The Wiz at a ... white HS

Though not ideal, it certainly can work with a white cast. Just as OOTI can. In fact I feel like having black actors is more important for OOTI than it is for The Wiz, but that could just be me.

My High School did it about 5 years ago with an all white cast.

I thought it was a bore, and it wasn't because of the cast.

I am usually against it. I saw OOTI with an all white cast and it sucked. But I think that "The Wiz" could totally work if you have the right people.

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A white, high-school production of "The Wiz" usually makes for an excellent bad time.

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Aida should not be done with an all white cast because it is about race, but The Wiz has nothing to do with race. I've been in an almost all white Wiz, and it worked!

The Wiz/Kiss me Kate comparison is a perfect comparison. As for Aida, unless the Egyptians are being played by Arabs, there's no reason to complain about a white Aida.

If have seen some very soul lite productions of The Wiz and the music just doesn't lend itself to those kind of productions. Sorry to say that but everytime I see an white production I cringe at the arrangements and the lack of well, soul, LOL. You should ask them to do a simpler show.

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LostLeander-
Um, sorry "The Wiz" was WRITTEN for BLACK people. Originally it was to be the first in a series of All-Black discofyed Fairy Tales for ABC or CBS (I forget which), that ended up outgrowing an hour long show to become what it is now. I don't know where the hell you heard that it was written with white people in mind, but it sure wasn't. To top THAT off, have you read the script? It's filled with jive, which always sounds bad coming out of a white person's mouth.

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Sorry, what's OOTI?

I did The Wiz with an all white class in middle school. Not uncommon at all. Not that big of a deal either.

Don't even bring up AIDA. They had white people playing the Egyptians. How many Egyptians do you know who are as white as Adam Pascal? That sounds like a really awfully unintelligent thing to say. But it's true. Egyptians are Arabic. That's just the way it is.

I saw a production of AIDA where it was an all-white class, and the different races (Nubian versus Egyptian) were implied based on the colors the actors wore. Nubians wore purple and Egpytians wore blue. Small things like a headband or a skirt. But still. I understood it, as did the rest of the audience. You can make those things work.

But you can't have an all white cast of RAGTIME. That is a show that can't work with that cast. Once On This Island? Yup. Porgy and Bess? Not so much.


Edit: And as for the "jive" thing mentioned before: I agree but when I did it in middle school it sounded more cute than anything else. We weren't trying to be Michael Jackson. I sang the "as soon as I get home" song like the white girl I am. It works if you don't TRY to sound like you're embodying (WOW! sp?? sorry!) what the character really is supposed to be.

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Updated On: 5/20/07 at 12:33 AM

White people doing jive = not cute.

Granted, I do come from an area, where one season the predominantly black school did "Fiddler on the Roof" and the rich white school did "The Wiz" (I SWEAR the liberettos got switched in the mail)

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>> Um, sorry "The Wiz" was WRITTEN for BLACK people

So?

Get over it. A year from now, no one but the parents will even remember it happened.

Otherwise, I'll be forced to remind you that CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF was written for WHITE people, and Lizzie Currie was writen for a WHITE actress, and I really dont think you want to go there.

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