Sierra Boggess to play Maria in West Side Story in London — Page 3

Wildcard said: "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?"

Exactly. 

It's selective racism. A double agenda. As long as people maintain this double agenda, think in race and separation in this unreasonable way, they are keeping the race separation very much alive. The real problem is that the people who do this have no idea they are the cause of the problem.

A very interesting situation. While I definitely want to see a Latino Maria- at least I think I do- I would have thought I wanted to see Hamilton with only the correct color casting- and I was wrong. If we are truly going to have diversity- then sometimes white people are going to play roles that were not written white- right? We can't have it both ways- either we want diversity and the best people for each role regardless of ethnicity- or we don't- we can't say that works only for people of color getting roles written historically for white people- and deny white peole roles that were not written white. Am I wrong? 

BWAY Baby2 said: "A very interesting situation. While I definitely want to see a Latino Maria- at least I think I do- I would have thought I wanted to see Hamilton with only the correct color casting- and I was wrong. If we are truly going to have diversity- then sometimes white people are going to play roles that were not written white- right? We can't have it both ways- either we want diversity and the best people for each role regardless of ethnicity- or we don't- we can't say that works only for people of color getting roles written historically for white people- and deny white peole roles that were not written white. Am I wrong?"

you’re wrong.

plus a cast of caucasians singing the score to Hamilton would just sound wrong, it’s not white music.

Gypsy 101, There are tons of fantastic white rappers, but that's not what it's about. Reading between the lines, it's clear that the intentions of these selective racist remarks such as yours, are not historical accuracy whatsoever, but the focus lies completely on the amount of roles/work opportunity for the race of choice. Like I said, returning this exclusion behaviour to get "even" is not the solution. It's doing the same evil thing in return. Do you realize that?

Updated On: 4/20/18 at 06:27 AM

Are those POCs playing roles written specifically for  their background or where they white roles that where cast POC for diversity sake ? There is a difference. 

Unfortunately, the mindset, prevalent even on this board- that POC are now entitled to play any role- written for a white person or not- yet a white person cannot play a role in a similar situation- a role written for a POC must only be played by a POC- even the role of Nina Simone which was played by Zoe Saldana- a mixed race actress was a major bone of contention for the reverse racists- well, that has given rise to the Age Of Trump. Racism- reverse racism- all of it- needs to be exposed and consciousness needs to be raised. If Sierra Bogus- or even Kelli O"Hara has the talent and the interest- they can play Maria-and it should not be a major problem- did anyone make a fuss when Laurie Metcalfe's daughter in Doll's House 2 was a black woman-Condola Rashad- which, frankly raised my eyebrows but I just went with it- no- this role was applauded- something is rotten in Denmark here.

Updated On: 4/20/18 at 09:33 AM

gypsy101 said: "BWAY Baby2 said: "A very interesting situation. While I definitely want to see a Latino Maria- at least I think I do- I would have thought I wanted to see Hamilton with only the correct color casting- and I was wrong. If we are truly going to have diversity- then sometimes white people are going to play roles that were not written white- right? We can't have it both ways- either we want diversity and the best people for each role regardless of ethnicity- or we don't- we can't say that works only for people of color getting roles written historically for white people- and deny white peole roles that were not written white. Am I wrong?"

you’re wrong.

plus a cast of caucasians singing the score to Hamilton would just soundwrong, it’s not white music."

LOL. what is white music? what is black music? What is brown music? I am dying to know. Is white music opera? So can we not have black people singing opera? 

If rap is black music why is eminem considered by most to be one of the best rappers of all time?

Your logic is astoundingly illogical. 

Some of these responses are so painfully tone deaf.

I hope she drops out of the production. I like Sierra, but this is messy.

IdinaBellFoster said: "Some of these responses are so painfully tone deaf.

I hope she drops out of the production. I like Sierra, but this is messy."

Ditto. I like her too and wish she could find another great starring role but this is not it.

To everyone saying that this is like people of color getting to play white roles - you’re just fundamentally wrong. The way I feel about race in casting (and I know others who agree with me in this) is that if the show or specific character doesn’t have specific themes or story arcs about race, then it can be cast any which way the directors choose. For example, Audra McDonald as Carrie in Carousel. While we all know that a black woman wouldn’t get married to a white man with giant ambitions in the time period, race isn’t a factor in the show, so the audience can better suspend their disbelief (Plus, she was absolutely amazing in the role, so that helps). The same goes with Hamilton, although I would argue that that casting is more color conscious than color blind.

 

However, you couldn’t cast color blind in a show like Hairspray, where race is the whole show. Imagine Link as a person of color. This would make it incredibly confusing when Velma Von Tussle is horrifically racist to all of the stars of Negro Day, but allows her daughter to date a POC. The audience is confused more than anything, and can’t really suspend any disbelief. I picked an extreme example, but you get what I mean. The same thing goes for West Side Story, where a sizable portion of the conflict comes because half the cast is Puerto Rican.

 

(And by the way, reverse racism is still racism, so just call it that. There are very few things that not me as much as that. The only two words that tick me off as much as those are “fake news”.)

Updated On: 4/20/18 at 10:28 AM

clockworkchess said: "I had so much respect for Sierra, but I can't understand why she accepted this role. With all the messiness on social media I'm surprised she hasn't dropped out yet."

She’s a working actress. She’s not actually a big name or a ticket draw so she can’t really be choosy when it comes to roles. She may have integrity, but she also needs pay bills.