Racial Issues and BWW Posters — Page 3

Agreed. And on an aesthetic note, I think darker skin tones work really nicely with Taymor's designs.

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2 arguments that should never be used in this discussion, but always are:

1- "If you'd do that, why not an all white 'Raisin'[Or some other show where race is made explicitly important]?"

This argument is stupid because the show being discussed is almost always one with no specific races set for the characters. Therefore, your argument is lame. But from the proponents of color-blind comes:::

2- "Well, people don't really burst into song, do they?" This, too is stupid. It basically says that casting, design, and direction don't matter and the audience should blindly accept everything onstage because they're singing. Lame and a half, guys.

What did I just say?

AnnaK<3LMIP: When I saw The Lion King tour, there were a few white actors.

Reminds me, a local high school that supports color-blind casting and doesn't have many Asians in its drama program is going to put on Miss Saigon. Sorry, but I think that a mostly white cast of MS would not work. Ugh...

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Au contraire, Ryan. In addition to all black revues and shows, there was massively popular black Vaudeville, Broadway and burlesque preformers-- Ethel Waters comes to mind immediately.

It would be fascinating to hear an "Ethel Waters" character sing "I'm Still Here" but I'd hope Sondheim would make it more specific to a black performer of the era. Not for any "racist" reason, but that character would have a lot more trials to survive.

"The story is about these grand ladies who were ex-stars of big shows...around probably the 30s/40s maybe 50s ... therefor it wouldnt be fitting given the social/historical context."

Tell that to Lena Horne, Pearl Bailey, Eartha Kitt, Dorothy Dandridge, Ruby Dee, Josephine Baker, Diane Carroll, Bessie Smith, Marian Anderson, Ethel Waters, Katherine Dunham......

All these women are considered "grand ladies"

The people who argue for racial purity on stage never seem to mind when Kismet is cast with the most lily white of actors. Why is that?

I posit that we white people think we are the "normal" race and all other races are some odd mutation. We white people are pure and everyone else is some weird contaminated variation.

So we don't feel the slightest twinge when we see other races played by white people.. but the other way around and we get all annoyed and start screaming "historical accuracy!"

Unless the drama of the show comes from race issues..then for the most part, color-blind casting is not a problem. And if we want theatre to remind us of our common humanity -which is what good theatre does - than we should welcome to chance test our racial assumptions and broaden our suspencion of disbelief.

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Updated On: 6/23/07 at 03:31 PM

edit: this was it's own thread before i just moved it to another board

Today I came across a local production of In the Heights with a number of white people casted. While this turned me off, it wasn't surprising (we see it all the time with West Side Story, Evita, Miss Saigon etc). What I found very disturbing was that they had 'cast spray tanning sessions' to help out the those ...hm....lacking in melanin.

It also reminded me of the all-white children cast putting on Hairspray a few years back.

I've heard the argument that it's all acting and you're supposed to believe in the actor's ability to portray the race even if they don't look it (or in some cases, aren't even the race in question). Sometimes it's passing....and sometimes, no matter how talented, I just can't believe in a White Motormouth Maybelle.


all white hairspray