Sierra Boggess to play Maria in West Side Story in London — Page 10

broadwayboy223 said: "I dont think I can ever un see Ana's tweets. It was pretty cringe worthy"

What'd they say?

curel1 said: "broadwayboy223 said: "I dont think I can ever un see Ana's tweets. It was pretty cringe worthy"

What'd they say?"

Ana Twitter “live your Puerto Rican dreams girl”

Updated On: 4/23/18 at 05:39 PM

fashionguru_23 said: "My question now is, are we going to slam every high school that does West Side Story if they don't have a Latina actress as Maria or Anita?"

LOL, my high school did WSS two years ago and we had a white girl play Maria (who sported blonde hair and blue eyes). And then Tony was actually played by a black guy. The girl playing Anita was also white and just wore a black wig. Every single other person was white and the only actual Puerto Rican person we had was in the back of all the numbers because it was his first year. I was not in it. However, I attended a performance and it was terribly cringey. Only do shows that you have the actors for. I understand it’s high school but it’s just not a good look.

Tapping23 said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "I don't know if this is something people just don't want to get because it's really obvious. Reminds me of that scene inOrange is the New Blackwhen one of the flashbacks shows a black girl getting a tour from a private, all-white school and she gets excited to see they have a theatre program and she then she sees an a rehearsal of that high school's production of Dreamgirls with all white people playing all the characters. She ends up crying and not out of joy.

It's pretty clear from a lot of these posts that there's a willingness to be tone-deaf."



This made me role my eyes so hard it gave me a headache. This was not a full Concert, they were not doing any scenes, i do not feel she had any reason not to do this concert and support her decision fully. I think a full production or concert should be cast accordingly but this was not. Educational theater is a different but an all white production of Dream Girls would obviously be innapropriate. I have seen all white (mostly really bad bad bad) productions of WSS in highschools and yes (clutch your pearls) all white productions of the wiz. I have also seen a black and asian Dorothy, a black harold hill, a black Julian Marsh, and a latin Rolf with an asian Maria, a black female Judas, and a very odd production of Cinderella with a very heavy latin kid playing the fairy godmother. Which would have been fine if his costuming hadn’t been awful but he sang that R&H score to jesus. People need to back up take a breath and realize there little circle is not the only thing happening in the world."

I am really happy I gave you a headache as it sounds like you deserve one. Also "roll" not "role" and "their" not "there". Furthermore, a lot of Maria's songs have her singing in accent and has bits of dialogue where Sierra was probably going to do the accent like she did in the video posted before. It's also ironic you talk about people realizing "there" [sic] little circle is not the only thing happening in the world when all of the uproar about the uproar is about people holding dear to a time that is passing them by and not liking that the rest of the world is moving along and calling things out that are no longer acceptable because the world has opened up to new perspectives and new voices being heard.

Tapping23 said: "So glad you corrected my grammar. Good on you. I just hope you stretched before trying to kiss your own butt for your percieved wokeness and garbage moral superiority.Youcompletely missed what I said first and projected your bs argument on me. This concert was not the show or a full reading of the show. I highly HIGHLY doubt she was going to do the accent but thank god you know and thank god you referenced the video she herself said was bad. If the issue is having a latina playing the role then make sure you complain at every girl who plays the role who is not. Or is it as long as they are a person of color? What i find hysterical is how easy you are all fooled by people who claim to want things to be different and more diverse and just go along as nothing changes. You all are fighting the wrong people but will takeSierra leavig this concertas a win when it has been nothing but an empty display of fake moral outrage from a bunch of people who do nothing more than complain. The problem is I do get it and what happened here was a joke."

I've abstained from adding to the conversation even though it's baffled me, but...

Sierra literally DID THE ACCENT IN ANOTHER VIDEO THAT HAS BEEN POSTED.

This is very much a grey issue - the world has not yet reached a consensus so you can't expect the response to be black and white ("it has to go both ways" ). Of course there are still some white women playing Maria. There probably will be for a long time yet. Does that make it right, to have a white woman don bronzer and a wig and do an offensive accent? Nope. We can't make sweeping generalizations. We have a long, long way to go. But when the concert she was cast in is so popular and widely publicized, of course the optics look bad and people will be upset. The PROMS could have made a wonderful choice with any appropriately skilled actress of Latina descent, and instead cast entirely inappropriately. They are being made as an example, and hopefully with this instance in the public eye of the theatre world, maybe wiser decisions can be made.

Updated On: 4/23/18 at 09:14 PM

Tapping23 said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Tapping23 said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "I don't know if this is something people just don't want to get because it's really obvious. Reminds me of that scene inOrange is the New Blackwhen one of the flashbacks shows a black girl getting a tour from a private, all-white school and she gets excited to see they have a theatre program and she then she sees an a rehearsal of that high school's production of Dreamgirls with all white people playing all the characters. She ends up crying and not out of joy.

It's pretty clear from a lot of these posts that there's a willingness to be tone-deaf."

Well

This made me role my eyes so hard it gave me a headache. This was not a full Concert, they were not doing any scenes, i do not feel she had any reason not to do this concert and support her decision fully. I think a full production or concert should be cast accordingly but this was not. Educational theater is a different but an all white production of Dream Girls would obviously be innapropriate. I have seen all white (mostly really bad bad bad) productions of WSS in highschools and yes (clutch your pearls) all white productions of the wiz. I have also seen a black and asian Dorothy, a black harold hill, a black Julian Marsh, and a latin Rolf with an asian Maria, a black female Judas, and a very odd production of Cinderella with a very heavy latin kid playing the fairy godmother. Which would have been fine if his costuming hadn’t been awful but he sang that R&H score to jesus. People need to back up take a breath and realize there little circle is not the only thing happening in the world."

I am really happy I gave you a headache as it sounds like you deserve one. Also "roll" not "role" and "their" not "there". Furthermore, a lot of Maria's songs have her singing in accent and has bits of dialogue where Sierra was probably going to do the accent like she did in the video posted before. It's also ironic you talk about people realizing "there" [sic] little circle is not the only thing happening in the world when all of the uproar about the uproar is about people holding dear to a time that is passing them by and not liking that the rest of the world is moving along and calling things out that are no longer acceptable because the world has opened up to new perspectives and new voices being heard."

So glad you corrected my grammar. Good on you. I just hope you stretched before trying to kiss your own butt for your percieved wokeness and garbage moral superiority.Youcompletely missed what I said first and projected your bs argument on me. This concert was not the show or a full reading of the show. I highly HIGHLY doubt she was going to do the accent but thank god you know and thank god you referenced the video she herself said was bad. If the issue is having a latina playing the role then make sure you complain at every girl who plays the role who is not. Or is it as long as they are a person of color? What i find hysterical is how easy you are all fooled by people who claim to want things to be different and more diverse and just go along as nothing changes. You all are fighting the wrong people but will takeSierra leavig this concertas a win when it has been nothing but an empty display of fake moral outrage from a bunch of people who do nothing more than complain. The problem is I do get it and what happened here was a joke.

"

Speaking of projecting bs arguments and generalizing people in an "all in one" package. You have a real bone to pick and are ready to sweep everything into black and white. Talking about people being easily fooled, your whole post and the one before it are typical rantings from the most classic anti-diversity playbook. You are drinking the kool-aid like everybody you accuse of doing, but yours is just a different flavor. You haven't said anything most people who regularly engage in this discussion (and gasp even disagree with each other some times even if they're coming from the same place) haven't heard a million times before. Talk about eye roll inducing and just plain boring.

My post was about some of the more simplistic takes expressed in this thread that I think are incredibly backwards and you think it's your opportunity to go into a rant about some version of "you people". And you have no idea what people do for a living or how they volunteer their time or how they live their life but it's easy for you to do the easy thing during a politically-tinged argument and paint people with a broad brush and antagonize them and make yourself feel better pretending they're all people who don't do anything but complain. Whatever helps you live with yourself.

Updated On: 4/23/18 at 09:45 PM

BWAY Baby2 said: "For all of you color counters who pretend to want justice- but really want an unfair advantage since oppression is a fact of history- so now to level the playing field- let's get whitey. Well, what it got you is Trump- more visibility for white supremacists- and a backlash that actually stymies diversity. But in spite of your complaining and victimization, plenty of progress is being made for true equality and justice- and I say in spite of the victims who demand that every project have a POC- that every award have nominees of POC- regardless of if they deserve the recognition or not- that is beside the point- the color of the skin is all that matters. I say PHOOEY."

Oh how enlightening. Blaming people for bringing attention to the poison that has been seeping under the surface on those bringing attention to it rather than those who actually think like that and wanted life to be like that all along. Oh yeah, let's pretend it's the people posting on social media that has turned everybody racist and into Trump voters and they were not already inclined to be that way already. I mean think about it...does that sound like what a normal, rational person would do? "I usually don't hate black people, but they complain so much that I will turn racist!" No. If they sounded moderate before and then became a giant poster child for the alt-right after having a social media fight with people, it's because people have already tapped into something that person was already displaying and recognized it because their life experience has honed their skills in a way to recognize it. Let's not pretend there were all these great, admirable people who turned vile now. I mean you used so many red flag buzz words. "Unfair advantage", "Get Whitey", "oppression is history", etc. You really could not have made my point better.

And keep holding on to the idea that Trump and co. dominating the narrative and direction of this country for all time (did we forget that it was the economy and blaming Obama and "neo-liberal" globalization and immigrants that inspired those people to vote more than anything?) They aren't having the best of times right now either and people are still fighting back and younger people are the ones leading the charge.

And who decides what's "true equality and justice"? I'm sure many people tried to dismiss many of the issues activists were fighting for in the 1960s as "unimportant" and thought they were just complaining too much and why weren't they just happy they were no longer slaves. If you look at anti-suffragette and anti-civil rights rhetoric from back in the day, it's not so different what people are saying in here.

The truth is, all of this is happening because social media and younger generations of POC who now feel more empowered than their family members in previous generations are speaking out and social media is giving them a way to do it. Many POC are the ones speaking out and those who support them are the ones listening and being allies. Is progress only important if people like you are leading that way? The hell with everyone else and their points-of-view, right? Keep them silent, it was more comfortable for you that way.

I'm not saying social media isn't some times a cess pool and like everything else, there will be mistakes made and people may act before thinking. But let's not pretend it's only those complaining about lack of diversity that is guilty of that of which this thread is a great illustration.

Updated On: 4/23/18 at 09:59 PM

I seriously appreciated the last two posts in this thread from Tapping23 and BwayBaby2, and I apologize about my tone.

What I find interesting is the Italian person "passing" as Latinax or the Asian-American "passing." Is that okay? I'm honestly curious. It's like Fiddler on the Roof. If the guy playing Tevye is dark-haired, it's fine. He may not actually be Jewish, but he looks it. Whereas if it was a blonde guy, we'd all be like WTF. I don't know what's right and what's wrong in that instance. I mean, certainly, a woman who is Italian is nowhere near someone who is Puerto Rican, and, in that case, is she more capable of playing the part than Boggess? Is it purely that Boggess is clearly a red-head, and this Italian girl is dark haired, so we didn't think to care/ask?

BWAY Baby2 said: "For all of you color counters who pretend to want justice- but really want an unfair advantage since oppression is a fact of history- so now to level the playing field- let's get whitey. Well, what it got you is Trump- more visibility for white supremacists- and a backlash that actually stymies diversity. But in spite of your complaining and victimization, plenty of progress is being made for true equality and justice- and I say in spite of the victims who demand that every project have a POC- that every award have nominees of POC- regardless of if they deserve the recognition or not- that is beside the point- the color of the skin is all that matters. I say PHOOEY."

I'm sure the best way to treat a cancer is to pretend that it never exists. "oppression is a fact of history" Just wow.

We *cannot* start to turn this conversation and further divide by cultural identity once we accept we should divide by ethnicity. That leads to a whole bunch of impossible situations to deal with, for example:

* it would mean only Japanese heritage people should be in Pacific Overtures, or Thai people in the King and I. Practically impossible and of course no one would think this. Ethnicity of south East Asian should be sufficient.
* it would mean that only Canadians can play Canadians, Americans American, British British and Australians Australian. Equally absurd, practically impossible. Ethnicity of Caucasian should be enough.
* you are essentially saying Patti LuPone had no business playing an ethnically white woman. Ridiculous - what a talented performance that would have never happened. This is exactly why where possible it’s better to consider the best person for the best role.
* you could take this further and say only gay people can play gay people.

I’m so angry sometimes at my ‘left-wing’ colleagues (a movement I want to be associated with) because they take good ideas and just take them to absurd levels. This slippery slope of infinite divisions is why ‘identity politics’ just can’t always work. You need to be more balanced and realise for both practical and ethical reasons there is a limit to it. Wanting African ethnicity Celie is ok. Not wanting a white woman to play an ethnicallly white woman even if she is the most talented is not ok.

Updated On: 4/24/18 at 04:14 AM