Rent Race Question

I don't specifically know the answer to your question, but Mimi is actually Hispanic/Latina (I don't know what the correct term is right now). She says, "Feels to damn much like home when the Spanish babies cry." And there are other references, I think. Anyways, yeah.

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Mimi has been played by both Latina and African-American actresses.

Angel has also been played by multiple actors who are Latino, African-American, white, Asian and pacific islander.

To my knowledge, Joanne was never played by a white woman. I know that Laura Dias (Maya Days) went on for her a few times in the Benny Tour of the show. I think Broadway has been less open to that type of thing.

I know for a fact that Yassmin Alers wanted to cover the role and she wasn't allowed to. Of course, Yassmin offered to cut her hair and go on as Mark once during a random flu out break within the cast in 1997 so she's hardly the exception. I can tell you that Yassmin Alers went on as the male SOLoist in Seasons of Love several times and played Paul and Steve at least once each. That is out side the normal casting - but each time was due to an unusual circumstance.

The NY production has always casted the lead roles like the OBC, with the exception of Mimi (there have been a few black Mimis - Scary Spice, for example). There have been some different races for understudies, however (currently, the Mimi understudy - Ava Gaudet - is white, and the Angel understudy - Enrico Rodriguez - is of Philipino/Hispanic descent, but looks Philipino).

I think Rent would work just fine with different races. It'd be different to see, but it'd still work. Mimi and Angel are the only ones with an announced race (both Latino), the other principles don't matter. If I'm not mistaken, the original Collins (from the workshop) was white. International productions have had different races.

His name was escaping me. Thanks Patronus

I'm not trying to be a know-it-all, but it's possible to be black and Latina.

The term Latina refers to one's ethnicity, not your race. There are white Latinas, black Latinas, mestizos and even Asian Latinas.

For example, actress Penelope Cruz and the late Celia Cruz are both Latinas but it's obvious that they are not of the same race.

And my best friend is both Latina and black. The terms are not mutually exclusive.

I don't consider Daphne to be black, she's more or less kinda tannish.

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Let's just say that Jonathan Larson was not concerned with the race of the characters until Taye, Fredi, Daphne, and Jesse came onto the scene.

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As someone of Puerto Rican descent and a strong sense of my Latino heritage and background the distinction between Latino races given by Tennessee Twang is correct.

In Puerto Rico (and other Caribbean and Latin American countries) we have people of different skin colors. I myself am of a "tanned" complexion, my cousin Sylvia on the other hand is white as a sheet (and is often mistaken for being Jewish) and my sister Tita is a shade darker than me (like Rosario Dawson).

In casting Mimi, the intent is always to have the character be Latina but they cast it with actresses of varying skin tones and racial backgrounds because they can essentially get away with it. Face it, the character of Mimi in RENT doesn't have awhole hell of alot of spanish dialogue, so language isn't really a problem and the skin tone thing isn't a problem because the Latinos of the world have different skin shades/tones then that isn't so much of an issue either.

Mimi can always be played as either a light skinned or dark skinned Latina but not necessarily by a light skinned or dark skinned Latina.

Updated On: 10/23/05 at 11:47 AM

That's a great question EverythingisRENT. I'm not sure about her background.
I do know that Daphne Rubin-Vega is Panamanian.
Rosario Dawson is part Puerto Rican/Cuban/African-American.

Yes, but she's primarily Puerto Rican/Cuban/African-American. Her mother is Puerto Rican and her father is Cuban/African-American. I don't see Rosario being cast in a remake of The Quiet Man in the near future.

Updated On: 10/23/05 at 12:12 PM

which brings up something I always wondered... how long did Mimi live... wherever she lived that was Spanish, when did she move away, and why does she not have a latin accent? Or did she as a person try to forget that, and lose it purposely? We'll have to ask Daphne, who created the character... but do you guys think that Mimi should be played with a spanish-speaker's accent?

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Many Hispanic kids grow up speaking perfect English because it was easier for them to learn than their parents, so no, Mimi doesn't need an accent. My dad is from South America and didn't learn English until he was 10, but he has no accept to speak of today.

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