WIZ...traditional casting/non traditional for revival- Page 4

[crp2000]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 12:40pm

Robbiej-

i don't "thing" you know a thing about me - so please kill the ASSumptions. if you really care to know what i believe, just ask.

whatever the casting directors decide, in order to remain true to what 'The Wiz' was/is all about, they'll have to cast SOULFUL performers. i need not argue which CULTURAL GROUP those performers will come from.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 1:12pm

orphan, i think the best response to that is a quote from eddie murphy from his snl days:

we sing of freedom and ooh equality.
but we really don’t care we just want money money money.
we want to drive in a big black limo.
get so high off ganja we cant even see.
soon we kill the white people. ooh we gunna make them hurt.
kill the white people. yea. ooh but buy my record first ooh.

i can't claim to ever reach mr. murphy's eloquence on the subject and i don't think i can make it any clearer than that.

Updated On: 3/4/04 at 01:12 PM

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 1:16pm

First off...spelling mistake aside...I wasn't being rude to you so your rudeness to me was completely unwarranted. But I just love your witty use of the 'caps lock' button.

Secondly, I don't understand. If this show was cast with all white soul singers, it would be ok?

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 1:55pm

Can you imagine Michael McDonald or Steve Perry in this show???

I'd pay to see that!!!

[Thetruth]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 2:20pm

Robbiej, What do you mean by "appropriate to the times?" Now we should mirror the "great melting pot" when it's a black show? Nobody was saying let's have multi-ethnic casting appropriate to the times on shows like Friends and Seinfeld which took place in NYC and were quite popular without mirroring the realistic cultural make-up of the city. Thus, I think The Wiz can survive without mirroring the times. I'm not blamin' it on you, but this concept is nothing new. And there have been many opportunities for producers to use multi-cultural casting. It's just interesting that the push comes during a revival of a black show.


Papalovesmambo,
I love that Eddie song. I have it on my computer. It's sooo catchy. I remember my boss caught me singing it one day.

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 2:49pm

truth,

The issue is not that I'm pushing for multi-culti versions of black shows. I'm speaking of THIS particular show. First, on an artistic level, I think it's not a particularly strong show. Second, unless an overhaul is done on the jargon of the book, it would sound minstrely if done by an entirely black cast.

If it were to be done by an exclusively black cast, don't you think some major rewriting is in order? The sound of THE WIZ is so of its time (the early 70's) that it could end up being a living, breathing blaxploitation flick. Although I'm not African-American, I'm a big pop-culture junkie. And I would have to say that what could be called 'black music' today sounds nothing like what can be heard on the cast recording of THE WIZ.

The problem with this thread is that some people are dealing with the big picture of non-traditional casting and others are dealing with this show specifically, which can cause confusion.

If I've added to it, I apologize. But I stick by my opinion that if this show is done again, it would best be served by a multi-culti cast.

[ORPHAN]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 4:10pm

papalovesmambo
sorry don't get what that has to do with the discussion
... but that is a cool song.

[ORPHAN]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 4:22pm

Well once again the world is divided by skin color. I hear the black people saying Yeah for multiethnic casting do it do it ON ALL SHOWS! I hear non black people (not everyone but many) saying Yeah multiethinic casting ON THE WIZ because it just won't be a good idea with just black actors. The thing is, I agree with that. I think it should be multiethinic but i also think Little shop and nine and the producers should be too. I crux of this issue is so simple. The question is never answered no matter how many times the black people on this board ask it... "why does the issue of multiethinic casting only come up when discussing a traditionally black casted show?" No one but papalovessambo (i mean mambo) attempts to answer this. the truth is like a hot potatoe... just too hot to handle. My take on it is this: FOX NEWS IS TO BLAME!

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 4:29pm

That's not true Orphan.

I, for one, advocated heavily on this board for Heather Headley to play Audrey in Little Shop.

I believe Lea Solonga would be incredible in EVITA.

I'd kill to see Daphne Rubin-Vega's Nancy in Oliver.

And Audra MacDonald can do whatever the hell she wants.

But just like FENCES, there are certain shows I would have a prediliction to cast 'ethnically' correct, for example, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS. I even had a problem with the WASP women in the movie.

[crp2000]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 5:47pm

Robbiej-

We're on a message board, so it's very easy for one to interpret comments as rude. i apologize if you feel i was being rude, that was not my intention.

And The Wiz is already just an 'ok' show, so if it were cast with all white soul singers - it would definitely be worse.

Heather Headley in Little Shop - GREAT IDEA!! I'd love to hear/see that one day. Who knows - maybe she'll cover some of those songs during her 'One Night Only' concert in May.

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/4/04 at 5:52pm

Tone is a difficult thing here. So completely understood.

I'm a big proponent of non-traditional casting. Always will be. Love a multi-culti CAROUSEL as much as I'd love a multi-culti WIZ. I think it can add something (if done well)...a depth of meaning that wouldn't necessarily be there if it were a single-race cast.

And THE WIZ can use all the help it can get!

[Al Dente]

Posted: 3/5/04 at 2:29am

This thread is dizzying! I agree with Auggie as usual and don't think there is a *need* to revive this show, traditional/non-traditional casting or not, who needs the *show* itself?.Do we need another revival, let alone this one? As for Marcy Harriel, isn't she a bit long in the tooth to play Dorothy? And STOP, you might be taken a bit more seriously if you made more sense and didn't write in such fragmented sentences.

[ORPHAN]

Posted: 3/5/04 at 10:17am

al dente
your probably right that the wiz is not the right black show to revive. And the sad truth is there is no catelog of shows that feature black performers, writers, composers, etc. there is only one. the wiz. (dreamgirls was written and created by non blacks and ain't misbehavin was a jukebox or catelog revue) Doesn't it break your heart to know that bway has no black writers, composers, directors (g. wolf) producers, art directors, lyricists, stage managers, company managers, accountants, general managers, lawyers, working choreographers, set designers, costume designers, and ONLY ONE bway class A musical created by african americans that many believe SHOULD NOT BE REVIVED. Those of you in the bway wold.com community who have a heart must be saddened to see this kind of exclusion and still say there is no racism on bway. What further evidence do you need? we all must write posts and push for parity and representation in this medium that we all love. if we don't in the end bway will go the way of the opera; an arcane, out of touch, non commercial dying art form. please speak up and make your voice heard.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 3/5/04 at 3:17pm

A great many things about B'way "break my heart" Orphan. It's a derranged world on many fronts. And I agree with your last post.

[Bdwyguy30]

Posted: 3/9/04 at 7:58pm

I just wanted to say that I agree with everything you say and I am saying this as a black broadway performer. I think that with a show like 'the Wiz' it would only benefit not only the show itself but how far we have come as a society if it were multi-cultural.

[Joshbstn]

Posted: 3/13/04 at 6:24pm

I had always thought that the intention of "The Wiz" was to compare the events of the Wizard of Oz to the cultural and sociological status of the black American in the seventies. That it wasn't just a black cast of a primarily white show, like the Pearl Bailey "Hello Dolly." When I listen to the songs of "The Wiz" it seems to me that they are trying to say something about the condition of the black american. Won't that be lost in a multi-cultural casting? Having said that, I played the Lion in a production of the Wiz and loved every minute of it.

[tappedout]

Posted: 3/13/04 at 9:27pm

On the subject of mulitcultural casting: Just because I am a glass half-full kind of person, I would like to point to Taye Diggs recent stint in Wicked. In the book at least, Fiyero is blonde and blue- eyed, so I thought it was progressive of the show to cast Taye (although he is kind of a star, so that might not be the best example). There is also Rent which tries its damndest to include the many different types of people in the world today. This being said, I do think broadway is predominantly caucasian and maybe that is not the way it should be, but we have to give credit to some shows for trying.....
p.s. I agree with everyone else on the multicultural casting of other shows beside the Wiz, except for Annie. I do not think I will ever be able to see Annie as anything other than a freckly, red-haired, pre-teen. Could definitely see Daddy Warbucks as most any ethnicity though

[crp2000]

Posted: 3/13/04 at 10:28pm

I saw Wicked on X-Mas day with Taye Diggs. You can bet your bottom dollar that there will NEVER be another African American cast in anything other than 'ensemble' for the rest of Wicked's run, however I'd LOVE to be proven wrong.

I'm almost certain that Taye got the job only because of his connection to Idina. Surely the casting directors just thought it would be 'cute' for that short period of time. Did you read the 'bitching' that took place on this board by those who heard Taye was entering the show? I'm sure many of the negative comments came from people who simply didn't think he was white for the part. Oops! I meant RIGHT for the part.

[tappedout]

Posted: 3/14/04 at 1:45pm

I had heard mixed things about Taye it sounded to me as if some people liked him but others not, I didn't know the reaction was so overwhelmingly negative.
"I saw Wicked on X-Mas day with Taye Diggs. You can bet your bottom dollar that there will NEVER be another African American cast in anything other than 'ensemble' for the rest of Wicked's run,"
Wow! can you elaborate further please onto why there would never be another African American in anything but ensemble. (I'm not disagreeing, just curious)

[crp2000]

Posted: 3/14/04 at 7:56pm

My only reason for saying that is because there are no African-Americans (outside of the few in the ensemble) in the cast now. Hit shows like this tend to stick to the 'original' casting formula. Although I'm hoping this will not be the case, given the way most of the other b-way shows are going, I doubt that this one will be any different. Once AIDA, Chicago, & Little Shop close - there will be even less color on broadway (as far as lead/semi lead roles go).

I hope the casting directors will be a little more open minded with regards to the casting Elphie - afterall, she is green, not merely white or black. And given the underlying theme of racism/discrimination in the show, I think it would make the show even more interesting!!

[Mrs B]

Posted: 3/15/04 at 12:58am

Orphan-

There are several black shows- PORGY AND BESS, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', PURLIE, RAISIN, HALLELUJAH BABY. Please get your facts straight- the WIZ is NOT the "only" black show.

As for multiculturalism- unfortunately, it seems to only go for African Americans. Now and then there is a token Asian (do you REALLY think an AfAmer actor would play a stereotyped role like the two lackeys in TMM?) or Hispanic but mostly audiences are asked to suspend belief and ignore the race of a performer.

I doubt that there will ever be a production of FENCES where the son is played by an asian, white or hispanic actor. And why not?

The argument used is talent should be the deciding factor. Audra McDonald is an amazing performer- but I hated her being Carrie in CAROUSEL. I would have liked to see her as Julie. Let the race be used for a dramatic reason. Would someone as socially conscious as Enoch Snow marry an African American and have a pack of Bennetton babies? No. But Julie- it could have added another layer of why she was an outcast in that time and era.

It seems the current climate in America is one of contrition- people do not want to appear racist so they say nothing as the pendulum swings way too far in the direction of overcompensating. The world and this country have been horrible to many races, religions and sexual orientations.

Hal Prince said he felt betrayed when African American actors who had signed contracts for SHOWBOAT refused to sing the word "n*" in lyrics. The show was over 50 years old- and it did NOT condone slavery or racial oppression. Yet the actors had their way. They called Hal a Jew and make anti-Semitic remarks were which were apparently acceptable. Rappers use the "n" word all the time. It seems to me that if a word is unacceptable it is unacceptable.

As for THE WIZ- why not use a multicultural cast? At least that would be something new for a show that is dated and not terribly well written.

Race is a touchy subject. Broadway has been wonderful in breaking down racial barriers. But I find it distressing that people think African Americans should be in any show at all but shows that are "African American" can ONLY be done without people of other races. Equality means just that- EQUAL!

[alterego]

Posted: 3/15/04 at 8:01am

As I said earlier in this discussion, in Australia in 1976 we had multiracial cast, in this case black principals and white chorus and it worked perfectly well. I can't see why it can't be done now in the U.S. Does your politically correct country prohibit this idea? After all we are talking about a re-telling of The Wizard of Oz.

I too believe that Ruth Gordon rocks!