Sunday in the park @ studio 54 — Page 2

'Btw, at least Raul is a Caucasian'

At least? At least??? I'm going to just ignore the implications of those two words and focus on why George does not have to be white.

Sondheim and Lapine never once set out to write the story of Seraut. They wrote this show to explore the creative process and it's toll on the artists. They were inspired by the painting, much more so than the actual man. Of course a black man could play him...much more easily than a black woman could play Dot, since she's represented by two actual paintings that are shown in the production (at least any production I've ever seen).

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Raul's Cuban.

by your argument, let's say we do assassins. Sondheim didn't take his inspiration from JOhn Wilkes Booth himself. He tackled the issue of the impetus to make these assassinations. so since the show isn't about John Wilkes, he can be cast as black, asian, or latino.

because that makes a whole lotta sense.

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race is completely different than height and weight.


but, if you were doing Barnum, you can't have Tommy Tune play Tom Thumb. agreed?

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You'd think that in this day and age, artistic merit would be valued more than skin color. I guess not.

And maybe next time you should be better informed before posting your be-all-end-all arrogant rant.

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Updated On: 11/9/06 at 04:58 PM

"so since the show isn't about John Wilkes, he can be cast as black, asian, or latino"

John Wilkes could absolutely be cast as black, asian or latino.

And for the record, Raul Esparza, as Mandi said, IS Cuban. So a "latino" DID play George Seurat. His skin may be light, but that does not make him caucasian. Believe what you will, but this is not a race specific role, because it's not meant to be a factual representation of George Seurat's life.

I suppose you're against blind casting in Les Miserables, as well. Because, you know, in 1800s France you didn't see a lot of black police officers or asian street urchins. And how about the many roles in which caucasians have played non-caucasian roles (Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon, for example)?

That kind of mentality makes me sick. I think contemporary audiences can suspend disbelief long enough to appreciate an actor's performance regardless of the color of their skin.

The point of the Les Mis reference was that Norm Lewis IS playing Javert in the current production.

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I don't care what race plays what in les mis, you know why. the characters aren't based on actual people.

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Updated On: 11/9/06 at 05:09 PM

But don't you see, Raul passes the paper bag test!!! He's light skinned...enough.

Un-f*cking-believeable.

And yeah...I'd have no problem with anyone of any race taking on any role in ASSASSAINS. Of course, then you have to contend with the term 'n* lover', but that's for the production team to deal with. Not me.

Pippin, if you've somehow missed the myraid of threads regarding non-traditional casting and how, when race is not a factor in the actual story being told (ie RAGTIME), then I suggest you do so to find intelligent discourse on the matter.

If SUNDAY... were interested in historical accuracy, then why is the character of Dot there? There's absolutely no proof that a woman named Dot was ever with George Seraut.

As for the 'jungle fever' issue, I say if Shakespeare could write a play in which a black man was married to a white woman, then it could just possibly have happened that a black man could have had an affair with a white woman in turn of last century Paris.

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For the last time, the painting matters everything. If only you could get rid of the painting, everyone can do this role!

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I have to agree with RobbieJ and the others who say that skin color shouldn't be taken into account when casting George. Sunday takes such great fictional liberties with Seurat's life that the actor's skin color should be the least of your worries if you're so bloody concerned with keeping the show 'accurate'.

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I don't really understand the issue about Raúl's ethnicity. For those making arguments about him one way or the other, you do know he's played Seurat before, right? (MoulinRougehk, you must, since it was your avatar.) And he's also played (yes, Caucasian) Jews. Several times. I'm not quite sure how to word this, but I don't think it's really a consideration of what he is or isn't, but for the sake of a pretty superficial industry, it's how he looks. The interesting thing about him is that I don't think people look at him and immediately assume he's Hispanic. There's some article floating around where he says that he gets told all-to-often that he doesn't look Hispanic enough to play ethnic roles. It's like racial/ethnic limbo, or something. Being born in the States (which he was) doesn't make him Caucasian. It's on record *constantly* that he is the child of Cuban immigrants, and he's 100% latino; not white, not mixed, Cuban. What more evidence do you need? Someone asked what proves his ethnicity; what, do you want him to take a DNA test for you? Regardless, though, if you're really hell-bent on having your George traditionally cast and white and all that, his skin is light enough to pass.

I think that it's fair to be of the opinion that George Seurat can't "realistically" be played by a black person because Seurat was a real person and he wasn't black if you really ARE hung up on historically accuracy even though it wouldn't, for the majority of people seeing the show, be a distraction. But to say, for example, that it was okay for Raúl to play Seurat UNTIL you learned that he wasn't in fact by nationality Caucasian, is bullsh*t. That's like saying that the actor has to be French; not LOOK French, because... that's hard to pin down, but be French, for no reason other than "just because." That's crap.

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Updated On: 11/9/06 at 05:18 PM

He doesn't seem to fit exactly into a racial "type" anyway.

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