spectrum of skin tone, but if they had more than one child, all those kids would almost always have similar skin tone. So, the siblings raise more questions that the kids.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 1:37pm

I thought it worked seamlessly in 110 IN THE SHADE.

If people are able to suspend disbelief that the people up on stage are breaking into song and dance every few minutes, there's no reason why they can't look past the colors of the actors' skin and just see human beings, as a family, in a show like 110 IN THE SHADE where race isn't an issue in the story being told.

The line that Violet has about Native Americans being no more native than she is, is a line that is going to have to be changed, otherwise it's not going to make any sense. I'm surprised Letts would be willing to change the text of his Pulitzer prize winning script.

Another line that isn't going to work as well the way it is currently written is, "There's a Indian in my house!" It is going to draw notice to the fact that Violet is the only African-American in her house, and not make as much sense.

Those two lines do really help draw the character of Violet, and get some of the biggest laughs in the play. It should be interesting to see how they will be handled.

I don't, however, think that believability of a family with different skin colors should be an issue in a play, unless it is specifically noted in the text that they are of the same skin color.

Violet's racist nature is going to have to be changed somehow, though.

It should be interesting to see how it plays out.

Updated On: 3/6/09 at 01:37 PM

[Morgaine885]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 1:37pm

And I was thinking about the subplots of that show...affairs, nephews are really sons, etc.

Maybe we can pretend that Violet was the product of an affair and she and Mattie Fae are only half-sisters.

[Plum]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 4:14pm

Plum, to be fair, Bernarda Alba and Violet Weston are both "terrifying matriarchs" in completely different ways.

True enough. But I still can't see Rashad in this role - she's excellent when she's in her magisterial wheelhouse, but I don't think Violet falls in that zone. And I'm happy about the race-blind casting.

[CurtisTaylorJr2]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 5:23pm

The point is, the play doesn't revolve around race, it's deals with issues that transcend race and with casting should be based on ability, not race. There is too much obsession with race, who cares what color the actors are? Just enjoy the play.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 5:42pm

So it doesn't matter what the race of the actress playing Johnna is?

The purpose of her character is to bring out race issues and views of Violet.

[Rentfan931]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 5:58pm

Well I'm curious to see how this will work out. Having seen Deanna and Estelle in the role, I may just go back to the Music Box to see this again.

[g4rat]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 6:05pm

I was a little jared at first, but then after I started thinking about it, Why couldn't it work? I'm all for color blind casting, so the fact that she's black and their white doesn't really bother me. Race shouldn't really matter in this case (seeing that race isn't the main focus of the story.) For those of you who have to struggle to suspend disbelief, it's simple, Violet will be biracial for Ms. Rashad's stint. I just hope that she digs deep to play the role, and not fall back on her typical performances. I'm sure she'll be quite good.
Updated On: 3/6/09 at 06:05 PM

[winston89]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 10:01pm

g4rat, Your right that race isn't the main focal point of the story. However, Vi is somewhat racist and says some offensive things. Both of which are things that won't work if the actress delivering them are black.


I said earlier that I have nothing against color blind casting but it has to work.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 10:08pm

There are black racists...

[dg22894]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 10:09pm

I want to see Rashad in the color purple she would be a good shug athlough she might be too old

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 10:17pm

I would like to see her as Sofia!