Sierra Boggess to play Maria in West Side Story in London — Page 2

Elfuhbuh said: "I love the mindset of, "Well, because this has been 'okay' in the past, you guys have no business getting mad about it now!""

So true.  "Where were you all when Natalie Wood did it?!!!! WHERE WAS THE OUTRAGE THEN??"

Elegance101 said: "Bwayfan292 said: "Prince of broadway was differnt though, they all played like 80 other roles."

Well, couldn't a Latina woman have played those other roles?

But I see how it's a little different."

Yes. I agree a Latina woman could have played those roles but they also had to cast for the others. Sierra though has no excuse thats one role which they should have casted a latino women. Love sierra but this isnt a good idea

BroadwayRox3588 said: "Prediction: This thread will get WAY out of hand."

As OP, I'd like to apologize in advance. Hopefully, we don't have another Oak + Great Comet or pregnant Betsy Wolfe thread on our hands!

Elfuhbuh said: "To be fair, I can't imagine much speculating coming from this. If she drops the role, then she drops the role, but if she doesn't, then she doesn't."

Yes, I agree! I was just kidding around. :)

This is a concert presentation... would people complain if they cast an East Asian as Tony, a black actor as Riff or a south Asian as Anita?

Yes, probably. The characters in West Side Story are specific races. It's important to the story. Casting someone Latinx in a Latinx role is not asking too much. If you can't cast it appropriately (which they easily could), then do a different show. Concert presentation or not.

 

...Yes, considering this story's premise is very race-driven. The characters in this show are all written with specific races in mind, whether it be Puerto Rican or white. And I really don't get how this being a ~concert~ is supposed to make a difference; it's still a production of the show, so they have no business casting a white actress in a Latina role. I get that there are shows where it's fine to take a raceblind approach to the casting, but this certainly isn't one of them.

This is so beyond not ok. The casting directors and managers behind this are real dumbasses. Siera can have her pick of the litter on almost any MT role. It's called doing the god damn ethical thing, there is more than enough theatrical real estate for Siera to choose from, also I'm sorry, she's Ariel in The Little Mermaid. She's Christine in Phantom. She's like a Disney princess who excels well in substanceless lily-white roles. Also, like Karen Olivio? Or like anyone from Hamilton? God I can't even process the stupidity behind this.

Sierra talking about how wrong it was to play Maria in WSS in the past

https://twitter.com/distress_coma/status/987130557007122432?s

The perfect example of a basic white girl

adam.peterson44 said: ""But in any show, any production (even a studio recording), a role that is rightfully a person of color’s being taken and given to a white person IS NOT OKAY. It’s the taking away that’s important here. People of color have had opportunities taken away from them for years, not to mention the racist activities surrounding white people posing as other races in entertainment constantly."


I agree with what is written above. I also note that it applies also to large women - there are so very few roles for large women in entertainment, so it is just as appalling and outraging to see the role of large women characters being played by men, completely erasing the existence of large women in the process. In the 2000's on Broadway, we have seen this done in Matilda with Miss Trunchbull and in Hairspray with Edna. In the threads on this site, people were praising Bertie Carvel's performance rather than expressing the outrage being expressed here at the casting that encourages erasure of severely marginalied groups of people. I hope that i live to see the day when similar outrage will be expressed for all such cases of inappropriate casting."

I understand your frustrations. I would like to point out, however, that Edna was played by a drag queen in the original movie, so it was a set thing before the musical. John Walters said the most important things about casting the 2007 movie were the tradition of Tracy being a newcomer and Edna being a drag queen. It is sad that larger woman are delegated to Tracy and Jan from Grease, though.